Tsitsernakaberd Armenian genocide memorial, Yerevan

Tsitsernakaberd Armenian genocide monument & memorial museum - The main site commemorating the Armenian genocide of 1915 (and the build-up to it), consisting of a striking monument and a modern memorial museum and institute, located on Tsitsernakaberd hill in Armenia 's capital Yerevan . > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: See also under Armenia . The monument was built in 1966/67 in response to mass protests in 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the worst phase of the genocide. Of course, Armenia was then part of the Soviet Union , so it was quite unusual that such public demonstrations had such a positive effect – rather than crushing the protests (as happened so often elsewhere), they were acknowledged by the Soviet authorities and the Armenians were granted this monument. Still, it says a lot that it took 50 years for this to happen. It then took even longer, until 1995 (the 80th anniversary of the genocide), for the adjacent museum to open its doors. Its design takes care not to distract from the main monuments, so it is built into the mountain side, i.e. is mostly underground, though the side facing away from the monuments opens out of the slope towards the Ararat valley – and Mt Ararat , Armenia's "holy mountain", now also in Western Armenia, i.e. on the territory of modern Turkey , is visible from here … at least on a clear enough day. In the summer haze it may barely be discernible. The exhibition inside the museum is not as reproachful in tone as you might expect, and rather remains solidly factual. This is quite a contrast to the exhibitions about the more recent Karabakh war, e.g. at Yerevan 's Military Museum , or in the museums in Nagorno-Karabakh itself.