Mother Armenia in Yerevan
Mother Armenia is a monumental statue located in Victory Park, overlooking the capital city of Yerevan, Armenia. It is not only a work of art but also an embodiment of the collective image of the Armenian mother, symbolizing the strength and resilience of the Armenian people. Sculpted by Ara Harutyunyan, the statue itself is 22 meters high, mounted on a 33-meter pedestal. In 1967, it was placed on the previously empty pedestal that once held a 17-meter-high statue of Stalin, which stood there until 1962.
The current Mother Armenia statue replaced a monumental depiction of General Secretary Joseph Stalin, originally designed to symbolize his association with Soviet victories in the Great Patriotic War.
Created by renowned sculptor Sergey Merkurov, the statue stood 17 meters tall, mounted on a 33-meter pedestal, making it 50 meters in total—the tallest Stalin monument ever erected at the time. It was regarded as a masterpiece of Soviet monumental art.
The pedestal was designed by architect Rafayel Israyelian. Realizing that occupying a pedestal can be a short-term honor, Israyelian designed the pedestal to resemble a three-nave basilica Armenian church. As he confessed many years later, "Knowing that the glory of dictators is temporary, I have built a simple three-nave Armenian basilica."
Mother Armenia and Joseph Stalin's statue
In contrast to the right-angled shapes of the external view, the interior is light and pleasing to the eye, resembling Echmiadzin's seventh-century St. Hripsime Church.
After Stalin’s death, during the de-Stalinization campaign, his statue was secretly removed at night in the spring of 1962. For the next five years, the 33-meter pedestal stood empty until, in 1967, the Mother Armenia statue, designed by Ara Harutyunyan, was installed in its place. This transformation marked a shift from Soviet ideological imagery to a symbol of national strength and resilience.
The prototype of "Mother Armenia" was a 17-year-old girl named Zhenya Muradian. Ara Harutyunyan met her at a store and persuaded her to pose for the sculpture.
Mother Armenia
"Mother Armenia" has a height of 22 meters, making the overall height of the monument 55 meters, including the pedestal. The statue is built of hammered copper, while the pedestal-museum is made of tuff stone. In 1970, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Victory, the Museum of Armenia in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 was opened inside the pedestal. In 1995, it was renamed the "Mother Armenia" military museum of the RA Ministry of Defense and came under the authority of the RA Ministry of Defense. The exhibition of the museum consists of two main parts: "Participation of the Armenian people in the Second World War" and "War of Liberation of Artsakh."
Ara Harutyunyan and Zhenya Muradian (the prototype of "Mother Armenia")
The statue embodies the collective image of the Armenian mother—representing an unbreakable military spirit and serving as the guardian angel of the homeland.
Every year on May 9th, thousands of Armenians visit the statue of Mother Armenia and lay flowers to commemorate the Armenian martyrs of the Second World War.
In conclusion, Mother Armenia is more than just a statue. It’s a symbol of the nation’s history, a tribute to its heroes, and a beacon of its enduring spirit.
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