ENTERTAINMENT
CHILDREN’S RAILWAY
1937
1937, architect: Mikayel Mazmanyan
1940-1950s, Babken Hakobyan, Gohar Grigoryan
The Children’s Railway named after Khachatur Abovyan is located in the Hrazdan River gorge, at the address Dzorapi Street, 130.
The length is 2.1 km. The stations are: “Fatherland”
(former “Pharos” - above the aqueduct), “Pioneer” (near the tunnel exit), and “Joy”.
The idea of creating a children's railway was first
proposed in 1935 by Aghasi Khanjyan, the First Secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia. The railway was officially opened
on July 6, 1937.
The former building of the railway station was built
of wood, according to the design of Mikayel Mazmanyan. In the late 1940s, it
was replaced by a tuff building, the author of which is architect Babken
Hakobyan, and the last station was designed by architect Gohar Grigoryan in
1954.
In 1949, monuments dedicated to young heroes of the
USSR (Hunan Avetisyan, Oleg Koshevoy, Liza Chaykina and others) were installed
near the park entrance. Not far from them, in the 1950s - 1964, there was a
monument to the famous Armenian writer Khachatur Abovyan.
In 1956, a 45-meter-long tunnel was built between
the “Joy” and “Pioneer” stations.
The railway area had a playground, pools, fountains,
a reading room, a dance floor, a sports ground, a comedy room, shops, and more.
The Children’s Railway and the Hrazdan gorge were
connected to the city center by a pair of 400-meter-long tunnels, which were
planned by Alexander Tamanyan. The tunnels were built in the 1940s and are
currently not in use.
In the 1990s, the park came under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. A sculpture
symposium was held on the territory, and the finished works were dedicated to
the park. In 1994, the sculpture “Forest Fairy Tale” (tuff, sculptor: Norayr
Karganyan) was installed on the territory, and near the tunnel exit, on a rock,
there is a sculpture of a jackal (sculptor: Viliam Petrosyan, length: 3 m).
In 2012, at the initiative of the “South Caucasus
Railway” CJSC, restoration and modernization works were carried out on the
stations, rolling stock, and tracks.
“Scientific Research Centre of Historical and Cultural Heritage” SNCO
Yerevan Municipality
