Lyon Park, Urban park in Erebuni District, Yerevan, Armenia
Lyon Park is a large green space in southeastern Yerevan with an artificial lake at its center. The park features walking paths, seating areas, and recreational grounds that can be accessed from multiple entry points around the neighborhood.
The artificial lake was created under King Argishti I of Urartu in the 8th century BC to supply the Erebuni fortress with water from the Hrazdan River; a memorial stone records that he called it the Sea of Argishti. In 1578 the Safavid governor Mohammad Khan Tokhmaq renovated it, giving rise to the name Tokhmakh Lake. The lake bed and banks were concreted between 1975 and 1985, and in 2010–2011 the park was entirely renovated with the Lyon City Council's assistance and renamed Lyon Park.
The park is popularly called Tokhmakh after Mohammad Khan Tokhmaq, the Safavid governor of Yerevan who renovated the lake in 1578. The lake itself was renamed Vardavar in 2000, after the Armenian summer water festival. A memorial stone at the lake records that King Argishti I built it and called it the Sea of Argishti.
Lyon Park covers 17 hectares in Yerevan's eastern Erebuni District, with the 8-hectare Vardavar Lake at its centre. The park was fully renovated in 2010–2011 with direct assistance from the Lyon City Council and reopened in July 2011. The lake is used for SUP-boarding and windsurfing.
The lake's stone marker records that King Argishti I built it around three thousand years ago and called it the Sea of Argishti, to supply water to the fortress city of Erebuni from the Hrazdan River. In 1578 the Safavid governor Mohammad Khan Tokhmaq renovated it, giving the name Tokhmakh. The lake was renamed Vardavar in 2000.
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