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GIUMRI Travel Guide® – Special Edition Shirak Marz: Giumri: page 2 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition ® TourArmenia Natural Armenia Hiking Trails The Other Side of Garni Flora Armenia Shirak Marz: Giumri: page 3 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition GIUMRI (“Gyumri”) GIUMRI (Gyumri) “The Anabasis” as did the Greek historian Copper Bronze Age Excavations dug as recently Herodotus writing of the area in his 4th c. ¶ÛáõÙñÇ as in 2005 have uncovered 1500-900 BCE History. The Anabasis recounted the epic journey INTRODUCTION gravesites in the city of Giumri itself, inside the by Xenophon and the “ten thousand” who After surviving “Black Fort” (South Tower). marched through Armenia en route to the Black Yerevan’s rampant Sea in 401 BCE, describing part of the territory By Rick Ney growth and swirling In Giumri, prehistoric excavations include the they marched through as Gumnias, or current Maps & Graphics by Rafael Torossian dust, you will find South Tower (Black Fortress), Cherkezi Dzor, the Giumri. Edited by Bella Karapetian welcome respite and area of poultry farm, Vardbagh & the Turbaza. warm hospitality in Giumri. The capital of Kumaiyri – Urartu, Greek & Roman Giumri Armenia during the The mythical beginning of Giumri is recorded by Russian era (1821- the 5th c historian Movses Khorenatsi, who 1918), Old Kumaiyri, recounted that the founder of the Armenian present day Giumri, is a nation, Haik, sent his grandson Aramis with all living museum of grand his family, to a fertile land above Mt. Aragats, architecture and joie de vivre, a place of parks where the waters flowed. The place he resided and promenades, its distinct red and black tufa was called Shirak after him. The place was called buildings a hallmark of a bygone age, Armenia’s Kumaiyri. Belle Époque. Giumri was enriched as an important outpost of the Russian Empire, and fortunes were made catering to the Tsars and spent on opulent dwellings and public buildings. Most of these buildings have survived, over 1000 forming the largest collection of intact historic TABLE OF CONTENTS buildings in the Caucasus. The Medieval Era GIUMRI It is just now that Giumri has re-emerged as a With the advent of Christianity, Gregori HISTORY (p. 4) serious destination. Once Armenia’s Second City, Lousavoritch is known to have established Map of Giumri (p. 7) with a population of around 250,000, the city churches in Kumaiyri, on the ruins of pagan Map of Old Center (p. 10) suffered tremendous loss in the 1988 earthquake temples he had torn down. Among these are the which immediately killed 24,000 people and sites of the current S. N’shan and Yot Verk (7 NAVIGATING THE CITY devastated much of the Soviet style ‘new city’. wounds) churches in the city. WALKING TOURS (p. 6) Most of the old center survived, and a growing economy and cultural life have rejuvenated much Kumaiyri was also mentioned by the 8th c. CE SIGHTS (p. 11) of the city (though it must now bow to Vanadzor writer Ghevond Yeretz (Leon the Priest) writing of MONUMENTS & PARKS for bragging rights as second most populated city the city in relation with the rebellion against the MUSEUMS in Armenia) and make this a must-see The historical beginning of Giumri starts with Arab Umayyad and then Abbasid dynasties. THE ARTS destination. You may have to start your trip in Assyrian descriptions of the area and a cuneiform THEATRE Yerevan, but for some clean air, real history, inscription for the Urartian King Argishti I (8th c Kumaiyri remained a backwater during the heady FILM lively humor and warm hospitality, visit Giumri. BCE), which can still be found on a mount at days of Bagratuni, Kamsarakan, Pahlavuni and ART GALLERIES/MUSEUMS Vahramaberd Village (Marmashen), near Giumri. Orbelian rule (8th-13th cc), as the great city of CHURCHES HISTORY The inscription reads "By the Glory of Khaldi, the Ani and the regional capital of Kars took focus Giumri’s history is contemporary to that of god Argishti says: I invaded the land of the away from the small town of Kumaiyri. Much of PRACTICALITIES (p. 17) Yerevan’s though the city to the south has Yeriakhi tribe, invaded Irdaniuni city up to Giumri’s fascination and later attempts to In And Out claimed the title of oldest in the country. Truth Ishkikulu land". It further refers to the people of recapture Ani’s glory days are traced to this time, Around be told, though, Giumri’s is just as old, and may Kuliaini, the city’s first name. and to the people who descended from these two Tour Agencies, Guides even be older than its hot cousin, its location in great medieval cities, especially in the 19th c as Communication the upper elevations making inhabitation Urartian artifacts in Giumri include fragments