Between Tradition and Modernity: Architectural Tendencies in the Works of Vasily Mirzoyan (Late 19th – Early 20th Century)

Abstract

Vasily Mirzoyan is an outstanding Armenian architect who worked in the Yerevan Governorate from 1897 to 1910 as a provincial architect and made a major contribution to the development of construction in the region. Churches, administrative, educational, cultural, and entertainment buildings, mansions, apartment houses, engineering facilities, roads, bridges, etc., were built according to the architect's designs. The article, based on archival materials, natural studies, and architectural analysis, reveals the architectural and artistic features of Vasily Mirzoyan's works: appeal to historical styles and Art Nouveau, an address to national structures and motifs, strict logic in the structure of composition systems, and a clear and rational organization of spaces. Innovative interpretations at all stages of design are of great interest. The aim and objectives of the article are to rehabilitate, through the figure of Vasily Mirzoyan, the professional achievements of Armenian architecture and engineering of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as to underscore the unquestionable value of information about this historical period that was lost during the Soviet era.