A visit to Alaverdi train station

Alaverdi Railway Station was opened in 1899, however, the current building of the station was built in the 1940s-1950s.

Since 2011, passenger trains no longer stop at the station, but the worker on duty can be asked to open the door.

The pink tuff building is an example of Soviet-Armenian Neoclassicism with a typical arched entrance and windows on the main facade. Architect: Baghdasaryan Lenmur

But the most spectacular feature of the building is, of course, the frescoes that decorate the station's waiting room.

Created in the early 1960s, these frescoes are  the only known monumental work by Rudolf Khachatryan (1937-2007), an artist who became widely known in the 1970s and 80s for his large-scale, hyperrealistic paintings of Soviet artists.

These two frescoes depict scenes from the poem "Anoush" and the short story "Gikor", one of the most notable works of renowned Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan, which have long since become an integral part of Armenian public culture.

Other murals depict the miners' revolt during the Bolshevik Revolution and a portrait of a proudly posing foundry worker with Alaverdi copper factory buildings and mountains in the background.

These frescoes are a daring attempt to crystallize the allure of the region. They are brought into life in the juicy colors and bold contours that are typical to post-war Armenian painting.