Shirak, is a province (marz) of Armenia. It is located in the north-west of the country, bordering Turkey in the west and Georgia in the north. Its capital and largest city is Gyumri. It is as much semi-desert as it is mountain meadow or high alpine. In the south, the high steppes merge into mountain terrain, being verdant green in the spring, with hues of reddish brown in the summer. The province is served by the Shirak International Airport of Gyumri.
Mount Aragats is an isolated four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. Its northern summit, at 4,090 m (13,420 ft) above sea level, is the highest point of the Lesser Caucasus and Armenia. It is also one of the highest points in the Armenian Highlands.
Gyumri is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city was known as Alexandropol, it became the largest city of Russian-ruled Eastern Armenia with a population above that of Yerevan. The city became renown as a cultural hub, while also carrying significance as a major center of Russian troops during Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th century.
Loris Haykasi Tjeknavorian is an Iranian Armenian composer and conductor. He has appeared internationally as a conductor, serving as the principal conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989 to 1998 and later from 1999 to 2000. As a composer Tjeknavorian has written 6 operas, 5 symphonies, choral works, chamber music, ballet music, piano and vocal works, concerti for piano, violin, guitar, cello and pipa, as well as music for documentary and feature films. Among his best known works are the opera Rostam and Sohrab, based on the story of Rostam and Sohrab from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and the ballet Simorgh.
The National Polytechnic University of Armenia is a technical university located in Yerevan, Armenia. Established as the Karl Marx Institute of Polytechnic in 1933, it provides educational and research programs in various fields of technology and science related to engineering. The university includes a central campus in Yerevan and branch campuses located in Gyumri, Vanadzor and Kapan. Currently there are more than 8,000 students and more than 750 faculty members.
Shirak International Airport, is an international airport serving Gyumri and the province of Shirak, Armenia. It is about five kilometres (3.1 mi) from the center of Gyumri. The airport was inaugurated in 1961, and is the second largest airport in the country, after Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport.
Armen Tigranian or Tigranyan or Dikranian was an Armenian composer, conductor and sociocultural activist. His best-known work is Anoush, premiered in Alexandropol in 1912. It is the first opera ever performed in Armenia.
The Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway line is a railway line that runs from the city of Kars in Turkey to the Armenian city of Gyumri, and from there on to Tbilisi, Georgia.
Football Club Shirak, commonly known as Shirak, is an Armenian professional sports club based in Gyumri. Shirak is known for its professional football team which is one of the oldest football clubs in Armenia, having been created in 1958. The club is the only team that participated in all seasons of the Armenian Premier League since its creation in 1992 until 2021. Shirak is one of the more successful clubs in Armenia, having won a total of 11 domestic titles including four Armenian Premier League titles, two Armenian Cup, and five Armenian Super Cup.
Tigran Hamasyan is an Armenian jazz pianist and composer. He plays mostly original compositions, which are strongly influenced by the Armenian folk tradition, often using its scales and modalities. In addition to Tigran's folk influence, he is influenced by American jazz traditions and to some extent, as on his album Red Hail, by progressive rock. His solo album A Fable is most strongly influenced by Armenian folk music. Even on his most overt jazz compositions and renditions of well-known jazz pieces, his improvisations often contain embellishments based on scales from Middle Eastern/South Western Asian traditions.
Levon Julfalakyan is a former Soviet Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler. He is an Olympic, World, and European Champion and was merited Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1988. Julfalakyan is the current head coach of the Armenian national Greco-Roman wrestling team and President of the Union of Armenian Olympians, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the NOC.
Nikoghayos Tigranian was an Armenian composer, pianist, musicologist, and sociocultural activist. He introduced the Braille System to Armenia.
Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God, also known as the Our Lady of Seven Wounds, is a 19th-century church in Gyumri, Armenia. Occupying the northern side of the Vartanants Square, the cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Shirak of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The church was constructed between 1873 and 1884.
The Gyumri Football Academy, is a modern football training school located in Armenia's 2nd-largest city of Gyumri, Shirak Province.
Holy Saviour's Church, is a 19th-century church in Gyumri, Armenia. It occupies the southern side of the Vartanants Square at the centre of Gyumri. It was constructed between 1858 and 1872 and consecrated in 1873.
Arshak Sarkissian, is an Armenian painter artist.
Volodya Margaryan known as Valmar, is an Armenian painter. People's artist of Armenia (2015).
Arpenik Nalbandyan was a Soviet-Armenian artist.
Swallow Music Awards is an annual national music awards ceremony first held in Yerevan, Armenia, on 25 March 2017. The awards are created and sponsored by RA Ministry of Culture to appreciate and spur the activities of individuals and creators of various genres of Armenian musical art, as well as to display the significant achievements in the field of music to the broader layers of society. The awards consist of four parts: achievements in classical genre, folk genre, mass pop genre, and special/other awards. During the ceremony artists are given the awards designed by Armenian painter and designer Arman Nur. Each year, the award ceremony airs live on Public Television company of Armenia.
