Lyon Park (), popularly known as Tokhmakh Park (), is a public park in the Armenian capital of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. 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 (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

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

Gérard Collomb Gérard Collomb OQ (; 20 June 1947 – 25 November 2023) was a French politician who served as Mayor of Lyon from 2001 to 2017 and again from 2018 until 2020. He joined La République En Marche! (LREM) in 2017, when he left the Socialist Party ...

and then-mayor of Yerevan

Karen Karapetyan Karen Vilhelmi Karapetyan (; born 14 August 1963) is an Armenian politician who was Prime Minister of Armenia from September 2016 until April 2018. He was previously Mayor of Yerevan, the capital, from 2010 to 2011. He was appointed prime ministe ...

. The park was renamed after the city of Lyon to become a symbol of the partnership between the two cities. The artificial lake dates 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'', ''Argisti' ...

in the 8th century BC. In 1578, the lake was renovated by the Safavid governor of Yerevan Mohammad Khan Tokhmaq, and since then it has been known as Tokhmakh Lake. During the Soviet period, the lake was renamed to

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

Lake (), after the youth wing of the Communist Party. The lake was renamed Vardavar in 2000. The lake, with an 8-hectare water surface, is frequently used for SUP-boarding and

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 Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

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