Gyumri (Armenian: Գյումրի, pronounced [ɡjumˈɾi]) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city was known as Alexandropol, it became the largest city of Russian-ruled Eastern Armenia with a population above that of Yerevan. The city became renowned as a cultural hub, while also carrying significance as a major center of Russian troops during Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th century.
The city underwent a tumultuous period during and after World War I. While Russian forces withdrew from the South Caucasus due to the October Revolution, the city became host to large numbers of Armenian refugees fleeing the Armenian Genocide, in particular hosting 22,000 orphaned children in around 170 orphanage buildings. It was renamed Leninakan during the Soviet period and became a major industrial and textile center in Soviet Armenia. The city's population rapidly grew to above 200,000 prior to the 1988 Spitak earthquake, when it was devastated, with the city's population being reduced to 121,976 as of the 2011 census. The city was renamed Gyumri under modern independent Armenia soon after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue.
Today, Gyumri continues to grapple with the lasting effects of the 1988 earthquake, but remains known as the cultural hub of Armenia due to the many artists and craftsman who originated from the city. The city is also in particular notable for the large Kumayri historic district that managed to mostly survive the 1988 earthquake, dating back mainly to the 19th century and being one of the few surviving places in the world with authentic urban Armenian architecture.
There are several restaurants on Rijkov Street, the main pedestrian street leading from Peace Circle Park to the central square and by the park and square.
| address=9 Sayat Nova St. | lat=40.789130 | l43.846263 | directi | ph+374 95 101296 | tollfree= | fax= | hours=18:00-00:00 | price= | lastedit=2018-10-16 | cA basic bar/pub. }}
Off the main square, by the smaller black church, there is a diagonal pedestrian avenue with some shops and some outdoor vendors.
The city centre has a number of ATMs accepting international cards.
| address= | lat=40.750278 | l43.859167 | directiabout 5 km from the centre of Gyumri. | ph | tollfree= | fax= | hours= | price= | wikipedia=Shirak Airport | image=Shirak Airport (exterior).jpg | wikidata=Q1431399 | cPobeda from Moscow–Vnukovo. Ryanair flies from Memmingen, Germany and seasonally from Athens. Ural Airlines flies seasonaly from Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, and Volgograd. }}
Gyumri's historic town center is quite walkable, and fun to explore, but beyond that it is a bit of a sprawling town, and to see everything it has to offer in a day, a car is needed. If you haven't come with your own, a taxi in town, with a meter, is probably your only realistic option, and a pretty good one at that. If you care to try and figure out the numbers of the local van routes (marshrutka), you can have quite an adventure. It may be hard to make it to some of the fringe sites though in a marshrutka, like the fortress.
Much of the city's historic center dates to the days when Gyumri was Alexandrapol (in honor of the wife of Czar Nicholas I), an outpost of the Russian Empire in the Southern Caucasus, and the architecture reflects that. The buildings, of dark black stone with pink-orange accents, are primarily 1800s Russian in style, with Armenian touches. The aftermath of the 1988 Spitak earthquake, which devastated the region, is still felt in the city; the rebuilding efforts are very much ongoing. It is said by the locals that the quake "leveled Leninakan (the name of the city in Soviet times) but left Alexandrapol standing" - the Soviet housing blocks folded on themselves, while the older buildings largely survived. There are also Russian churches and cemeteries, and a large Russian military base still dominates a part of the city (and provides employment). Russian soldiers in uniform are a common sight. George Gurdjieff, a well-known early 20th-century mystic, philosopher, spiritual teacher, and composer was born in Gyumri.
