Armenia

==Culture==
{{main|Culture of Armenia}}

===Architecture===
{{main|Armenian architecture}}
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|image1 = Էջմիածնի Մայր Տաճար.jpg
|image2 = -Այրիվանք կամ Գեղարդ.jpg
|image3 = Երերույքի Տաճար 05.jpg
|image4 = 2023.03.24 Haghpat monastery 193.jpg
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|footer = [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral]], [[Geghard]], [[Yererouk]], [[Haghpat Monastery]], [[Talin Cathedral]], [[Saint Hripsime Church]].
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Armenian architecture, as it originates in an earthquake-prone region, tends to be built with this hazard in mind. Armenian buildings tend to be rather low-slung and thick-walled in design. Armenia has abundant resources of stone, and relatively few forests, so stone was nearly always used throughout for large buildings. Small buildings and most residential buildings were normally constructed of lighter materials, and hardly any early examples survive, as at the abandoned medieval capital of [[Ani]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/arts_of_armenia/architecture.htm |title=Arts of Armenia (Architecture) |website=armenianstudies.csufresno.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215053413/http://armenianstudies.csufresno.edu:80/arts_of_armenia/architecture.htm |archive-date=2015-02-15}}</ref>

===Music and dance===
{{main|Music of Armenia}}
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|image1 = Djivan Gasparyan 2009.jpg
|image2 = Sirusho Harutyunyan at Eurovision 2008 8.jpg
|image3 = 2014.06.23. Charles Aznavour Fot Mariusz Kubik 09.jpg
|footer = [[Djivan Gasparyan]] (left), [[Sirusho]] (middle), and [[Charles Aznavour]] (right) are among the most popular musicians of Armenia.
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Armenian music is a mix of indigenous folk music, perhaps best-represented by [[Djivan Gasparyan]]'s well-known [[duduk]] music, as well as light pop, and extensive [[Christian music]].

Instruments like the duduk, [[dhol]], [[zurna]], and [[Kanun (instrument)|kanun]] are commonly found in Armenian folk music. Artists such as [[Sayat Nova]] are famous due to their influence in the development of Armenian folk music. One of the oldest types of Armenian music is the [[Armenian chant]] which is the most common kind of religious music in Armenia. Many of these chants are ancient in origin, extending to pre-Christian times, while others are relatively modern, including several composed by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet. Whilst under [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule, the Armenian classical music composer [[Aram Khatchaturian]] became internationally well known for his music, for various ballets and the [[Sabre Dance]] from his composition for the ballet [[Gayane (ballet)|Gayane]].

The Armenian Genocide caused widespread emigration that led to the settlement of Armenians in various countries in the world. Armenians kept to their traditions and certain diasporans rose to fame with their music. In the post-genocide Armenian community of the United States, the so-called "kef" style Armenian dance music, using Armenian and Middle Eastern folk instruments (often electrified/amplified) and some western instruments, was popular. This style preserved the folk songs and dances of [[Western Armenia]], and many artists also played the contemporary popular songs of Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries from which the Armenians emigrated.

[[File:Armeniapedia dance2.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Armenian dance]]]]
[[Richard Hagopian]] is perhaps the most famous artist of the traditional "kef" style and the Vosbikian Band was notable in the 1940s and 1950s for developing their own style of "kef music" heavily influenced by the popular American [[Big Band]] Jazz of the time. Later, stemming from the Middle Eastern Armenian diaspora and influenced by Continental European (especially French) pop music, the Armenian pop music genre grew to fame in the 1960s and 1970s with artists such as [[Adiss Harmandian]] and [[Harout Pamboukjian]] performing to the Armenian diaspora and Armenia; also with artists such as [[Sirusho]], performing pop music combined with Armenian folk music in today's entertainment industry.

Other Armenian diasporans that rose to fame in classical or international music circles are world-renowned [[List of French-Armenians|French-Armenian]] singer and composer [[Charles Aznavour]], pianist [[Sahan Arzruni]], prominent opera sopranos such as [[Hasmik Papian]] and more recently [[Isabel Bayrakdarian]] and [[Anna Kasyan]]. Certain Armenians settled to sing non-Armenian tunes such as the heavy metal band [[System of a Down]] (which nonetheless often incorporates traditional Armenian instrumentals and styling into their songs) or pop star [[Cher]]. In the Armenian diaspora, [[Armenian Revolutionary Songs|Armenian revolutionary songs]] are popular with the youth. These songs encourage Armenian patriotism and are generally about Armenian history and national heroes.

