HISTORICAL BUILDINGS
BUILDING OF THE KHNKO APER NATIONAL CHILDREN’S LIBRARY
1980
Architects: Levon Ghalumyan, Ruzan Alaverdyan
Komsomol Prize: 1981
Located between Sayat-Nova Avenue and Tumanyan Street at 42/1 Teryan Street.
The library was founded in 1933 based on the first
children's library at the Yerevan Education Workers' House. Since 1935, it
bears the name of fabulist and children's writer Khnko Aper. In
1962, it received republican status. Since 1980, it operates in a new building
on Teryan Street.
Layout: four identical volumes (12 x 12 m) around a
square hall, each housing a reading room. Walls are decorated with thematic
frescoes on Armenian history and culture (author: Ruben Ghevondyan). There are
music, fairy tale, and event halls adorned with carved wooden elements.
Facades are finished with dressed stone featuring round
windows combined with rectangular windows on lower floors. The main entrance
from Teryan Street is decorated with a carved wooden door (1982, sculptor:
Vladimir Petrosyan).
The flat roof is used as an open recreation area. The
building is constructed of light ocher felsite. Interior finishes use marble.
Library collection: over 500,000 items (books,
periodicals, audiovisual materials, modern electronic media). There are halls
for group classes and lectures with film equipment, and a foreign literature
corner.
Architects Levon Ghalumyan and Ruzan Alaverdyan were
awarded the Komsomol Prize in 1981.
Near the library stands the “Monument to the Reader”
(2013, sculptor Arman Nur (Davtyan)), dedicated to Yerevan's designation as the
World Book Capital in 2012. The bronze sculpture is a composition of 18 books
and a lamp, completed by a seated reader figure.
“Scientific Research Centre of Historical and Cultural Heritage” SNCO
Yerevan Municipality
