GETHSEMANE CHAPEL AND THE OPERA HOUSE

 The location of the National House of Opera and Ballet after Alexander Spendiaryan was determined in advance in the floor plan of the city. The citizens of   Yerevan were having hard time considering that these outskirts were later to become part of the future public center of Yerevan.  Tamanyan started working on the project of the Opera House on 1 August, 1926.Along with the design  work, the architect had to resolve a number of issues associated with the territory afforded for the future Opera House, the most agonizing of them being the Gethsemane Chapel.

Gethsemane was the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus watched, prayed, and suffered for the sins of the world the night before he was crucified. The chapel on the outskirts of Yerevan was named  Gethsemane  probably because it was literally buried in orchards. It was built in 1679 on the spot where an older church was ruined by the earthquake. The chapel was a small single-nave, vaulted structure with no cupola.

The location selected for the construction of the Opera House was such that it was impossible to bypass the chapel, therefore Tamanyan made a decision to dislodge it. In 1929 the chapel was   unbricked  and each stone was numbered. Sadly, the political situation in Armenia was not very favorable at that time for reconstruction of spiritual edifices and the chapel was never rebuilt. Instead,   today   the  place accommodates one of the most essential cultural centers for Armenians, the National Opera. Entering that building one finds   himself in a glorious temple of art.

Today, the two spacious halls of the National House of Opera and Ballet,

i. e. the Concert   Hall   after Aram Khachaturyan and  Opera House a large variety of cultural events by famous Armenian musicians and foreign cultural workers alike. You can be a part of it if you like…