MONUMENTS

1953, 1970

The large fountain pool on the main Republic (formerly Lenin) Square in Yerevan was built in 1953, opposite the State Gallery and History Museum of Armenia, by order of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia Central Committee Grigor Harutyunyan and designed by architects Mark Grigoryan and Eduard Sarapyan.
The color-sound fountains were built by the decision of the Executive Committee of the Yerevan City Council (chairman: Grigor Hasratyan), within the framework of events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia. The author is a radio technician, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Abraham Abrahamyan, who in 1969 moved from Kharkov to Yerevan and, in parallel with his scientific and pedagogical work, was also involved in the artistic lighting issues of the capital's monuments. The professional group working under his leadership (engineers Yuri Ghazaryan, Robert Mirzoyan, Albert Kazhoyan and others) developed a project of “singing-dancing” fountains with a combination of color, music and water, using the latest scientific achievements of that period in the field of radio electronics, automation, and lighting technology. The idea was based on music, which determined the colors of the fountains, the volume of the sound, and the height of the water jets.
“Singing” fountains were the first and unprecedented phenomenon in the USSR. And it is no coincidence that there was great interest in them in the country. The group receives orders from various cities of the USSR, after which fountains are built in Moscow, Batumi, Sochi, Kharkov and elsewhere. By decision of the Yerevan City Council, Abrahamyan's creative group built the second "singing" fountains in the square named after Suren Spandaryan (now Garegin Nzhdeh) (until 1975).
In 1976, the Yerevan working model of the "singing" fountains was presented at the Buenos Aires exhibition and received high praise. In 1978, Abrahamyan's team received the Armenian SSR State Prize in the field of science and technology.
After construction, the "singing" fountains were reconstructed and modernized several times, expanding the functional capabilities of the fountains.
In Soviet times, the fountains operated from April to November 29, the day of the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia. Now they operate from April to early November. Thanks to the "singing" fountains, the square has always been and remains a crowded, favorite place for Yerevan residents and tourists to spend time, where you can enjoy beautiful and multi-genre music accompanied by colorful lights and water until late at night.