===Art===
{{main|Armenian art}}
{{see also|List of museums in Armenia}}
[[File:Khachkar-raffi kojian-IMG 0513.JPG|thumb|upright|Ancient Armenian [[Khachkar]]s (cross-stones)]]
[[Yerevan Vernissage]] (arts and crafts market), close to Republic Square, bustles with hundreds of vendors selling a variety of crafts on weekends and Wednesdays (though the selection is much reduced mid-week). The market offers woodcarving, antiques, fine lace, and the hand-knotted wool carpets and kilims that are a Caucasus speciality. [[Obsidian]], which is found locally, is crafted into assortment of jewellery and ornamental objects. Armenian gold smithery enjoys a long tradition, populating one corner of the market with a selection of gold items. Soviet relics and souvenirs of recent Russian manufacture – nesting dolls, watches, enamel boxes and so on – are also available at the Vernisage.

Across from the Opera House, a popular art market fills another city park on the weekends. Armenia's long history as a crossroads of the [[ancient history|ancient world]] has resulted in a landscape with innumerable fascinating [[archaeological site]]s to explore. [[Middle Ages|Medieval]], [[Iron Age]], [[Bronze Age]] and even [[Stone Age]] sites are all within a few hours drive from the city. All but the most spectacular remain virtually undiscovered, allowing visitors to view churches and fortresses in their original settings.

[[File:Zabel return.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Isabella, Queen of Armenia|Queen Zabel]]'s Return to the Palace'', [[Vardges Sureniants]] (1909)]]
The National Art Gallery in Yerevan has more than 16,000 works that date back to the [[Middle Ages]], which indicate Armenia's rich tales and stories of the times. It houses paintings by many [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] masters as well. The Modern Art Museum, the Children's Picture Gallery, and the [[Martiros Saryan]] Museum are only a few of the other noteworthy collections of fine art on display in Yerevan. Moreover, many private galleries are in operation, with many more opening every year, featuring rotating exhibitions and sales.

On 13 April 2013, the Armenian government announced a change in law to allow [[freedom of panorama]] for 3D works of art.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=4717 |title=Legislation: National Assembly of Armenia |publisher=Parliament.am |access-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701073128/http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=4717 |archive-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Cinema===
{{main|Cinema of Armenia}}
Cinema in Armenia was born on 16 April 1923, when the Armenian State Committee of Cinema was established by a decree of the Soviet Armenian government.

However, the first Armenian film with Armenian subject called "Haykakan Sinema" was produced earlier in 1912 in [[Cairo]] by Armenian-Egyptian publisher Vahan Zartarian. The film was premiered in Cairo on 13 March 1913.<ref>Armenian Cinema 100, by [[Artsvi Bakhchinyan]], Yerevan, 2012, pp. 111–112</ref>

In March 1924, the first Armenian film studio; ''[[Armenfilm]]'' ({{lang-hy|Հայֆիլմ}} "Hayfilm", {{lang-ru|Арменкино}} "Armenkino") was established in Yerevan, starting with a [[documentary film]] called ''Soviet Armenia''.

''[[Namus (film)|Namus]]'' was the first Armenian [[silent film|silent]] [[black-and-white]] film, directed by [[Hamo Beknazarian]] in 1925, based on a play of [[Alexander Shirvanzade]], describing the ill fate of two lovers, who were engaged by their families to each other since childhood, but because of violations of ''[[namus]]'' (a tradition of honor), the girl was married by her father to another person. The first [[sound film]], ''[[Pepo (film)|Pepo]]'' was shot in 1935 and directed by [[Hamo Beknazarian]].

