Yerevan Botanical Garden Glasshouses

Yerevan Botanical Garden was founded in 1935 by the scientists A. K. Maghakyan, A. A. Hakhverdyan and N. V. Mirzoyeva on semi-desert land in the north-east of the city; the Institute of Botany, now named after Armen Takhtajan and part of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, followed in 1938. The garden was reorganised between 1945 and 1950 under the architect Hrayr Isabekyan.

Growing under glass began modestly, with a first shared greenhouse of 25 square metres in 1939 and a 610-square-metre complex in 1944. The tropical and subtropical collection, built up partly through expeditions led by Armen Takhtajan and Andrei Yatsenko-Khmelevsky, reached around 1,240 to 1,260 species and cultivars by the 1980s. In 1979 a new greenhouse building was erected by the architect Suren Shakhsuvaryan and the engineer John Hovakimyan.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the energy crisis of 1992–1995 hit the garden hard: with no heating, many trees were cut down for fuel and much of the glasshouse collection was lost, although some staff took plants home over the winter to save them. The tropical greenhouse was later repaired, and its wood-fired stoves were replaced with gas heating thanks to private sponsorship. The 1979 building, long abandoned, was renovated and reopened in spring 2021; on 5 June 2021 an environmental education centre, the EcoEpicenter, opened in the garden with support from Germany, GIZ and WWF-Armenia.

The 1944 greenhouse complex covered 610 square metres, including a 106-square-metre winter garden and subtropical and tropical sections of 126 square metres each.

The 1979 building stands out for its Soviet modernist design and its many individually opening windows, intended to control ventilation and temperature. According to a 2024 article, however, the design proved faulty and the building never worked as intended; from 1994 staff used it to display Armenian flora. Renovated while keeping its original form, it has hosted environmental education activities since 2021.

The glasshouses must be protected from frost in winter and shaded during Yerevan's intensely sunny summers, which calls for careful control of humidity and ventilation.

Around 1,250 tropical and subtropical species were counted before 1992, about 300 after the crisis, 500 in the early 2000s and more than 670 according to a 2024 article. Useful and fruiting plants include papaya, kiwi, medlar, olive, lemon, orange, guava, macadamia, carambola, avocado and a feijoa with silvery-red flowers, alongside palms, ferns, cacti, agaves, cannas, mimosas and orchids from Japan, China and Mexico.

The 1979 building and the EcoEpicenter focus instead on living biotopes of Armenian flora, linking with the garden's outdoor collections, which include some 70 rare or endangered species, 38 of them listed in the national Red Book.

The garden covers about 80 hectares between the Kanaker and Nor Nork heights on Acharyan Street; the main entrance, on the Kanaker side, is joined by a broad avenue to the entrance on Myasnikyan Avenue. The glasshouses can be combined with the wooded walks, the arboretums devoted to the flora of the Caucasus, East Asia, North America and Europe, the rose garden south of the crossing of the main axes, and the palaeobotanical museum opened in 2008. The garden is popular with families, school groups and wedding photographers, and a full visit takes a few hours.