Erebuni Fortress and Museum
Urartian citadel of 782 BC on Arin Berd hill, with a museum of finds at the foot of the slope.
The fortress on the hill of Arin Berd was founded in 782 BC by the Urartian king Argishti I, whose cuneiform foundation inscription records the building of the city of Erebuni to control the Ararat plain. The citadel held a columned audience hall, a temple of the god Khaldi, storerooms for wine and grain, and a palace court; fragments of wall painting in red, blue and white survive from these rooms. The inscription's date is conventionally taken as the founding of Yerevan, from which the modern city takes its name.
Systematic excavation began in 1950 and the museum at the foot of the hill opened in 1968 for the city's 2,750th anniversary, in a basalt-faced building designed by Shmavon Azatyan and decorated with reliefs and a mosaic. Its collection of several thousand objects includes cuneiform tablets and inscribed stones, bronze and iron weapons, jewellery, seals and pottery from Erebuni and the nearby site of Teishebaini. Visitors can walk through the excavated citadel above the museum.
Highlights
- Cuneiform foundation inscription of King Argishti I, dated 782 BC
- Excavated columned hall, temple of Khaldi and palace storerooms
- Fragments of Urartian wall painting in the citadel rooms
- Museum collection of cuneiform tablets, bronzes and Urartian pottery
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