Yerevan is the capital of the Republic of Armenia and in its center is the Republic Square, which is called Hraparak, which is an abbreviation for Hanrapetutjan hraparak (Հանրապետության հրապարակ) [1]. It used to be called Lenin Square during the Soviet era, but before that it was generally just called Maydan (մայդան). Maydan is an interesting word, therefore I just looked it up [2] in which languages it is used. I first saw it in Persian, because we lived in Isfahan right next to the (میدان امام Meidān-e Emām) or Meidan (میدان). In Arabic it is also called (ميدان). In Georgian you have Meidani (მეიდანი) and in Abkhazian Amaidan (Амаидан). Hindi has Maidaan (मैदान). We could certainly find more languages within and outside the Indo-European language family that have a similar word to maydan for square.
The Lenin statue was removed when independence was achieved and now Republic Square is an architectural highlight. In addition, on some evenings there is a concert of classical and modern music for around two hours, accompanied by a fireworks display with water. This may sound paradoxical, but I will explain it later.
In front of the National Gallery there are ponds with fountains. Music from the National Gallery comes from a tape onto the loudspeakers. The Wasserorgel - the German word means literally water organ and I like it better than the English word music fountain - is controlled synchronously with the music and the fountains conjure up various aesthetic shapes [3]. But that would not be fireworks, because the colors would be missing. These are created by illuminating them with lamps that constantly change their colors.
The "water organ" has 2750 fountains, because it was inaugurated in 1968 for the city's 2750th anniversary. But then it was broken for years and was renovated at a cost of 1.4 million euros. It has been in operation again since 2007. And because it is such a beautiful spectacle, it attracts many visitors every time.
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| National Gallery |
Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platz_der_Republik_(Jerewan)
[2] One can use Google Translator for such purposes.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Square,_Yerevan#Fountains and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_fountain
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