Cascade
The Cascade is a huge white structure and stairwell built into a Yerevan hillside in the 1970s, with water fountains on each level, reminiscent of a natural cascade in a river or stream. It connects the central district to Haghtanak Park and the Monument Neighborhood.
Although its original intent was as a monument, beginning in the 1990s the Cascade was home to a very progressive discotheque. Currently, in the summer months, the stairs are popular to spend time on, or as a way to get from one neighborhood to another. A stage is setup at the bottom of the steps a few times a year and the steps become a venue for free outdoor concerts.
The Cascade is emerging as one of the focal points in Yerevan, similar to the Republic Square. It offers spectacular views of Mount Ararat and the city center. It is also popular with joggers. It is not obvious that the structure has escalators, but there are entrances to it at every level, as well as modern art installations and halls. Most of the halls require a ticket purchase at the bottom of the escalator to see the exhibitions.
The structure was privatized by Gerard Cafesjian in the early 2000s. The interior and exterior became display spaces for the Cafesjian Museum of Contemporary Art. Some statues by various artists have already been brought in and placed all along the monument, including works by Lynn Chadwick, Barry Flanagan, Stanislav Libensky and Jaroslava Brychtova, and Paul Cox. There are two statues by Fernando Botero a black cat at the bottom and a Roman Warrior at the top platform. The unfinished top of the stairs was turned into a construction site for a large new museum complex, but that work was abandoned after a couple of years, and after over a decade of the area remaining a derelict construction site, in 2022 the area above the original stairs was turned back over to the city of Yerevan so that that it could be completed.
View of the Yerevan city center from the top of Cascade.
View of concert at Cascade from steps.
Flowerbeds of Cascade.
Plans for completion
The construction of the Cascade complex was incomplete at the time of the collapse of the USSR and halted at that time. Since the early 2000s, plans to complete the complex have evolved.
Cafesjian - David Hotson plans
In 2004, Gerard Cafesjian announced that he had chosen David Hotson's plans to complete the Cascade complex. A large groundbreaking party was held, and construction began. As construction prices in Armenia skyrocketed, and work went slowly, eventually the plans became too expensive and the project halted in a massive mess of concrete, rusty rebar and cranes. In 2022 the construction site was turned back over to the city in this condition.
David Hotson proposal
Cafesjian Museum plan
Yerevan Municipality - Wilmotte & Associés plans
After recovering the abandoned construction site in 2022, the city held a competition for new plans for the site at the top of Cascade with public voting. The design by Wilmotte & Associés won the competition. A tender was held for the construction, which was won in October 2025 by the sole bidder on the tender - a consortium of four companies, including one American firm, which submitted a proposal worth 20.046 billion AMD.
Wilmotte & Associés proposal
Wilmotte & Associés proposal
Map
External links
- http://www.cmf.am - Cafesjian Museum Foundation