Reconstruction of Yerevan underpasses was one of the most important issues of the capital, and recently the problem seems to be resolved. The municipality informed, that 300,0 mln AMD was allocated for the implementation of the project, and now reconstruction works are underway in three underpasses. Currently, major renovation works are underway in the underpasses of Halabyan-Leningradyan crossroads, Marshal Baghramyan metro station and near the Victoy park. According to the announcement posted on the municipality website, «The underpass at the intersection of Grigor Lusavorich and Mashtots avenues has been partly reconstructed by means of Yerevan municipality for the comfort of pedestrians. The lighting has also been refurbished». Work on this passage will be continued after new design approved. In response to our question whether the underground repair program will be ongoing, the municipality answered: “Yes, the program will be continuous. Some underpasses are planned to be renovated in 2020».

The historical monument-building at 2 Amiryan street was built in 1896, designed by architect Michael von der Nonne. At first, there was a male gymnasium here, and then, starting from 1936, there functioned the library named after Avetik Isahakyan. Now the building is being reconstructed. Here the Holiday Inn hotel will open its doors. The hotel will have 6 floors from Amiryan street: two glazed and two stone floors will be added to the two historical floors. The upper part of the hotel façade is made of Noyemberyan felsite tufa to fit with the Government House 2, and below, between felsite and historical facades, the glass curtain wall highlights the historical building domination against the general background. «Thus, we aimed to develop the environment by emphasizing the importance and value of these two buildings so that the new ones look secondary on their background»,- explains the architect Isahak Nersisyan. Yerevan Holiday Inn is planned to be a 4-star mid-range hotel occupying a total area of 23700 square meters. The hotel will have 191 rooms, 11 of which will be suites with separate bedrooms and living rooms, the rest are mainly double standard and executive rooms. The hotel will have two entrances, one from Amiryan Street and the other from the inner courtyard, where you can pass through the arch of the historic building. The first floors of the historic building on Amiryan street will be rented out as public spaces. At the top of the building there will be an open-air cafe with Pergola awnings and mobile canopies. The first floor of the second historic building in the inner courtyard will also be given for rent. The hotel complex will have 6-7 floors and 3 underground levels. On the first floor there will be: the hotel lounge, reception, bar, restaurant and other public areas, which are designed in Holiday Inn hotels’ style by open lobby stile, without partition walls. And the functional separation of the areas will be done with design solutions. The second floor of the hotel will be a sophisticated event area with conference rooms of various formats - 3 large and 4 small. From the third floor the hotel rooms are located, designed in a general style specific to Holiday Inn hotels. Isahak Nersisyan, the architect of the project notes, that they have not set the task of making some Armenian accents, the only difference from other Holiday Inn hotels will be the design of the carpets. «The carpets are knitted by special order with Armenian ornaments and with artificial wear and tear for giving them ancient look». On the 7th floor of the hotel there will be fitness and spa center, gyms and a large swimming pool. The interior design of the hotel rooms and corridors was carried out by the NST Architects headed by Isahak Nersisyan and the design of the hotel's public areas, conference halls, fitness center was developed by the Russian AD Design. Archangel architectural studio from Armenia also participated in the work designing the interior courtyard and Jivani restaurant.

It is already two years that the Pantomime Theater in Yerevan has its own building at 21 Gevorg Kochar street at the intersection of Koryun and Gevorg Kochar streets. The house was built in 1950 as part of the printing office in the Book House. It is a two-storey building with a ground-floor socle. In 1995 the lower levels were privatized and since then remained unused, while on the second floor the book house functioned, which in 2017 was moved to the Public Library building. And here on the second floor it is planned to build the theater. The building is a protected monument, so all the necessary conditions for the preservation of the monument building were taken into account in the reconstruction project. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia has already endorsed the project of reinforcement, renovation and modification of the monument-building of Yerevan State Pantomime Theater, designed by Astichan LLC (architect Khachatur Grigoryan). The Pantomime Theater has been provided with an area of 950 square meters. It will consist of two blocks: theater block (320 square meters) and administrative block (630 square meters). The theater block, with its stage and auditorium, will be located in the building overlooking Koryun Street. In fact, the stage is the heart of the theatre. That is why the art director of the pantomime theater Zhirayr Dadasyan gives a great importance to the convenience of the stage and its compliance with the stage requirements. «Pantomime theater has its genre peculiarities: more chamber style, where body language and mimicry are present, and therefore, the distance between the stage and the audience should not exceed 100-130m. In this project we tried to create all the necessary conditions for the stage, to have a backstage to ensure the proper work of the theater. This is why our stage takes up quite a lot of space»։ The size of the stage will be 9,5x10,5m, the auditorium will be for 133 people (10,2x11,8m). Also, there will be light and sound control room, the lobby, the corridor and the canteen. The administrative block will include: makeup rooms, dressing rooms, wardrobes, rehearsal room, offices, and WCs. The entrance to the theater is located in the middle of the building. The existing public use staircase will be rebuilt and an elevator will function for people with disabilities. The entrance of the theatre is far enough away, people must walk about 50m through the administrative corridor. By the way, the yard of the monument-building overlooking Koryun Street also has a porch and a staircase, which would be more convenient for the theater as it leads directly to the theater hall. Anyway, it belongs to the owner of the lower floors and can serve the theater only as emergency exit. The Urban Development Committee announced the procurement of the theater building reconstruction in August, and the tender is still open.

