Memorial of Mother Armenia

The memorial is located in the “Victory” park. It was built to commemorate the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War.  The memorial was opened on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet order in Armenia on November 29, 1950. A 17–meter statue of I. Stalin, made of forged copper, was installed on the pedestal. The author of the statue was the People’s Artist of the USSR, Sergei Merkurov. In 1961, the statue of Stalin was dismantled, and in 1967, a 22– meter statue made of forged copper, “Mother Armenia”, created by the People’s Artist of Armenia, sculptor Ara Harutyunyan, was installed there. The model for the statue was Armenian teacher Yevgenia Muradyan (born in 1942). The statue embodies the collective image of an unbending military spirit, the guardian angel of the motherland, the Armenian mother. The monument was designed according to the structure of the Armenian three-nave basilica church. Its total height is 51 m, the sculpture is 22 m, and the sword is 11 m. The pedestal, in contrast to its cold, rectangular exterior, is an Armenian domed, three-story church from the inside. It is built of black tuff. The decorated arches and capitals and the door of forged copper give the monument magnificence, and from the four high open corner balconies the whole panorama of the capital can be seen. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Victory, the museum ”Armenia in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945” was opened in 1970 on an area of ​​about 3,000 m² inside the pedestal. In 1995, it was renamed the “Mother Armenia” military museum of the RA Ministry of Defence and came under the authority of the RA Ministry of Defence.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, made of basalt, polished granite and pink tuff, with an eternal flame of memory of those who died in the Great Patriotic War in 1941–45, the Grove of Heroes, leading to it, as well as alleys dedicated to Marshal Baghramyan and Russian border guards, are also part of the memorial complex. On the axis of the eternal flame, on the granite slab, installed near the obelisk holding the upper platform, is an inscription: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal”.
On May 9, on the 40th anniversary of the Great Victory, the solemn opening of the Alley of Heroes and the reconstructed Tomb of the Unknown Soldier took place (architect: R. Israelyan;  architects: Ashot Aleksanyan, Anahit Navasardyan).