1985 GUGK Pictorial View of Yerevan, Armenia

An impressive and scarce pictorial view of Yerevan, Armenia, published by the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography (GUGK) of the Soviet Union in 1985. Though designed for tourists, the map boasts interesting aesthetic qualities while also reflecting changing Soviet policies on national identity and religion in the 1980s.

A Closer Look

This curious illustrated view presents the city of Yerevan from four different perspectives, corresponding to the four cardinal directions, all converging on the Monument to the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution (also commonly known as 'Revived Armenia'), which sits at the center of the city. In this way, the sheet can be rotated to provide a view of Yerevan from the monument looking north, east, south, or west, with south somewhat confusingly placed at the top of the sheet. Although an obvious symbol of Soviet rule, the monument was also the product of the Soviets' confused and sometimes relaxed approach to national cultures in the post-Stalin era, as the principal architect was Armenian Jim Torosian (Ջիմ Թորոսյան / Джим Торося́н, 1926 - 2014) and it incorporated Armenian cultural motifs. After Armenia gained its independence in 1991, a monument to victims of Soviet repression was constructed next to the October Revolution memorial.

Aside from the monument, numerous other government buildings, historical landmarks, memorials, train and metro stations, cultural institutions, and schools are illustrated and numbered, corresponding to an index on the verso. Streets, neighborhoods, and suburbs are labeled. Terrain and topography are depicted, giving a sense of the city's rapid changes in elevation, including the twin peaks of Mount Ararat at the top. Yerevan's metro system, opened in 1981, was only the eighth in the Soviet Union, and had to be built with special permission as Yerevan had not surpassed the minimum population (one million) required for the construction of a metro system.

Aside from the index, the verso includes a short timeline of Yerevan's history along with another depiction of the October Revolution obelisk at top-left, a more conventional city plan of Yerevan at center-left, and a map of important historical structures near Yerevan at bottom-left. In this last map, almost all of the structures noted are churches and monasteries of the Armenian Apostolic Church (including the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, originally built in the 4th century), which was heavily persecuted in earlier decades. Their inclusion and indeed celebration here also reflect the relaxing controls on national identity and religious activity in the 1980s.

Publication History and Census

This view was prepared and published by the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography (GUGK) of the Soviet Union in Moscow in 1985 (though the date 1986 is also given in the publication information on the verso). The view was originally prepared in 1984 by an institution abbreviated 'Arm. GIIGIS' (Арм. ГИИГИС), likely the forerunner to today's Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. The map was edited by R. V. Atoyan (Р. В. Атоян, perhaps the same as the contemporary Armenian mathematician and computer scientist Robert Vardgesi At'voyan: Ռոբերտ Վարդգեսի Աթոյան / Роберт Варткесович Атоян) and S.B. Abrahamyan (С. Б. Абраамяна), while the technical editor was S.L. Arakelova (С.Л. Аракелова). The only example noted in the OCLC is held by the Library of Congress. An example is also cataloged at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, while two are held by the Russian State Library. However, all these examples are dated to 1988, suggesting that the present map is an earlier edition.