Cascade Yerevan

                                       Yerevan’s Cascade

Right in the heart of Yerevan stands a towering monument of art and design built into the northern slope of the city.  It is called the Cascade, and it’s home to the Cafesjian Center for the Arts.  The monument is comprised of a series of escalators and exterior stairs that “cascade” down from the Monument neighborhood to the lower Kentron district near Yerevan’s Opera House.  There is remarkable art to behold at several levels along the journey.  But this ambitious project seemed like a distant dream for decades before its completion.

Shaky BeginningsThe visionary Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan first conceived of the idea for the Cascade, but he died in 1936 and Cascade construction didn’t begin until the 1980s.  The devastating earthquake that shook Spitak, Armenia in 1988 and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union diverted municipal funds and attention away from the project. It sat unfinished for more than a decade until Armenian-American businessman Gerard Cafesjian revived it in 2002.  At long last, construction was finally finished on the Cascade in 2009.

Art, Inside and OutWhat visitors see today when they visit the Cascade are sweeping views of Yerevan and its surrounding areas; Mount Ararat’s twin peaks make an appearance on a good day. There’s world class art at every turn.

From the outdoor sculpture park featuring unmistakable works by Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero to several indoor galleries which house pieces by artists ranging from Marc Chagall to pop art founding father James Rosenquist, the collection is rich and varied.  But the true wealth of the Cafesjian catalogue lies in the vast amount of glass art on display.  The center boasts collections by Dale Chihuly and Czech duo Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, all influential figures in the world of glass.

You can take the escalators all the way up to check out the view before the sunset,slowly descending the 572 external steps admiring each sculpture I pass on the way down and feeling a million miles away from the buzz of the city.Yerevan is a rapidly changing and modernizing city, but to stand on the steps of the Cascade and watch it from afar, there is nothing but stillness to behold. The Cascade is a gem among monuments for its beauty, accessibility, scale and scope.  It is a dream come true for Yerevan and its visitors.

Add caption