Yeghishe Charents House-Museum

17 Mashtots Street, Yerevan +53-55-94

The outstanding Soviet Armenian poet Yegishe Charents (1897-1937) lived on Mashdots Avenue, in No. 17 on the second floor. His flat has been made into a museum, which is visited by thousands of the poet’s admirers and visitors to the city.

YEGHISHE CHARENTS MEMORIAL-HOUSE

"The shining names of poets grace our age. In Britain that name is Kipling, in France—Apollinaire and Eluard, in Germany—Rilke, in Spain— Garcia Lorca, in Russia—Mayakovsky and Yessenin, in Armenia—Charents and Issahakian.

Louis Aragon

The festive inauguration ceremony of January 10, 1975 marked the foundation of the Yeghishe Charents memorial-house in the poet's three-room fiat in Yerevan. There are copious specimens on the life and literary career of the poet. His rich library, desk and some of his personal effects were transferred here from the museum of literature and art. Today the memorial house is in possession of everything that has been preserved since the poet's death.

Though unpretentious in dimension the museum places on display a wide range of objects that characterize the basic periods of his life and literary endeavours. Initially the viewers get familiar with the author's early and young adult years, his first verses and collections: "Three Songs about the Melancholy Girl", "Dante Legend", printed in 191?—1916. On view are his works produced with revolutionary fervour: "Soma", "The Maddened Mob", "A Poem of Poems". Y. Charents perceived the salvation and bright future of the hard-pressed Armenian people in the victory of the October Revolution. Letters, photographs and documents in numbers illustrate the author's stay in Moscow, his trips to Turkey, Italy, France, Germany and the composition of such ardent poems as "Lenin and Ali", "Istanbul", "The Wall of the Communards in Paris", "Elegy Written in Venice" and others. In a letter to A. Myasnikian from Istanbul this is what he wrote in 1925: "And here I'm strolling in this atmosphere watching the life of the 'cosmic bourgeoisie', and my heart swells with joy that I'm a bolshevik, a communist, member of the Leninist organization".

Particular stands are devoted to such topics as "Charents and World Literature", "Charents and Russian Literature", "Charents and Komitas", "Charents and Fine Arts."

The handsomely designed stands and show cases illustrate the untiring publishing and public activities of Charents, his connections with famous men of arts and letters.

The spectators can also view the workroom reproducing the shape it had in the last years of the poet's life.

As the celebrations for the 80th birth anniversary of Y. Cha-rents were underway, one more room was added to the museum where prominent artists' canvases based on Y. Charents' topics, are exhibited. It is in this room that public gatherings are organized.