Gyumri

Gyumri is Armenia's second city by size and its first in terms of character. The historic centre — the Kumayri district — has nineteenth-century houses built from black volcanic tuff, the local stone that gives the city its characteristic sombre look. The facades have ornate mouldings, many restored, though buildings with unrepaired earthquake damage from 1988 still stand.

The city has a notable concentration of craftspeople: cobblers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths and carpenters who work in workshops in the historic district. Varpetats Street, parallel to the central square, has several of these workshops. The Galentz market in the centre is the best place to buy local crafts and seasonal produce.

Gyumri is known throughout Armenia for its dark humour, rooted in its history of hardship, and for its tradition of musicians and actors. The atmosphere in the bars in the centre is more relaxed and less touristy than in Yerevan, and prices are noticeably lower. There is a well-founded local pride: the city endures.

Gyumri was a prosperous city in the nineteenth century, when the Russians called it Alexandropol and built the barracks and civilian buildings of black stone that make up the centre today. In the early twentieth century it played an active role in Armenian cultural life. The earthquake of 7 December 1988, measuring 6.8, killed between 25,000 and 50,000 people in the region and destroyed much of the city. Reconstruction was slow; some families lived in metal containers for more than a decade. The city has not fully recovered its pre-earthquake population.

• Kumayri District The historic quarter with its nineteenth-century black tuff houses. The concentration of Tsarist-era architecture is the largest in Armenia outside Yerevan.
• Maternity Square (Vartanants) The central square with the Cathedral of the Holy Apostles, several terrace cafés and the monument to those who died in the earthquake.
• Zanku's Workshop An artisan cobbler in the Kumayri district known for his custom leather shoes, working in full view of customers in a nineteenth-century shop.
• Gyumri Museum of History and Art With nineteenth-century artefacts and a section dedicated to the 1988 earthquake with testimonies and photographs. Cheap admission.
• Kumayri Fortress The remains of the nineteenth-century Russian citadel with black stone walls. The interior houses workshops and a small art gallery.

Gyumri is 126 km north of Yerevan on the M1 road. There are daily trains from Yerevan (about 3 hours) and frequent marshrutkas from Kilikia station (about 1.5 hours by car). Gyumri airport has sporadic international flights, mainly from Russia. From Gyumri there is a direct connection to Georgia: the road to Tbilisi via Bagravan heads north out of the city.

Spring and autumn are the best times: temperatures between 15 and 22 degrees and the parks in the centre in bloom or full of colour. Summer is hot (up to 30 degrees) but drier than Yerevan. Winter is cold with regular snow: Gyumri sits at 1,500 metres altitude and temperatures drop to −10 or −15 degrees in January. The city's atmosphere in winter has a particular character, with few people on the streets and the cafés very busy.