Northern Avenue () is a pedestrian avenue in

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 ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, opened in 2007. It is in the central

Kentron district Kentron (), is one of the Districts of Yerevan, 12 districts of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It comprises the downtown, the commercial centre of the city. As of the 2022 census, the district has a population of 119,841. Kentron is bordered by ...

and links Abovyan Street with Freedom Square on Tumanyan street. It is long and wide. Located in downtown Yerevan, the avenue is mainly home to luxurious residential buildings, high-end branded shops, commercial offices, coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs.

History

Although it was planned by the main architect of Yerevan

Alexander Tamanian Alexander Tamanian (; March 4, 1878 – February 20, 1936) was a Russian-born Armenian Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical architect, well known for his work in the city of Yerevan. Life and work Tamanian was born in the city of Yekaterinod ...

in 1924, the actual plan was never implemented during the Soviet period. A decade after the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the

Yerevan City Council The Yerevan City Council () is the lawmaking body of the city of Yerevan, the capital and largest city of Armenia. It has 65 members elected by party-list proportional representation system, headed by the Mayor of Yerevan. The council monitors p ...

decided to set for the construction of the avenue. According to the original plans, the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

and the

History Museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

at Republic Square were never meant to be built on the current location, so Northern Avenue ends near their building, rather than opening directly into Republic Square. The construction of the avenue started on 26 March 2002, based on the original plan of Alexander Tamanian which was developed and redesigned by architect Narek Sargsyan. The construction of the avenue was financed by the private sector. First, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

bought up all the small informal properties along the route of the street, consolidated the land into larger, more feasible lots for high-rise developers, and auctioned those lots off. This process was done section by section, and raised a great deal of complaints from the previous landowners. Based on its revised design, Northern Avenue is home to 4 small squares and 11 buildings with an average height of 9 floors. Many types of stone were used in the construction including

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

and

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water in ambient temperature, unheated rivers or lakes. hot spring, Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less ...

. The avenue has a 2-story underground parking area. The official inauguration of the avenue took place on 16 November 2007. However, it was entirely renovated in 2014, and the 2-story parking area was partially converted into an underground shopping mall, with escalators leading down from Northern Avenue.

Europe Day Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the Council of Europe, introduced in 1964. The European Uni ...

festivities are held along Northern Avenue annually between May and June. Events include concerts and performances, in addition to interactive information booths and a wide range of pavilions and exhibitions set up along the avenue.

Europe Square

On 28 March 2019, a section of Northern Avenue was renamed "Europe Square" in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

. The initiative was led by the

representative office A representative office is an office established by a company or a legal entity to conduct marketing and other non-transactional operations, generally in a foreign country where a branch office or subsidiary is not warranted. Representative offices ...

of Armenia to the Council of Europe. The Vice Speaker of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

Alen Simonyan Alen Roberti Simonyan (; born 5 January 1980) is an Armenian politician currently serving as the president of the National Assembly of Armenia since 2 August 2021. He served as the acting president of Armenia from 1 February 2022 to 13 March ...

stated, "Over the past 28 years following its independence, Armenia adhered to

pan-European Pan-European can refer to: * Pan-European identity * Pan-European corridors ** Pan-European Corridor X ** Pan-European Corridor Xa * Pan European Game Information * Pan-European Institute * Pan-European nationalism * Pan-European Oil Pipeline * ...

values and continues building its cooperation in the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an direction", during a ceremony held at the newly inaugurated square. During the ceremony, former

Mayor of Yerevan The Mayor of Yerevan () is head of the executive branch of Yerevan's government. The mayor is elected by the Yerevan City Council. Recent 2018 Yerevan City Council election, city council elections took place in 2018, 2017 Yerevan City Council elec ...

Hayk Marutyan Hayk Hrachyayi Marutyan (; born December 18, 1976) is an Armenian actor, comedian, filmmaker and politician. He was the mayor of Yerevan from October 2018 to December 2021. Marutyan rose to prominence as half of the Double act, comedy duo "Hayko ...

and the former President of PACE

Liliane Maury Pasquier Liliane Maury Pasquier (born 16 December 1956) is a Swiss politician, member of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, elected to the Swiss Council of States for the canton of Geneva in 2007, and is currently a member of a delegation that co ...

unveiled a plaque within the square.

Shops

Northern Avenue is home to a number of international fashion brands and luxury stores, including

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

Massimo Dutti Massimo Dutti, S.A. () is a Spanish premium clothing retailer specializing in cashmere and wool products, established in 1985 and owned by Spanish multinational company Inditex, the parent company of Zara, Pull&Bear, and other brands. The off ...

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...

Cole Haan Cole Haan is an American brand of men's and women's footwear and accessories that serves markets worldwide. The company was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1928. Cole Haan currently has its headquarters in both New York City and Greenland, New ...

, and

Zegna Ermenegildo Zegna N.V., also known as Zegna Group () or the Ermenegildo Zegna Group, is an Italian luxury fashion house headquartered in Milan. It was founded in 1910 by Ermenegildo Zegna in Trivero, Biella, in the Piedmont region of northern It ...

. Many restaurants and coffee-shops are also operating on the avenue, including a

Cinnabon Cinnabon, Inc., is an American chain of baked goods stores and kiosks, normally found in areas with high pedestrian traffic such as malls, airports and rest stops. The company's signature item is the cinnamon roll. As of December 2017, there w ...

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

, and

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

Tashir Street Shopping Gallery

On 14 May 2016, the two-story underground Tashir Street Shopping Gallery was opened beneath the boulevard, with the first level housing a shopping center and an underground parking garage on the second level. Approximately 70 stores can be found offering various clothing, shoes, interior decorations, furniture, children's products, accessories, and more. Starting from 2018, the shopping center began organizing cultural events and exhibitions.

Gallery

Հյուսիսային պողոտա (3).jpg Հյուսիսային պողոտա (4).jpg Հյուսիսային պողոտա (1).jpg Northern Avenue (Yerevan) 2.jpg, North Avenue Center Plate of Europe Square in Northern Avenue, Yerevan.jpg, Europe Square Sign

References

{{Yerevan landmarks Pedestrian streets in Armenia Roads in Armenia Transport in Yerevan Mixed-use developments in Armenia Streets in Yerevan 2007 in Armenia