National Center of Aesthetics after Henrik Igityan, Arts centre in Yerevan, Armenia

The National Center of Aesthetics after Henrik Igityan is an arts centre in Yerevan founded in 1978 on the basis of the world's first children's art gallery, opened on 13 March 1970 by art historian Henrik Igityan and pedagogue Zhanna Aghamiryan. Its Yerevan divisions are the GAK Museum, GAK Gallery, GAK Small Theatre, GAK Workshops, the inclusive performing arts centre, the Metro theatre-studio, a dance school and a national instruments music school. About 2,300 children aged 6 to 16 study here each year, some 1,600 of them free of charge.

Henrik Igityan founded the center in 1978, building upon the children's art gallery he had created in 1970. The facility grew into a major institution for artistic education across Armenia.

The center grew out of the world's first children's art gallery, opened in Yerevan on 13 March 1970 by art historian Henrik Igityan and teacher Zhanna Aghamiryan. Its permanent collection holds around 150,000 works by children from Armenia and 120 countries. The Small Theater has won the national Artavazd prize three times, for productions of 2007, 2008 and 2015.

The center's Yerevan divisions are spread across separate sites: the museum, the gallery, the Small Theater, the workshops, the inclusive performing arts center, the Metro theater-studio, the dance school and the national instruments music school. Plan which division you want to see before setting out, since they are not all under one roof.

The center holds a collection of artworks from over one hundred countries, displaying the breadth of artistic creation globally. This international gathering makes the place a window into how children create art across the world.