The famous park, which has been neglected for more than 30 years after the devastating Spitak earthquake in 1988, is being reconstructed on the initiative of the Tourism and Urban Development Charitable Foundation (TUF). When developing the design concept of the park, the valuable memories and suggestions of Gyumri residents were taken into account, in order to “preserve the old attractive spirit of the park” and to find new original solutions. 84 applications have been submitted to the International Competition for Architectural Solutions of Garden Recreation Infrastructure Elements from 16 countries and 37 cities. The winner in the nominations the "Standard Architectural Elements" and "Unique Architectural Element", was recognized IND Architects. Also, special benches will be placed in the park by the design of SULIMAN, RAKOVSKAYA & SOFOYAN studio, which won the nomination for "Small Architectural Forms". And so, let us start our tour in the revitalizing park from the entrance of the park. The official entrance to the park was in front of the former Shirak Hotel, where the entrance arches are still standing. The park will have a sports ground with its own infrastructure, a playground and amusement rides, a reservoir or an artificial pond and a skating rink for winter fun. The novelty and the key part of the park will be the Vernissage with its 25 unique exhibition pavilions and the School of horticulture. The Friendship Park reconstruction program also envisages the construction of a new open-air stage, which will be located in the central square of the park, together with the café. The spacious stage will be surrounded by a green area, and the continuation of the hill behind the stage will be seen then. It is planned to build a make-up room near the stage, as well as a separate area for storing equipment and tools. The construction of some objects of the park is planned to be completed in the middle of September of this year, after which the park will be open to the residents of Gyumri and the guests of the city. And at the end of 2023 it is planned to put the whole park into operation. Within the framework of the Friendship Park program, a participatory design was developed for the first time in Armenia. The park is being reconstructed with active involvement of local residents’ memories and ideas. The restored Friendship Park will promote the development of the city's infrastructure, acting as a bridge between Gyumri's historic center, Kumayri, and its "industrial and residential districts."

In the quietest and sunniest part of Dilijan, a complex of cottages was built with modern architectural solutions and according to modern construction standards. The attractive feature of the complex is, that you can live and relax in a cottage, as well as rent it out through Dili Town Resort and Spa, at an interest rate of 70/30, 70% of which will be yours. All the cottages have a patio and a garage. Owners and guests on preferential terms will be able to use the services of the Dili Town Resort and Spa hotel complex: swimming pool, sauna, gym, restaurant, laundry, etc. Because the whole initiative was quite attractive, the cottages are already sold out. But since there are many people who want to become business partners of Dili Town, investors also took up the construction of an apartment building, which will be put into operation as a hotel.> Hotel suites, like the cottages, are offered with interior decoration and full furniture with the same percentage ratio of 70/30. 30% of the amount must be paid first, and the rest of the sum is distributed in parallel with the construction process in the form of equal monthly payments, without any additional fees and interest. In the middle of the cottages and the residential building, Dili Town Resort and Spa complex will be built with an outdoor pool, a conference hall, children's playground, a restaurant and cafe, as well as an indoor pool, Finnish and Russian bathhouses and sauna. The architectural solution of the exterior of Dili Town is implemented in accordance with the architecture of Dilijan. Both Dili Town Resort and Spa Complex cottages and the residential building have suspended wooden balconies typical for Dilijan. The interior of the cottages and the building is decorated with natural plants. The residential building - hotel is planned to be put into operation in 2023.

Yereruyk, the dilapidated temple dated IV-VI centuries, located on the left bank of Akhuryan gorge, in Anipemza community of Shirak region, can be built up, in case of available financing. The temple is a huge basilica, which together with Anipemza settlement on March 16, 2016 was included in the list of the seven UNESCO monuments under the greatest threat of extinction in Europe in 2015. About a month ago, within the framework of an agreement signed between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian National University of Architecture and Construction, a complex of design work was developed to strengthen the Yereruyk temple, the vaults of the mausoleum, restoration of the Anipemza House of Culture and the creation of a small museum. Professor Emma Harutyunyan, PhD in Architecture, Associate Professor, Scientific Director of the Engineering Academy of Armenia, told us about the excavations and the temple. “During numerous excavations in the Yereruyk temple, early Christian tombs and caves were discovered, including graves of infants. After excavations in 2011, archaeologist Patrick Tonapetyan said that this is somehow connected with the nature of the temple, since it is dedicated to John the Baptist, and according to people, he allowed unbaptized children to be buried there... Studying the results of previous excavations, I was amazed by the fact that the huge temple has practically no foundation, it is built on two rows of small stones, stacked on top of each other. In addition, the stairs of the temple, which are mostly typical of pagan temples such as the Garni temple, are not a pedestal here, but were built to give the temple more solemnity and grandeur… The Yereruyk temple is now in an extremely dangerous state, we can say that it is on the verge of collapse, because over the years the temple has undergone some changes, the stones on the top of the walls have collapsed. Seismic calculations have shown that the most dangerous part, which is still on the verge of collapse, is the southwestern part of the temple. Here, the stone mortars will be treated with a special solution to strengthen the stone walls, some new stones must be added to the walls to give strength to this part of the temple, and special measures will be taken to strengthen the walls with basalt reinforcement bars… In the mausoleum, we plan to strengthen the vaults, add coverings to protect from atmospheric influences. In Anipemza, a village near the Yereruyk temple, there is a small non-functioning house of culture. We have planned the reconstruction of this building in order to create a museum where the most valuable fragments of the temple will be exhibited. Unfortunately, Yereruyk has few visitors. If the project is implemented, it will contribute to the development of tourism. People would visit Yereruyk and Anipemza, will get acquainted with our history and culture.”

