HOUSE-MUSEUM OF ARAM KHACHATURIAN

“…I will say that it was rather hard for me to imagine the future house-museum by drafts on paper. From the outside, it is very beautiful and persuasive, but the internal arrangement and design was more difficult to visualize. In general, I liked the project and felt like approving it…”
Aram Khachaturian, January 29, 1978, Moscow

The house-museum of Aram Khachaturian is located in Yerevan. The composer had only managed to only become acquainted with the drafts of the future museum and express his wishes to a famous architect Edward Altunian, who was asked by the government to start the project order.
The basis for the museum was a large stately house where the elder brother of Aram Khachaturian Vaghinak and his family lived. It was in this house that Aram Khachaturian often stayed whenever he visited Yerevan.
The former residence has remained unchanged. The garden has been converted into a small courtyard, where a spring-monument, a gift to the museum from architects S. Gyurzadian and S.Barseghianhas, has been erected. The facade is framed with five arches reminding tuning forks.
The official opening of the museum took place in 1982, after the death of the composer. The management of the museum was first entrusted to conductor, musical and public figure Goar Agasievna Arutyunian who was succeded by Armine Grigoryan - professor of Yerevan State Conservatory, eminent pianist and winner of International competitions.
Various already traditional events - festivals, commemorative evenings, competitions, meetings with prominent figures of culture, exhibitions take place at the museum each year. Letters, manuscripts of scores, books, records, photos and other materials related to the life and creative work of the genius composer are collected there. The son of A. Khachaturian, Karen, donated to the museum the private things of his father: cabinet, bedroom, dining room, piano, conductor’s tail-coat and baton, letters and many other things from the family archive.
Before and after the opening of the house-museum, valuable materials from all over the world were being sent out there. Gradually, the museum was filled with new remainders. One of those exhibits has a very interesting history. It involves a piano, donated to the house-museum by Tigran Mostijian from San Paolo. Once (by the end of the fifties), when the composer toured in South America, a passionate admirer of his creative work T. Mostijian gave a reception in his home in honor of Aram Khachaturian. He bought a piano just because he wanted the composer to touch the keys of the instrument. After Khachaturian had played fragments of his compositions, suddenly, the master of the house gave a nail to the composer so that the latter would scratch his autograph at the piano’s top cover. It took persuading Khachaturian; nevertheless, the signature was put. Today, this piano occupies its modest place in the museum.
The house-museum of Aram Khachaturian has a light concert hall with excellent acoustics. The walls of the hall have welcomed the leading performers of chamber genre and young musicians for decades now.
There is a rich library of records in the house-museum – about 2,500 CDs with records of classic and contemporary music. A workshop for the restoration of string instruments is functioning right inside. The museum also includes a National collection of unique musical instruments.