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Theme Week Armenia – Gyumri

Thursday, 25 January 2024 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Asia / Asien
Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Gyumri is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city was known as Alexandropol, it became the largest city of Russian-ruled Eastern Armenia with a population above that of Yerevan. The city became renowned as a cultural hub, while also carrying significance as a major center of Russian troops during Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th century.

The city underwent a tumultuous period during and after World War I. While Russian forces withdrew from the South Caucasus due to the October Revolution, the city became host to large numbers of Armenian refugees fleeing the Armenian Genocide, in particular hosting 22,000 orphaned children in around 170 orphanage buildings. It was renamed Leninakan during the Soviet period and became a major industrial and textile center in Soviet Armenia. The city’s population rapidly grew to above 200,000 prior to the 1988 Spitak earthquake, when it was devastated, with the city’s population being reduced to 121,976 as of the 2011 census. The city was renamed Gyumri under modern independent Armenia soon after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue.

Today, Gyumri continues to grapple with the lasting effects of the 1988 earthquake, but remains known as the cultural hub of Armenia due to the many artists and craftsman who originated from the city. The city is also in particular notable for the large Kumayri historic district that managed to mostly survive the 1988 earthquake, dating back mainly to the 19th century and being one of the few surviving places in the world with authentic urban Armenian architecture.

During the pre-Soviet era, Alexandropol was considered the third-largest trade and cultural center in Transcaucasia after Tiflis and Baku (Yerevan would not rise to prominence until being proclaimed as the capital of independent Armenia in 1918 and the Armenian SSR in 1920). At the end of the 19th century, the population of Alexandropol had grown to 32,100 inhabitants, with a majority of Armenians. The economy of Gyumri is mainly based on industry and construction. However, tourism and banking services are also among the developed sectors in the city. The industrial sector in the provincial center Gyumri includes the production of building materials (tufa and basalt), hosiery and textile manufacturing, food processing and dairy products, alcoholic drinks, electronic machines, etc. The largest industrial plant in Gyumri is the Gyumri-Beer Brewery opened in 1972. The factory produces a variety of lager beer under the brands Gyumri, Ararat and Aleksandrapol. The city is also home to the “Factory of Bending Machinses” opened in 1912, the “Arshaluys” hosiery manufacturing enterprise established in 1926, the “Karhat” machine tools plant opened in 1959, the “Chap Chemical LLC” since 1999, the “Armtex Group” clothing factory since 2000, and the “Lentex” hosiery manufacturing plant is operating since 2001. Other industrial firms of the city include the “Aleqpol” factory for dairy products, the “Anusharan” confectionery plant, and the “Gold Plast” plant for building materials. The nearby village of Akhuryan is home to the “Lusastgh-Sugar” factory (opened in 2010), the largest sugar producers in the Southern Caucasus region.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on armenia.travel – Gyumri: A Day in The Cultural Capital of Armenia, Wikivoyage Gyumri and Wikipedia Gyumri. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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