Poloz Mukuch (real name Mkrtich Ghazarosi Melkonyan, 7 January 1881,

Alexandropol Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly correspondin ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

- 15 February 1931,

Leninakan Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

TSFSR , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

) was a popular Armenian satirist and fabulist from

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

Biography

Mkrtich Melkonyan was born in the family of a blacksmith. Because of his height, Mukuch (a diminutive of Mkrtich) earned the nickname "Poloz" (a colloquial word meaning disproportionally tall). Instead of learning his father's trade, Mukuch, after receiving elementary education, became a "podratchi" (a street trader). He would park his cart at various city sites and, as he sold fruits and melons, he would tell endless witty jokes and funny stories, many of them based on real events, which made him very popular around Gyumri. Contemporaries say that he had a cheerful character, but during working hours his mind was on selling goods and satisfying his customers. He was a very witty man, he made jokes with a serious face without a smile while the people in front of him fainted from laughter. He was a schoolmate of the famous Armenian author

Avetik Isahakyan Avetik Sahak Isahakyan ( hy, Ավետիք Սահակ Իսահակյան; October 30, 1875 – October 17, 1957) was a prominent Armenian lyric poet, writer and public activist. Biography Isahakyan was born in Alexandropol in 1875. He was educ ...

. Many

fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

and funny stories previously attributed to foreign fabulists, are associated with Poloz Mulkuch's name in Armenian circles. In this aspect Poloz Mukuch contributed to nationalization of Armenian verbal satire.

Legacy

As a charismatic person, he attracted the attention of a number of artists. His immense popularity was attested by the whole

population participating in his funeral in 1931.

erected a monument on his tomb, writing that: Another Armenian writer wrote a quatrain about this: Painter Hakob Ananikyan created a series of portraits, for which Poloz Mukuch served as a prototype. Poloz Mukuch served as a prototype for the protagonist in Khachik Dashtents's poem "Phaeton Alek". Poloz Mukuch's statue, made by Narek Samvelyan was opened in Gyumri Holy Savior Church yard in 2012.

Poloz Mukuch Beerhouse Poloz Mukuch is a restaurant and prominent beerhouse in Gyumri, the second-largest city in Armenia. It was opened during the 1960s in Soviet Armenia and located in the historic district of Kumayri. It occupies an old mansion built in the 1860s. T ...

, occupying an old mansion built in the 1860s, was opened in the 1960s in

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

in the historic district of

Kumayri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

, named after Poloz Mukuch. The property was privatized in late 1990s, continuing to function as a beerhouse. A bust of ''Poloz Mukuch'' was placed at the entrance. Nowadays, the beerhouse is one of Gyumri's prominent landmarks. Armenian Centre of PR development is planning to reanimate Gyumri's Poloz Mukuch, along with Karabakh's

Pele Pughi Pele Pughi (; 1731–1810) was an 18th-century Armenian satirist and fabulist from Karabakh. Biography Pele Poughi was born in 1731 in either Çanaqçı, Khojaly, Avetaranots or Shushikend, Shosh village of Safavid Karabakh. He served as a j ...

, in a new multi-language animated film series, taking the example of films about

Nasreddin Nasreddin () or Nasreddin Hodja (other variants include: Mullah Nasreddin Hooja, Nasruddin Hodja, Mullah Nasruddin, Mullah Nasriddin, Khoja Nasriddin) (1208-1285) is a character in the folklore of the Muslim world from Arabia to Central Asi ...

Gallery

Sources

* Հրաչյա Իկիլիկյան, «Գյումրին, Պոլոզ Մուկուչը և երգիծական մանրապատումներ», Երևան, «Հայաստան» հրատ., 1989

References

Armenian satirists Armenian fabulists 1931 deaths 1881 births Gyumri {{Armenia-writer-stub

Biography

Legacy

Gallery

See also

Sources

References