The layout of the contemporary Armenian capital Yerevan is based on a 1924 master plan by the Sov... more The layout of the contemporary Armenian capital Yerevan is based on a 1924 master plan by the Soviet Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan, who was inspired by the English concept of the 'garden city'. Still, the city has a much longer 'green tradition' that is documented for pre-Soviet times and might reach back to - or at least allude to - the parks and gardens of ancient Mesopotamia. In this article, we give insights into this local green tradition. First, we describe the changing attitude towards the city and urban green space and the city's and city dwellers' changing relationship to nature more generally. We then introduce the Cascade, a Soviet fountain structure, as an example to illustrate some of the recent developments and to map out the tangible and intangible links with the ancient past. Finally, building on our interpretation of the ancient and recent past of Yerevan, we make some suggestions for how to (re)turn the Cascade into a green project t...
This paper was presented at the workshop “Goods, Languages, and Cultures along the Silk Road” at ... more This paper was presented at the workshop “Goods, Languages, and Cultures along the Silk Road” at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, October 18 and 19, 2019. While many contributions to the workshop focused on recent developments in China’s current “New Silk Road” politics, on forms of communication, and on contemporary exchange of goods and ideas across so-called Silk Road countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia and with China, this short essay focuses on the history of the so-called Silk Road as an important transport connection. Although what is now called the “Silk Road” was not a pure East-West binary in antiquity but rather developed into a network that also led to the South and North, the focus here will be on describing the East-West connection. I will start with a few brief remarks on the origins of the connection referred to as the Silk Road and will then introduce the different great empires that shaped this connection between antiquity and the Middle Ages through mil...
The layout of the contemporary Armenian capital Yerevan is based on a 1924 master plan by the Sov... more The layout of the contemporary Armenian capital Yerevan is based on a 1924 master plan by the Soviet Armenian architect Alexander Tamanyan, who was inspired by the English concept of the 'garden city'. Still, the city has a much longer 'green tradition' that is documented for pre-Soviet times and might reach back to - or at least allude to - the parks and gardens of ancient Mesopotamia. In this article, we give insights into this local green tradition. First, we describe the changing attitude towards the city and urban green space and the city's and city dwellers' changing relationship to nature more generally. We then introduce the Cascade, a Soviet fountain structure, as an example to illustrate some of the recent developments and to map out the tangible and intangible links with the ancient past. Finally, building on our interpretation of the ancient and recent past of Yerevan, we make some suggestions for how to (re)turn the Cascade into a green project t...
This paper was presented at the workshop “Goods, Languages, and Cultures along the Silk Road” at ... more This paper was presented at the workshop “Goods, Languages, and Cultures along the Silk Road” at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, October 18 and 19, 2019. While many contributions to the workshop focused on recent developments in China’s current “New Silk Road” politics, on forms of communication, and on contemporary exchange of goods and ideas across so-called Silk Road countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia and with China, this short essay focuses on the history of the so-called Silk Road as an important transport connection. Although what is now called the “Silk Road” was not a pure East-West binary in antiquity but rather developed into a network that also led to the South and North, the focus here will be on describing the East-West connection. I will start with a few brief remarks on the origins of the connection referred to as the Silk Road and will then introduce the different great empires that shaped this connection between antiquity and the Middle Ages through mil...
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