HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

8th century BC (782) – 21st century

The canal originates near the Kanaker Hydroelectric Power Plant, from the left bank of the Hrazdan River. It passes through the entire city area: the Kanaker-Zeytun district, near the Institute of Fine Organic Chemistry, along the slopes of Arabkir and Victory Park, and adjacent to the Matenadaran. Reaching the Getar River, it crosses it via an aqueduct and continues along the left-bank hillside, descending with minimal gradient to the artificial lake of Lyon Park (formerly known as Vardavar, Komsomol, and Tokhmakhan).

The canal and the artificial lake were built by the ruler of Urartu and founder of Erebuni-Yerevan, Argishti I, to supply water to the Erebuni fortress and irrigate surrounding lands. The first written records about the canal date back to the 16th century. In the 17th century, during Persian rule, it was renovated twice. It is likely that by that time the canal was already known as Abu Hayat (traditionally interpreted as “water of life” or “stream of life”).

According to legend, after the suicide of the beautiful Abu Hayat, her fiancé Tokhmakh Khan threw himself into this lake. Since then, the canal has been called Abu Hayat, and the artificial lake Tokhmakhan.

During the Tsarist period, in May 1877, the canal’s reconstruction was completed. It was widened, extended, and brought to the lake. A stone bridge was built over the Getar River, and the canal water flowed through stone pipes laid over it.

After the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia, alongside the construction of new canals, old ones were also restored. During the 1922–1923 reconstruction, the Abu Hayat canal was tripled in width, retaining walls were strengthened, and 15 iron gates were installed. Near the Sari Tagh district, it was connected to the Mamri canal. With the construction of the Kanaker Hydroelectric Power Plant (1936), the initial section of the canal was eliminated and replaced by a new channel taking water from the plant’s pressure basin.

In the early 1950s, the section passing along Marshal Baghramyan Avenue was covered, and the water, passing through an 800 m tunnel, flowed into the lake.

Due to construction in the 1960s, the canal was shortened and no longer reaches the lake today.

Its length was about 15 km. Discharge capacity: 0.2 m³/s.

The Abu Hayat canal is one of the oldest structures of Yerevan’s water supply system and testifies to the high level of hydraulic engineering in the Kingdom of Urartu.