The Art Gallery of Armenia

📙 The Art Gallery of Armenia is one of the richest museums of the Soviet Union. Its extensive collection of Russian, Armenian and Western European art numbers over 19,000 items. It was in 1921, only nine months after the establishment of the Soviet power in Armenia that the Museum of Armenia was founded. In those days it incorporated four departments: archaeological, ethnographical, art and of history of revolutionary movement. The foundation of the art department turned a new page in the cultural life of the Armenian people. One can hardly overestimate the importance of this event, particularly taking into consideration the fact that before the revolution Armenia had neither a public art museum, nor any traditions of collecting works of art. In 1935 the art department of the Museum of Armenia was transformed into the Museum of Fine Arts.