Gyumri

Gyumri is the second city of Armenia and, to many Armenians, its cultural conscience — a place known for craftsmen, comedians and a dialect of its own. The historic Kumayri district holds well over a thousand protected buildings, most of them raised in the nineteenth century from the local black and orange tuff.

The 1988 Spitak earthquake destroyed much of the city and killed tens of thousands across the region. Reconstruction took decades, and its traces are still visible; the memory shapes how the city speaks about itself.

What survives is one of the most atmospheric urban landscapes in the Caucasus: carved wooden doors, courtyard houses, and Vardanants Square with its twin churches facing each other across the open ground.