Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex

Yerevan, Armenia, Armenia

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Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex is the main national monument in Yerevan dedicated to the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed in the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1915–1923.

It is located on Tsitsernakaberd Hill above the Hrazdan Gorge and was built between 1965 and 1967, officially opened on November 29, 1967, by the leadership of Soviet Armenia as the country’s first large-scale memorial to the genocide. The complex covers about 4,500 square meters and is organized into three main parts: the Hall of Remembrance with twelve leaning basalt slabs around an eternal flame, the 44-meter tall “Reborn Armenia” obelisk or needle, and a 100-meter-long basalt Memorial Wall (often called the Wall of Sorrow) that lists the names of massacred Armenian communities and towns.

The twelve slabs symbolize the twelve lost provinces of Western Armenia, while the split obelisk represents the rebirth of the Armenian people and the continued loss of part of their historic homeland. Adjacent to the memorial is the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, opened in 1995 on the 80th anniversary of the genocide, which presents documents, photographs, films, and research about the events and serves as a scientific center for genocide studies.