Talk: “Untold Stories of Urban Armenia” – American Research Institute of the South Caucasus

On November 21, 2024, at 6:30 PM, join the Armenian Institute in person or online for their event “Untold Stories of Urban Armenia”. Dr. Sarhat Petrosyan will provide a historical overview of urbanization in Armenia and share insights from fascinating research projects he’s been part of, particularly on the Soviet-style atomic city of Metsamor.

Metsamor, initially established in 1969 in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, was designed as a settlement for employees of a planned nuclear power plant. Though the plant was never completed, Metsamor’s brief existence and subsequent decay have left it as a compelling subject of study. The research team documented this utopian city from multiple perspectives, including Armenian cultural and architectural history, the typology of Soviet atomic cities, and the phenomenon of modern ruins. Dr. Petrosyan will guide us through this exploration to reveal what makes Armenian Soviet Modernism of the 1960s and ’70s so distinctive.

This event is part of Living | Building | Together: The Armenian Institute’s Festival of Architecture, funded by the British Council.

in the U.S.:
American Research Institute of the South Caucasus
c/o Talin Lindsay
Dept. of Anthropology
Purdue University
700 Mitch Daniels Blvd.
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Email us at info “at” arisc.org

in Armenia:
ARISC Armenia Resident Director
Address: 7 Mkhitar Heratsi Street, Yerevan 0025, Armenia
Email us at armenia “at” arisc.org

in Georgia:
ARISC Georgia Resident Director
Address: 33 Paliashvili St., Tbilisi 0179, Georgia
Email us at georgia “at” arisc.org

in Azerbaijan:
ARISC Azerbaijan Resident Director
Email us at azerbaijan “at” arisc.org