===Sport===
{{main|Sport in Armenia|Chess in Armenia}}
[[File:Armenia vs Portugal, 13 June 2015, V. Sargsyan Rep. Stad. Yerevan (7).jpg|thumb|The [[Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium]] in Yerevan]]
[[File:Ireland Armenia teams.jpg|thumb|The [[Armenia national football team]] in Dublin, Ireland]]
[[File:Levon Aronian 2011.jpg|thumb|upright|Chess Grandmaster [[Levon Aronian]] is a former [[FIDE]] No. 2 rated player and the [[Comparison of top chess players throughout history#Elo system|fourth-highest rated player in history]].]]
[[File:Tigran Petrosian 1962.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Tigran Petrosyan]] 9th [[World Chess Champion]]]]
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia, the most popular among them being wrestling, weightlifting, judo, association football, chess, and boxing. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practised on lakes, notably [[Lake Sevan]]. Competitively, Armenia has been successful in chess, weightlifting and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations ([[UEFA]]) and International Ice Hockey Federation ([[IIHF]]). It also hosts the [[Pan-Armenian Games]].

Prior to 1992, Armenians would participate in the Olympics representing the USSR. As part of the Soviet Union, Armenia was very successful, winning plenty of medals and helping the USSR win the medal standings at the Olympics on numerous occasions. The first medal won by an Armenian in modern Olympic history was by [[Hrant Shahinyan]] (sometimes spelled as Grant Shaginyan), who won two golds and two silvers in gymnastics at the [[1952 Summer Olympics]] in Helsinki. To highlight the level of success of Armenians in the Olympics, Shahinyan was quoted as saying:

"Armenian sportsmen had to outdo their opponents by several notches for the shot at being accepted into any Soviet team. But those difficulties notwithstanding, 90 percent of Armenian athletes on Soviet Olympic teams came back with medals."<ref name="ArmeniaNow.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.armenianow.com/features/6903/ambassadors_in_sport_independent |title=Ambassadors in Sport?: Independent Armenia far below the glory of Soviet times on the pitch, mat |publisher=[[ArmeniaNow]] |date=15 December 2006 |access-date=27 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128074613/https://www.armenianow.com/features/6903/ambassadors_in_sport_independent |archive-date=28 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Armenia first participated at the [[1992 Summer Olympics]] in Barcelona under a unified CIS team, where it was very successful, winning three golds and one silver in weightlifting, wrestling and sharp shooting, despite only having five athletes. Since the [[1994 Winter Olympics]] in [[Lillehammer]], Armenia has participated as an independent nation.

Armenia participates in the Summer Olympic Games in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming and sharp shooting. It also participates in the Winter Olympic Games in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and figure skating.

[[Football in Armenia|Football]] is also popular in Armenia. The most successful team was the [[FC Ararat Yerevan]] team of the 1970s who won the [[Soviet Cup]] in 1973 and 1975 and the [[Soviet Top League 1973|Soviet Top League]] in 1973. The latter achievement saw FC Ararat gain entry to the [[1974–75 European Cup|European Cup]] where – despite a home victory in the second leg – they lost on aggregate at the quarter-final stage to eventual winner [[FC Bayern Munich]]. Armenia competed internationally as part of the [[USSR national football team]] until the [[Armenian national football team]] was formed in 1992 after the split of the Soviet Union. Armenia have never qualified for a major tournament although recent improvements saw the team to achieve 44th position in the [[FIFA World Rankings]] in September 2011. The national team is controlled by the [[Football Federation of Armenia]]. The [[Armenian Premier League]] is the highest level football competition in Armenia, and has been dominated by [[FC Pyunik]] in recent seasons. The league currently consists of eight teams and relegates to the [[Armenian First League]].

Armenia and the Armenian diaspora have produced many successful footballers, including [[Henrikh Mkhitaryan]], [[Youri Djorkaeff]], [[Alain Boghossian]], [[Andranik Eskandarian]], [[Andranik Teymourian]], [[Edgar Manucharyan]] and [[Nikita Simonyan]]. Djokaeff and Boghossian won the [[1998 FIFA World Cup]] with [[France national football team|France]], Teymourian competed in the [[2006 FIFA World Cup|2006 World Cup]] for [[Iran national football team|Iran]] and Manucharyan played in the Dutch [[Eredivisie]] for [[AFC Ajax|Ajax]]. Mkhitaryan has been one of the most successful Armenian footballers in recent years, playing for international clubs such as [[Borussia Dortmund]], [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]], [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]], [[A.S. Roma]] and currently for [[Inter Milan]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Inter Milan sign Mkhitaryan on free transfer |language=en-GB |work=BBC Sport |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/62021631 |access-date=2023-09-21}}</ref>

[[Wrestling]] has been a successful sport in the Olympics for Armenia. At the [[Armenia at the 1996 Summer Olympics|1996 Summer Olympics]] in [[Atlanta]], [[Armen Nazaryan]] won the gold in the Men's [[Greco-Roman wrestling|Greco-Roman]] Flyweight (52&nbsp;kg) category and [[Armen Mkrtchyan]] won the silver in Men's [[Freestyle wrestling|Freestyle]] Paperweight (48&nbsp;kg) category, securing Armenia's first two medals in its Olympic history.

