Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre

About this place

The Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, named after the composer Alexander Spendiaryan and known to locals simply as the Opera, is a large theatre in central Yerevan. It officially opened on 20 January 1933 with Spendiaryan's opera Almast. The architect Alexander Tamanian designed the building. Ground was broken on 28 November 1930; the theatre hall was completed in 1939 under his son's supervision to his design, but the whole building was only finished in 1953. It has two halls: the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall with about 1,300 seats and the opera and ballet hall with about 1,070. The building is known for its rounded form and grey stone facades, wrapped in tiers of arches and windows, with broad squares in front. The theatre saw the birth of many Armenian works, including the first Armenian ballet, Happiness by Aram Khachaturian, which he later reworked into the world-famous Gayane. Visitors walk around the building and the squares beside it, and some attend opera, ballet or concerts in the evening. It stands in the heart of the city near the Cascade, so the two are easy to combine on foot.