In about 50 meters down from this spot, closer to the river, there’s an enigmatic artifact of unknown origin, hidden from everyone under hundreds of tons of stone, metal and concrete, according to some elder locals. Hidden, because the Soviet government was too uncomfortable about the strange discovery, perhaps because it could potentially undermine the undiscussable power of the state. 

In very brief: during the initial phase of the construction of the Victory bridge, in 1945, the workers came across a pillar made of a very strong and strange material which they couldn’t break or even make a scratch on, nor could they identify its origin. The government decided to just ignore it, cover with concrete and continue building the bridge on it. 

At least this is what not only people say, but also a few TV programs and some articles. The only thing besides rumors that I could find were a few articles in Armenian and Russian, which, of course, cannot be considered as 100% true, but they all prove there is something behind this story that was shocking enough to’ve kept tickling peoples’ minds even more than 70 years later!

I’m hoping to find a photograph of that pillar one day (I’m sure it’s somewhere in the archives), and of course I’d be very interested to see it in reality once. Who knows, maybe with development of technology it will become possible to excavate the bridge without damaging it. If this happens, you have another reason to visit Yerevan again. See you!