The new 2.7 km Argavand - Shirak highway construction is planned to be completed in 21 months. «The new road is of strategic importance for Yerevan and Armenia. Today we have four bridges in the capital, and the fifth will be built on Hrazdan River as part of the program. The road will greatly ease the traffic in the capital», - said the mayor of Yerevan signing the bilateral memoranda on construction of the highway. The municipality informed us that within the framework of the investment program on sustainable urban development financed by the Asian Development Bank, the new highway will have 4-6 lanes, the average width of which is 24-28 meters. The project includes 252 meters long and 28 meters wide bridge construction across Hrazdan River, as well as the construction of a single lane at the intersection of Isakov and Babajanyan streets. During construction works all the transport routes will be substituted. It should be noted, that the road Argavand-Shirak is part of the western ring road of Yerevan, connecting also the administrative districts Malatia-Sebastia and Shengavit. Luis Lopez Moloni, the official representative of Spanish company Levantina Inchenieria Costrucio noted, that their staff has a large experience to implement such projects, and ensured, that the works will be finished in due course. According to the project, a new bridge over Hrazdan River will be built from metal structures and will be equipped with a water and oil separator, which will prevent the pollution of the river. The project is being implemented taking into account that the road is located in the historical and cultural district of Karmir Blur, where during the archaeological excavations some ancient tombs were discovered. It is noteworthy, that the archeological monument Karmir Blur was one of the biggest administrative centers of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, the city of Teishebaini.

Although Armenia occupies relatively small territory, there are about 26000 cultural and historical monuments located there. That is, about 1 square kilometer accounts for one historical monument, and this is a great opportunity for development of tourism in the region. The problem is that we do not take full advantage of this opportunity, since almost 80 percent of our historical heritage is in distress, in a dilapidated condition. And if something is being restored, then it is mainly the churches and mainly with private funds, but not the fortresses, caravanserais and other worldly buildings and structures. However, there are happy exceptions, as, for example, in the case of the cave fortress complex Zarni-Parni. The cave fortress of the X century Zarni-Parni is helpless before the destructive power of the time. It would have remained just a name in the list of cultural and historical monuments, but then benefactor Ruben Mesropyan decided to restore it. A group of architects headed by Stepan Nalbandyan prepared the design of the fortress recovery. To date, the first lower fortress-cave of Zarni with an area of 605 square meters has been completely restored. In the cave you can see a museum with ancient household items of the Lori region from the personal collection of R. Mesropyan and ponds where water accumulates from the cliff. A recently built staircase leads to the upper cave Parni. This is a successful experience, which should become a good example of restoration and use of cultural and historical monuments. Stepan Nalbandyan is the vice-president of the Armenian Association of Architects in charge of historical monuments, and the Director of the Armenian branch of the international charity organization "Country and Culture". Within the framework of these two organizations, many restoration works are carried out annually, and mainly churches are being restored. This year the restoration works are pending for the following monuments: the 5th century one nave basilica church Saint Hripsime in Verishen village, Syunik province, Surb Astvacacin church (XVII century) in Lernadzor, Saint Hripsime in Srashen (XVII century) and a V century church in Mirak, Aragatsotn province. The monastery complex of Surb Hovhannes in Meghri has already been consecrated and hosts the believers. This year the restoration and improvement works have finally started in monastery complex Sanahin. It is already 8 years the restoration of the monastery-desert complex Tandzaparakh continues with the help of philanthropists and volunteers of the Armenian branch of the international charity organization “Country and Culture”. The desert is located in 5,5km from Bekh district of Kapan city. Stepan Nalbandyan noted that unfortunately there is very little restoration work implemented within the framework of state projects, and what is being done is often of poor quality and unsuitable for working on such a thin and fragile material. Meanwhile, these monuments are our visit cards in the world of tourism, and their competent restoration is one of the keys to the development of this industry.