MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
National Gallery of Armenia
The National Gallery of Armenia is the major fine arts museum in Armenia and the largest in the world with its Armenian art collection.
The National Gallery of Armenia was founded in 1921 by the decision of the Government of Soviet Armenia, as one of the five departments of the State Museum - the Art Department. Martiros Saryan was appointed the director of the museum, and the head of the Fine Arts Department was the artist Vrtanes Akhikyan. The State Museum was located on Astafyan (Abovyan) Street, in a two-story tufa building intended for a male gymnasium.
The museum building also housed a public library and a concert hall. In addition, orphaned children who had emigrated from Western Armenia found refuge here. The museum building was renovated and completed by Mark Grigoryan and Eduard Sarapyan.
The National Gallery of Armenia, as the first state museum of Armenia, was officially opened to visitors on August 14, 1921.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The Gallery's collection includes more than 42,000 exhibits of Armenian and foreign fine arts and decorative-applied art, as well as an exclusive collection of about 200,000 photographs, notebooks and letters, articles and personal belongings of documentary and artistic value, representing famous Armenian and foreign artists, important events and episodes. The collection of the National Gallery of Armenia includes highly valuable samples of Armenian and foreign art, including masterpieces by world-famous artists Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Vardges Sureniants, Martiros Saryan, Yervand Kochar, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Donatello, Tintoretto and other famous authors.
