National Gallery

(Republic Sq; www.gallery.am; 11.00-17.00 Tue-Sun)

The third-best collection in the former Soviet Union. Go straight ahead after entering the building and up the stairs to the first floor where the ticket office is on the left. (Do not go to the ticket office on the ground floor - that's for the historical museum.) A helpful floor plan leaflet in English is available, but you will have to ask for it; it is kept under the counter. After buying a ticket take the lift to the seventh floor to start viewing. Trying to do anything else, such as going directly to the Armenian paintings on the fifth floor, is possible but causes total bewilderment among the staff. Apart from some Asian porcelain and copies of Sri Lankan cave paintings the collection largely comprises paintings from the main European schools as well as works by the major Armenian painters. Italian artists represented include Bicci di Lorenzo (The Betrothal of St Catherine); Benvenuto Garofalo (Virgin Mary with the Christ Child); Jacopo Tintoretto (Apollo and Pan); Jacopo Bassano (Adoration of the Shepherds); Leandro Bassano (Good Samaritan); Francesco Guardi (Courtyard with Stairs). Flemish painters include: Hans Jordaens III (The Jews Crossing the Red Sea); and David Teniers the Younger (Kegl Players and The Village Feast). Dutch painters include Jan van Goyen (View of Dordrecht); Pieter Claesz (Still Life); Jan Wijnants (Landscape with Broken Tree). French artists include Louis le Nain (The Nest Robbers); Jean Baptiste Greuze (Head of a Girl); Eugene Boudin (Sea Harbour). Among the Russian works Ilya Repin's Portrait of Teviashova and Isaac Levitan's Reaped Field particularly stand out. The collection of Armenian works includes all the greatest Armenian painters with a good collection of Aivasovskys seascapes and works by Martiros Sarian.

---

If you have any questions about travel to Armenia (visa, hotels, guide services, transportation), please feel free to contact us at any time and we will gladly answer your questions.