OPERA’S AND BALLET’S BUILDING

Stella Sarkhoshyan

One eminent building in Yerevan is the Opera House designed by Alexandr Tamanyan. His original blueprint of the Opera House was awarded the Gold Medal in Paris in 1937, a year after his death.

Tamanyan found an original way of placing two halls in one building: an opera hall ,which seats 1260 people, and a concert hall seating 1400. The Opera Hall in named after the great composer Alexander Spendiarov- the founder of the Armenian opera. The Concert Hall is named after the great composer Aram Khachaturyan.

The square in front of the Opera House is called Theatrical Square. It is a big opera area lined with trees. There are the monuments to two great Armenians in the square.One is the monument to Armenian writer and public figure Hovhannes Toumanyan, and the other is the monument to Spendiarov. Spendiarov's grave is close by, in the shade of trees.

The Opera overlooks a green area of parks. Today it is a favorite place for both young and old people. There are open-air cafes where the young can enjoy their coffee, juice and ice-cream in hot summer evenings.People walk out their dogs. Children ride bicycles. There is a pool near the Opera House called Swan Lake. It has the shade of Lake Sevan. There are usually two or tree swans swimming in the lake,and children enjoy feeding them with crumbs right out of their hands.

. In winter time the pool serves as a skating rink.The parks surrounding the Opera House contain several monuments to the great sons of Armenia: Komitas,Martiros Saryan, Sayat Nova, Arno Babajanyan.

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