Mother Armenia

Mother Armenia is the monument people mean when they say the name — a 54-metre memorial complex in Yerevan's Victory Park, built to mark the Soviet Union's World War II victory. Twenty-two of those metres belong to the statue itself. The rest is base and plinth.

It opened on November 29, 1950, timed to the 30th anniversary of Soviet rule in Armenia. Rafayel Israelyan, named a People's Architect of the USSR, designed the complex; sculptor Ara Harutyunyan made the statue. Ask a Yerevan resident who she represents and you'll usually get the same answer: not a specific woman, but Armenia itself, personified.

Hours run Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 to 18:00, and weekends 10:00 to 15:00. The entrance is wheelchair accessible.

The monument stands in Victory Park inside Yerevan, about 2 km north-northeast of the city center (straight-line).