The Armenian culture

The Armenian culture has a history of thousand years. Armenia, being one of the developed countries of Western Aria, has always served as a cultural donor for surrounding nations. Old myths, traditions, religious beliefs, materials discovered during the archeological excavations have served as a source of information about the old Armenian culture so far. Today a tourist can see more than 5000 historical monuments in Armenia. There are more than 40 museums and galleries in the capital city of Yerevan only. During Hellenistic period, the Armenian, culture together with the country, prospered increasingly reaching its top. Tens of small and large cities were built in Armenia, material culture, arts, crafts and sculpture came to develop. The theatre has been popular in Armenia since the 3rd century BC. There were theatres nearly in every large city of Armenia. Later in future the Armenian theatre would come to develop and prosper even more. A new swing was taken in building fortresses and temples in the country of Armenia… Garni is the one unique beautiful temple that has preserved till now. The bronze statue of goddess Anahit, which is kept in the British museum, is famous of the material culture. Many values of material culture of that period are kept in the museum of history of Yerevan. The Armenian music is famous to the world for its wonderful gems. The sacred music – the sharakans - are very famous. The compositions by Sayat-Nova, Komitas, Aram Khachaturyan enjoy worldwide fame. In the capital city of Yerevan, there are such “art-smithies”, like State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Chamber Music Hall, Philharmonic Hall… The role of Literature was crucial in the life of Armenian people. The Armenians created literary culture in cuneiforms as early as thousands of years ago. The Armenian literature prospered after Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet in 405. The Armenians created and inherited a rich literary heredity to the world. In Matenadaran, which is in the capital city of Yerevan, nearly twenty thousand ancient manuscripts are kept, which is the living testimony of the fact that not only science, but also highly developed crafts and arts did exist in ancient Armenia. Especially Armenian science reached its top. Tens of universities functioned in Medieval Armenia. The Armenians created miniature paintings thousands of years ago. This branch of art especially developed in the middle ages in works of applied art and in Armenian bibliography. The incomparable works of medieval manuscript illuminators Toros Roslin and Sarkis Pitsak are famous. As many of the European researches claim, European Renaissance started from Armenia. Among Armenian painters Martiros Saryan, Minas Avetisyan, Ivan Aivazovsky, Arshil Gorky, Garzou, Jansem enjoy worldwide fame… Carpet weaving, carpet making are the most developed of applied art, beautiful samples of which might be obtained in Armenia even today. Applied art does not restrict with this only, it is diverse and includes many aspects: stone-working, metal-processing… The Armenian khachkar (cross stone) is world famous. Commonly, the stone exploiting technology was on high level in Armenian since the ancient times. The monuments of Armenian architecture evidences that: Etchmiadzin, Tatev, Sanahin, Haghpat, Kobayr… many of these churches, that are included in the list of world heritage of UNESCO, delight not only with their beautiful architecture, but also with frescos. When the foreign specialists called Armenia the “Museum under the open air”, they meant the Armenian architecture. The citizens of the following countries may enter the Republic of Armenia without an entry visa: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Malta, UK, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic Portugal Romania, Slovakia. Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Iran, Lebanon, Korea, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Montenegro. Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Uruguay, China, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Syria, Vietnam, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Philippines.