Lyon Park ( hy, Լիոնի Այգի (''Lioni Aygi'')), popularly known as Tokhmakh ( hy, Թոխմախ), is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

in the

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

capital of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. It occupies an area of 17 hectares in the eastern Erebuni District of the capital city. It is home to an artificial lake called ''Vardavar'', covering an area of 8 hectares.

Description

In 2010-2011, the park was entirely renovated by the direct assistance of the

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

City Council. It was reopened in July 2011 with the presence of the mayor of Lyon

Gérard Collomb Gérard Collomb (; born 20 June 1947) is a French politician who served as Mayor of Lyon from 2001 to 2017 and again from 2018 until 2020. A member of La République En Marche! (LREM) since he left the Socialist Party (PS) in 2017, he was Mini ...

and then-mayor of Yerevan Karen Karapetyan. The park was renamed after the city of Lyon to become a symbol of the partnership between the two cities. The origins of the artificial lake date back to the period of king

Argishti I of Urartu Argishti I (), was the sixth known king of Urartu, reigning from 786 BC to 764 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Alternate transliterations of the name include ''Argishtis'', ''Ar ...

during the 8th century BC. In 1578, the lake was renovated by the Turkic ruler of Yerevan ''Mehmet khan Tokhmakh'', and since then it was known as ''Tokhmakh'' lake. During the Soviet period the lake was named after the Youth wing of the Communist party. Since 2000, the lake is known with its current name. The lake, with a water surface of 8 hectares, is frequently used for

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

Gallery

File:Lyon park, the entrance.jpg, The main entrance to the park File:Lyon Park, Yerevan0618.jpg, At the park File:Vardavar lake, Yerevan1.jpg, Dusk time File:Vardavar lake1, Yerevan.jpg, Vardavar lake

References

{{Yerevan landmarks 8th-century BC establishments 780s BC Parks in Yerevan Urban public parks