Cafesjian Center for the Arts
Modern and contemporary art set into the Yerevan Cascade, with sculpture gardens on stepped terraces.
The centre occupies the Cascade, a monumental flight of limestone steps begun in the 1970s to designs by Jim Torosyan, Aslan Mkhitaryan and Sargis Gurzadyan as part of Alexander Tamanian's plan linking the city centre to the Nork heights. Work stopped after the 1988 earthquake and the structure stood unfinished until the American-Armenian businessman Gerard Cafesjian funded its completion. The arts centre opened in November 2009, with galleries fitted into the interior by the architect David Hotson.
The collection is built on the Cafesjian Art Trust and is strong in twentieth-century glass, including work by Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, and in modern sculpture. Fernando Botero's Cat and Roman Ecole's Visitors stand in the courtyard garden, and further pieces are placed along the garden terraces. A chain of escalator halls runs up inside the steps, each with its own display, and the top of the Cascade gives a wide view towards Mount Ararat.
Highlights
- Sculpture courtyard with Botero's Cat and other large-scale works
- Escalator galleries running inside the Cascade steps
- Collection of studio glass from the Cafesjian Art Trust
- Garden terraces and views towards Mount Ararat
