Old photos of Yerevan

Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Its origins are traced to the fortress of Erebuni, founded by the Urartian king Argishti I in the 8th century BC on a hill in the south-east of the present city. For most of the following millennia it was a modest town on the Ararat plain, passing between Persian, Arab, Seljuk, Mongol, Ottoman and Safavid rulers, and it was repeatedly damaged by war and earthquakes. From the 16th to the early 19th century it was the seat of a Persian khanate, with a fortress, mosques and caravanserais.

The Russian Empire captured Yerevan in 1827, and it became a provincial town of low houses and gardens. It was proclaimed the capital of the short-lived Armenian republic in 1918 and of Soviet Armenia in 1920. The architect Alexander Tamanian's plan of the 1920s replaced much of the old town with a radial city of wide avenues and buildings of pink and orange volcanic tuff, giving Yerevan its distinctive colour. The Opera House, Republic Square and the great staircase of the Cascade date from the Soviet period. Armenia became independent in 1991.

Old photographs of Yerevan typically show the Persian-era fortress and mosques, the Hrazdan gorge, tuff-faced buildings rising along new avenues, market scenes and Mount Ararat on the horizon.

What the photos show

The 26 photographs of Yerevan on PlaceWas span 4 decades, from 1960 to 2024. 1 of them were taken before 1980; the other 25 are recent views of the same streets and landmarks.5 spots were photographed more than once, so you can compare the same street, square or building across the years.26 of the photos carry a written caption explaining what is in the frame. Every picture is pinned to the place it was taken, so the map below shows where the photographers stood.