from 3 reviews
5-6 hours
Daily Tour
Armenian, English, Russian
This Yerevan walking tour with Matenadaran, Genocide Museum & Vernissage takes you through key cultural and historical sites of Armenia’s capital. The tour usually lasts 5 to 6 hours and includes visits to two museums.
1. The first stop is Matenadaran, a museum of ancient manuscripts, which houses over 23,000 manuscripts and approximately 500,000 archival documents. These manuscripts date back from the 5th century up to the 19th century.
2. The next stop is the Armenian Genocide Museum, built in 1969. First, you will visit the memorial complex of Tsitsernakaberd, where the eternal flame is dedicated to the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide. Surrounding the flame are twelve stele structures that symbolize the provinces where the genocide took place. Next to it is the Resurrection Monument: a stele divided into two parts – the larger part represents Western Armenia, which was lost, and the smaller part represents present-day Armenia.
3. The next stop is Vernissage, an open-air bazaar offering handcrafted souvenirs, silver, carpets, and more.
4. Afterward, the tour continues with a walking tour that includes the Cascade, Opera and Ballet House, and Republic Square – all built according to the plan of the general architect of Armenia, Alexander Tamanyan.
All private tours can be changed upon request.
This walking tour lets you explore Yerevan’s main cultural landmarks, including Matenadaran, the Genocide Museum and Vernissage, all in one easy route.
Your private guide meets you at your hotel in Yerevan for a walking and driving tour of the city's most historically significant sites.
Begin at the Matenadaran - the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts - one of the world's most important repositories of medieval written culture. The collection holds over 23,000 handwritten manuscripts and 100,000 archival documents, including illuminated Armenian gospels of extraordinary beauty dating back to the 5th century, as well as rare texts in Arabic, Persian, Georgian, Latin and Ethiopian. Many of these works survive nowhere else on earth. Your guide will explain the significance of Mesrop Mashtots - the 5th-century scholar who invented the Armenian alphabet - and the role this institution plays in preserving Armenian identity.
Drive to Tsitsernakaberd Hill - the Fortress of Swallows - and visit Armenia's official memorial to the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the 1915 genocide. The eternal flame burns at the center of 12 basalt slabs leaning inward, surrounded by a park where a tree has been planted for each commemorated community. The adjacent Armenian Genocide Museum tells the full story through photographs, documents, eyewitness testimonies and archival film. This is one of the most important and moving sites in Armenia, essential for understanding modern Armenian identity. Free entrance. Open Tuesday to Sunday.
Optional lunch at a local restaurant recommended by your guide in central Yerevan.
Finish at Yerevan's famous Vernissage market - an open-air bazaar in the heart of the city where local artists, craftspeople and antique dealers have gathered every weekend for generations. Handmade jewelry, traditional carpets, painted miniatures, carved wooden objects, Soviet-era curiosities and authentic Armenian souvenirs. The best place in Armenia to find something genuinely made by hand and to understand the living craft traditions of the city.
noisy Yerevan