Sardarapat memorial museum (1968) symbolizes the historical importance that the battle of Sardarapat had in preserving Armenia and its ancient culture.

The museum was founded by the law accepted by the Parliament of the first republic of Armenia. It was called National anthropological museum-library. On August 20th, 1921 it was opened for the visitors. It was formed on the basis of collections of Caucasian Armenian Ethnographic company, museums of Armenian antiquities of Nor Nakhchevan, Antiquity Depository of Ani, Vagharshapat Matenadaran. The national collection consisted of about 400000 items is kept in the State Museum of Armenian History, completing the culture and history of Armenia coming from pre-historic times.

Sardarapat memorial museum (1968) symbolizes the historical importance that the battle of Sardarapat had in preserving Armenia and its ancient culture. The bell tower was built according to the tradition that all the church bells from Sardarapat to Vagharshapat and Yerevan rang to gather people and keep them sharp and steady. 

To the left from the Sardarapat memorial there is an eth nographical museum which was opened in 1978 on 13th of September and exhibits historical and cultural objects from Armenia's heritage. 

The author of the monument is a renown architect Raphael Israelyan. Without windows, it resembles a fortress. There are two openings in the towers of the building: one faces Aragats and the other – Ararat. There are more than 70000 items on a display i ncluding main exhibitions dedicated to the national culture and history of the heroic May battles. 

The museum is divided into 5 exhibits. One of them contains archeological items of ancient and medieval art, crafts, religion and worship. Displayed are ethnographic instruments, crafts, rugs and carpets, furniture, lace and embroidery, national costumes and jewelry, items related to fam ily, national cuisine and calendar. 

Museum also has photographs, paintings, documents, archive materials as well as objects of decorative art and other ethnic arts and crafts. In the Armenian ethnographic museum remarkable is the archeological collection that contains more than 7000 objects. It displays bronze statuettes of the late Bronze and early Iron Ages, a III millennium B.C. bust of a tribe head that lived in the Armenian highlands, a clay fireplace and various weaponry. 

The gem of the archeological collection is a ladle dating from the Bronze Ages which was found in the late Bronze Age sepulchre located in Berd village, Lori. A priest buried in the same sepulchre used this ladle when performing rituals. A sculptural composition of a deer group repr esents the late Bronze Age art of Armenia. It was made by a local craftsman and was used in the rituals as a worship object. The collection of fabrics is the biggest in the museum. 

There are more than 8000 items representing rugs, embroidery, lace and costumes. The oldest item in the carpet collection dates back to the XVIIth century. The fabrics collection has more than 1600 items and represents everyday and festive attire of the Armenian peasant and urban population. There are more than 2500 lace works, embroidered towels and tablecloths, and 150 tapestries . 

The collection of more than 4500 tools and various objects representing centuries old traditions of primary and secondary economic activities, housekeeping and crafts allows us to have a good picture of the Armenian economic life and culture. Out of 360 music instruments 290 are folk, including 100 string, 159 brass and 31 percussions. 16 belong to other cultures. The oldest instrumenst of the collection are the copper cymbals from1689 and 1696 that are marked with Armenian inscriptions.

fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti http://www.armeniancarpets.am/

colaboração: 

Agapi Yeganyan