BEAUTIFIED BIRTHDAY GIRL: YEREVAN TURNS 2,794 LOOKING BETTER WITH AGE
By Gayane Lazarian
Features | 12.10.12 | 15:44
One of the world’s most ancient cities – Yerevan – will be celebrating
its 2794th birthday this week with a rediscovered profile and culture
– beautified, green, and looking better than at any point in its
post-Soviet life.
This year the changes in Yerevan are more than obvious – the
old-Yerevan-style wooden benches and litter-bins that have given the
city a cozy look, painted archways, green areas: newly-landscaped
parks, accent lights, and most fountains working.
“The way Yerevan looks today – and not only its residents but guests of
the Armenian capital notice and appreciate – is exclusively the result
of continuous efforts by the mayor and his team,” Artur Sarukhanyan,
deputy head of the municipality’s public relations department, told
ArmeniaNow. “To say that nothing had been done before to beautify
the city would not be true but I guess timing matters. We should
not forget that Yerevan is now a separate community with its own
budget (before it was under the state’s administration), which is
highly important. Naturally, what matters the most is effective work
management, when goals are set, objectives defined, actions taken,
and persistence in making sure the job gets done.”
He says that just like any other city Yerevan is a living-breathing
organism. Times dictate its demands and the city has to obey one way
or another, the issue is that sometimes the demands and the financial
means do not match.
Sarukhanyan says that mayor Taron Margaryan has set a goal to
gradually restore Yerevan’s former green zone, which is being done
step-by-step. He also points out that Margaryan is the youngest among
all the mayors Yerevan has had so far in the post-Soviet area, which
is also an important factor.
“Yet early this year all our departments and sub-departments got
replenished with new professional staff in landscape and greening
design. Today we can see the results of their work – the green
butterfly, the book, the frog, the crocodile, the piano, the saxophone,
etc” he says, in reference to large topiaries sculpted througout the
city. “The mayor has returned to Yerevan one of its best features –
its drinking fountains, which are monuments, but also practical.”
One of the first noticeable efforts was the painting of the many
archways leading from Yerevan streets into residential and business
yards. Today, most city-center archways have colorfully-painted scenes,
often depicting a fragment of area history.
This year 692 benches and 532 litter bins have been installed, 118
archways painted. Sarukhanyan says such ideas are the result of daily
brainstorming by staff at City Hall.
“It’s natural that the beautification and landscaping started from the
city center; many disagree but I believe it’s the right solution in
all terms – from population density to tourism,” says Sarukhanyan,
adding that the work will spread to all parts of the capital. For
example, landscaping has been done in Nor Nork and an artificial
waterfall installed in Davitashen.
Within the framework of “Our Geniuses Next to Us” the municipality
has installed statues of prominent Armenian writers Paruyr Sevak
and Hrant Matevosyan on the benches that have “Yerevan” encrusted
on their elaborate metallic parts. On September 20, beloved Armenian
poet Yeghishe Charents’s and popular actor Mher Lazarian’s statues
were placed on the benches in Charges Aznavour Square. On September
28, Mher Lazarian’s statue was vandalized but in just a few days’
time got repaired and re-installed.
The first stage of installing statues will be completed on October
14: by then five more statues (the total is nine) will be placed in
different parts of Yerevan.
>From the facades of many buildings today instead of billboards,
prominent faces of world literature – William Saroyan, Russian
poets Marina Tsvetayeva and Anna Akhmatova and others keep an eye
on passersby.
“Nothing is done accidentally; the installation of writers’ portraits
has to do with the fact that Yerevan is the World Book Capital 2012.
This is an introduction of a new culture, which is of educational
value for the younger generations,” says Sarukhanyan.
Coming soon, says the spokesman, will be WiFi connection at all parks
and public areas, and a second 3D street painting – there is one in
front of Moscow Cinema – in front of Swan Lake.
Lighting has been a big part of the renovation, with historic buildings
and monuments and bridges having been given accent lighting.
“With its color and light solutions, I can say for sure, that Yerevan
is no worse than any other city in the world, and maybe even better,”
says Sarukhanyan. “All our courtyards are illuminated. In a few years
we won’t have a courtyard that hasn’t been tended to and beautified.
At first site it all seems like simple things, but if we mentally go
5-10 years back, we’ll see that this is all the result of everyday
tedious work.”
On October 14, the Erebuni-Yerevan celebration events will commence
with the now-traditional parade of water-spraying trucks, followed
by the washing of monuments with the help of student volunteers.
At 8:30 a.m. the traffic will be stopped in the small center of
the city. In the 26 squares and platforms of Yerevan, concerts,
related exhibitions, book reading and other events will be held to
be completed with an evening gala-concert in Republic Square.
For the festivities of that day the state budget has allotted 90
million drams ($225,000).
From: A. Papazian
http://armenianow.com/society/features/40359/yerevan_municipality_taron_margaryan_changes