of Turkish pogroms and mass murders accelerated Maps, Money, Film, Clinics, Etc. preferable in the Stone Age to its still smoldering belts and clay found on the grounds of the in Western Armenia, forcing hundreds of Overnight (p. 19) cousin to the south. hospital on Shirakatsi Street in Giumri (known as thousands of Armenian descendants o emigrate Food & Drink (p. 20) White hospital among Giumretsis). Telman to the city, giving birth under Tsarist protection to Evidence of developed human activity and the Khachaturian made the excavation. These RESOURCES (p. 21) a new Golden Age in the country, and Giumri. first large settlement in Giumri (on the hills to the findings are considered to be casual and currently west of the modern city, around Sev Ghul or are preserved in the National Museum of History. Empire City The most remarkable period of Black Tower) is placed to around 5000 BCE, development was during the 19th c. when Shirak about the same time as that to the south. The Greek historian and military leader Xenophon (ca. 430-355) mentions Kumaiyri in his book, became a part of the Russia Empire, and Shirak Marz: Giumri: page 4 of 23 - TourArmenia © 2007 Rick Ney ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - www.TACentral.com Travel Guide® – Special Edition Kumaiyri its regional center. The area was a copy of the famous cathedral of Ani, crowned retook Alexandropol for the Soviet Union, By the 1980’s the city had reached 250,000 and absorbed into the Empire in 1804, during the first the skyline and marked the highpoint of declaring a Soviet Republic in 1921. was a major industrial production center for the Russo-Persian war. The Russian period initiated a monumental construction in the city. Soviet Union. The petty corruption that had period of tremendous growth and development Soviet Period existed in the country since before the for the city. A heretofore-feudal society was In 1899, the Tbilisi-Alexandropol, later the If Giumri’s growth in the 19th c was impressive, Communists became rampant as a general pushed into the industrial revolution, creating an Alexandropol-Yerevan-Persia railways made that of the Soviet period was extraordinary, if economic and political malaise engulfed the extraordinarily rich and educated class of citizens, Giumri/Alexandropol a major point on the line, never as architecturally beautiful. Both the country. While not in all cases, construction was a new Golden Age. Chosen for its strategic further feeding its growth. The city reached an population and heavy industrialization increased a prime target, with engineers approving sub location along the Akhurian Valley, Kumaiyri held extraordinary level of sophistication in design, 8-fold within the next forty years. code designs and contractors skimming off the a huge fortress still used by Russian soldiers with over 1000 surviving samples of the period as supplies when building apartments and offices. guarding the Armenian frontier. Military testament. A love of culture also ensued, with In 1924 the city was renamed Leninakan in This and Leninakan’s status as a Closed Military barracks established in the city include Poligons, art galleries, design firms, theatres and musical memory of the leader of the Russian Revolution city had terrible consequences in 1988. Severski and Kazachi Posts, sites of several entertainments imported from Russia and Europe. on Lenin's death. With the decision to make prehistoric excavations. Yerevan the new Earthquake At the end of 19th century Alexandropol was capital, most of the The 1988 earthquake shook the By 1837 the city had grown enough it was equal in importance to Tbilisi and Baku, these money in the republic city on December 7, instantly granted an imperial visit by the Russian Czar cities also Armenian centers in the Caucasus. went to that city and killing 10,000 people as row after Nicholas I, who was said to have renamed the Giumri’s citizens (“Giumretsi”) delight in this fact, its grand designs for row of Soviet buildings (the “New town Alexandropol after his wife, Alexandra proud of a time when their city dwarfed the then the new face of Soviet Leninakan”) collapsed on its Feodorovna. However others note the name was village of Yerevan, which was its backwater town, Armenia. Considered inhabitants. The scenes of actually derived from the Russian Saint Alexandra much as Giumri once was for Ani. At a time a military strongpoint destruction were followed by (also the name of the church in the Alexandropol when Yerevan was barely two streets long, and so a closed city, horrific tales of agonizing deaths Fortress in the city). The city was also referred to Giumri had a complex grid of streets, running and Giumri fell into 2nd city and attempts at recovery, as well as ‘Alekpol’ in local dialect.