While it may not look like it, Yerevan is older than Rome. In fact, the city celebrated its 2800th anniversary in 2018 with the reopening of one of its most prestigious plazas running just south of the iconic Republic Square.

The stretch of green space which lies between English Park and Childrens’ Park was graciously renovated by the well-to-do Vardanyan family as a gift to the city on this momentous occasion. The new park contains statues alluding to the city’s founding as a Bronze-Age Urartian frotress, a fountain in the shape of the city’s main districts, and benches all laid out in a pattern meant to evoke traditional Armenian carpeted designs from a bird’s eye view.

It’s worth the visit on one of Yerevan’s hot sunny summers.