Eco Techno District in Gyumri Recently, more and more investment programs are becoming popular in Gyumri, the second largest city and cultural center of our republic. According to the Facebook page of the Gyumri municipality, an eco-district will be built in the city, and the investor is Todd Fabacher from New-York, representing the Digital Pomegranate company. In accordance with the agreement approved at the meeting of the Council of Elders of Gyumri on May 14, the company will be provided with a plot of 21 hectares for the implementation of the program - the former military unit Huri Gund. "The project was presented to the Council of Elders, according to the decision of which the land plot was allocated to the company for the construction of a green city," the press secretary of the Mayor of Gyumri Sona Arakelyan said in a telephone conversation with us. It is worth noting that there is a lake formed by groundwater on the territory, which will be included in the project, in addition, it is planned to fill the territory with parks and lakes. It is also planned to create sites for IT startups. From a telephone conversation with the director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development and Environmental Enterprises “District” Gayane Ghandilyan, we learned that after the start of work on the project, the sketch submitted to the Council of Elders can be changed and supplemented. ˝We presented to the Council of Elders the concept of the planned area, that is, what we plan to implement. It is clear that after the research work there will be deviations from this sketch˝. It should be noted that the program is planned to be implemented in stages, during the first three years the existing buildings on the territory will be reconstructed. Of course, investment programs are the most important factors in the development of urban planning, reflecting the unique stages of city life. However, everything should be in the context of the existing urban image. Each settlement has its own foundations, which have been formed over the centuries. The weakening of the foundations leads to the destruction of the city and the loss of identity. Analyzing the abovementioned, it becomes clear that the implementation of any project, especially in historical cities, requires cultural, historical, urban planning, archaeological, serious, professional, in-depth research, on the basis of which a draft design must be drawn up. Has such research been carried out or not, especially in the field of archeology? ˝Such studies have not yet been carried out. After the lease of the site, when geological work will be carried out, excavations will be planned. We will work with the chief architect of Gyumri city Henrik Gasparyan and architect-designer Ani Yenokyan, who will conduct research to find out what specific details and attributes of Gyumri we will have in the District. But nevertheless, we will not repeat the style of the historic city, that is, it will differ from what a tourist sees in the city center. The new district will have a more modern look, but it will definitely reflect the typical Gyumri details in our branding. Each café or restaurant in that part should fit the branding of the District,- said the Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development and Environmental Enterprises "District" Gayane Ghandilyan.

Ancient architectural, construction and cultural findings have always fascinated and continue to amaze us. The director of historical and archaeological museum-reserve “Erebuni” Mikael Badalyan told us about the recent excavations near the ancient hill Karmir Blur. - We are closely cooperating with the construction company building the North-South highway on the matter of the site connecting Shirak street with Argavand highway, where fragments of clay utensils were found. As a result, construction work on this site was suspended and we began control preventive excavations, as a result of which we were able to fix archaeological layers, containing different ceramics, where in the same context the “Urartian elite” and the local, so-called “polished” ceramics are combined. Besides, another structure was excavated with regular rows, parallel to each other, made of crushed stone, filled with river pebbles … This can be a wall or part of a tomb, or a platform … Also we found in the layer the bottom of a clay amphora. Obviously, they made a hole to place this amphora in the layer of river pebbles … The amphora may have been intended for cremation or other purposes. The main thing is that we have discovered a layer of human activity of the 7th-6th centuries BC on the outskirts of Karmir Blur. - And how many layers are there on the territory of Karmir Blur? - There are layers of pre-Urartian and Urartian periods, as well as structures of the late Bronze and early Iron ages, with semicircular and square layouts, on which the people of Urartu used to build their houses in the 7th century BC. In 2019, together with Armenian-Austrian expedition, we managed to fix also a post-Urartian layer, which I consider to be a very important achievement … In addition, there is a fairly rich medieval layer. In the upper part of Karmir Blur there was a chapel, that did not persist. Most likely, it was a medieval chapel. Initially, Karmir Blur - as a monument of the Urartian period, was known for this chapel... And I would not be surprised if it turns out that this chapel was built on the base of the Urartian Susi temple, as we found the cuneiform cornerstones of the Susi temple in Karmir Blur. In addition, coins of Georgian Queen Tamara and medieval ceramics were discovered. The interesting fact is, that few years ago we decided to plant cedars in front of the museum building. Digging the holes, we came across pottery and stopped digging. It turned out that it was a pottery of Kura-Araxes period, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. - Could the find during excavations be the basis for changing this part of the North-South project? - Yes, it could, if we found a serious monumental structure… This could be a tomb, palace, castle, some piece from prehistoric period. After all, Yerevan is a mosaic that is not fully known to us. … In general, very few excavations have been carried out on the territory of Yerevan. Mostly these are accidental discoveries. For example, ancient Urartian tomb near Yerevan-mole was discovered in 1984, when during the construction of auto parts factory the builders found several slabs. Another accidental discovery is Dzoraberd fortress next to Mergelyan Institute.