Traditional Armenian wrestling is called Kokh and practised in traditional garb; it was one of the influences included in the Soviet combat sport of [[Sambo (martial art)|Sambo]], which is also very popular.<ref>{{cite book|editor= Thomas A. Green|title=Martial arts of the world: en encyclopedia|year=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-57607-150-2|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=v32oHSE5t6cC&pg=PA718 718]}}</ref>

The [[Politics of Armenia|government of Armenia]] budgets about $2.8&nbsp;million annually for sports and gives it to the National Committee of Physical Education and Sports, the body that determines which programs should benefit from the funds.<ref name="ArmeniaNow.com"/>

Due to the lack of success lately on the international level, in recent years, Armenia has rebuilt 16 Soviet-era sports schools and furnished them with new equipment for a total cost of $1.9&nbsp;million. The rebuilding of the regional schools was financed by the Armenian government. $9.3&nbsp;million has been invested in the resort town of [[Tsaghkadzor]] to improve the [[winter sport]]s infrastructure because of dismal performances at recent [[winter sport]]s events. In 2005, a cycling centre was opened in [[Yerevan]] with the aim of helping produce world class Armenian cyclists. The government has also promised a cash reward of $700,000 to Armenians who win a gold medal at the Olympics.<ref name="ArmeniaNow.com"/>

Armenia has also been very successful in chess, winning the [[World Team Chess Championship|World Champion]] in 2011 and the [[Chess Olympiad|World Chess Olympiad]] on three occasions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004j7zg |title=Armenia: the cleverest nation on earth |publisher=[[BBC World Service]] |date=18 October 2009 |access-date=28 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024030523/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004j7zg |archive-date=24 October 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Cuisine===
{{Main|Armenian cuisine}}
[[File:Gandzak Armenia Wine.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Armenian wine]]]]
Armenian cuisine is closely related to eastern and [[Mediterranean cuisine]]; various [[spice]]s, [[vegetable]]s, [[fish]], and [[fruit]]s combine to present unique dishes. The main characteristics of Armenian cuisine are a reliance on the quality of the ingredients rather than heavily spicing food, the use of herbs, the use of wheat in a variety of forms, of legumes, nuts, and fruit (as a main ingredient as well as to sour food), and the stuffing of a wide variety of leaves.

The [[pomegranate]], with its symbolic association with fertility, represents the nation. The [[apricot]] is the national fruit.

===Media===
{{Main|Media of Armenia}}
Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on [[advertising]], [[subscription]], and other sales-related revenues. The [[Constitution of Armenia]] guarantees freedom of speech and Armenia ranks 61st in the 2020 [[Press Freedom Index]] report compiled by [[Reporters Without Borders]], between [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and Poland.<ref name=FH>{{cite web|url=https://rsf.org/en/armenia|work=Reporters Without Borders|date=14 October 2020 | title=2020 Press Freedom report}}</ref> Armenia's press freedom rose considerably following the 2018 Velvet Revolution.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stefes|first1=C.|last2=Paturyan|first2=Yevgenya J.|title=After the Revolution: State, Civil Society, and Democratization in Armenia and Georgia|doi=10.3389/fpos.2021.719478|date=25 August 2021|journal=Frontiers in Political Science|volume=3 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

As of 2020, the biggest issue facing press freedom in Armenia is judicial harassment of journalists, specifically defamation suits and attacks on journalists' right to protect sources,<ref>[https://rsf.org/en/news/concern-about-judicial-harassment-armenias-media  "Concern about judicial harassment of Armenia's media"]. Reporters Without Borders. February 18, 2020.</ref> as well as excessive responses to combat disinformation spread by social media users. Reporters Without Borders also cites continued concerns about lack of transparency regarding ownership of media outlets.<ref name=FH/>
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