Yerevan is called the “Pink City”
Tuesday, October 24, 2023Yerevan, the capital of Armenia is called "The pink city" because of the color of the stone used for building. Indeed, while driving through Armenian countryside you can easily spot that the houses along the way blend into the pinkish hills.
As you approach the Armenian capital of Yerevan, you can look up and see Mount Ararat towering in the distance, casting its shadow on a city shrouded in pink. Yerevan has come to be known as Armenia’s Pink City for exactly this view: its Soviet-era buildings constructed out of pink stones from the surrounding landscape. The color is brightest at sunrise and sunset, and changes throughout the day based on where the sun hits it.
Yerevan itself its one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, though it’s been known by many other names over the years. It was founded in 782 B.C.E. by Urartian King Argishti I, who named it Erebuni, though the territory had been settled and was actually in use since the 4th millennium B.C.E.. After World War I, Yerevan became the 12th capital of Armenia.