If you want to meet locals or date someone in Yerevan, this statue is perfect mark for it as everybody knows it. First, because it is located in front of Opera house and second because Aram Khachaturyan, the great composer of Armenian nation, is one of the most prominent Armenians. Most often people from all over the world know him because of “Saber dance” movement from Gayane ballet. In 1948 it became a hit in US. Well, rumors have it, that it was also the favorite piece of Salvador Dali. Maybe the same rumors gave birth to the famous anecdote about the meeting of Khachaturian and Salvador Dali in Spain. You can get an insight about this meeting from this Youtube video.
Anyway, recently the museum of Aram Khachaturyan in Yerevan has denied this story. According to them there is no evidence that Khachaturyan has ever been to Spain, in addition to this, in the museum of Dali there are no archive materials about this incident. Most importantly, Mikhail Veller, the Russian writer who narrated this story in his book, admitted that he invented it.
The statue of Khacaturian was installed in 1999 and the author is Yuri Pertosyan. It is situated near the concert hall which is a part of Opera house building, named after Aram.
P.S. If you don’t know Aram’s art yet, I will recommend you to check his “Adagio” from Spartacus and “Lullaby” from Gayane ballet.
