Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Contemporary art center in Kentron District, Yerevan, Armenia.
The Cafesjian Center for the Arts occupies the Yerevan Cascade, a 572-step staircase rising 302 meters from the Tamanyan Street gardens, designed by Jim Torosyan, Aslan Mkhitaryan and Sargis Gurzadyan. Its two sections are the open-air Cafesjian Sculpture Garden on the terraces and the Cafesjian Art Galleries beneath the stairs, including Gallery One, the Khanjyan Gallery, the Eagle Gallery and the Sasuntsi Davit Garden Gallery. The galleries were designed by New York architect David Hotson.
Gerard Cafesjian founded the center in 2009 and transformed an unfinished Soviet-era structure into a contemporary cultural institution. This transformation rescued a long-abandoned building and made it a major venue for art exhibitions.
The glass holdings centre on Czech couple Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, whose collaboration changed glass as an artistic medium; Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra and Hiroshi Yamano are also represented. The Khanjyan Gallery holds Grigor Khanjyan's mural triptych "History of Armenia", and the Sasuntsi Davit Gallery shows Artashes Hovsepyan's bas-reliefs of the epic David of Sasun.
Exhibition galleries operate Friday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, while the sculpture garden is accessible daily. Plan enough time to explore the various levels and navigate between the exhibition rooms.
The center houses a monumental triptych titled 'History of Armenia' by Grigor Khanjyan and bas-reliefs depicting the Armenian epic 'David of Sasun'. These works link contemporary art presentation with Armenia's oldest literary tradition.
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