The Cascade in Yerevan

After the Matenadaran, the next place to visit is the Cascade where you will see more modern works of art than those at the Matenadaran. Yerevan has the widest selection of public statuary I have ever seen in one city and the Tamanian Sculpture Park at the base of the cascade has a good representative selection. Some of the sculptures are beautiful, such as the Hare on Bell by Barry Flanagan, others are prodigious such as the Fat Cat statue by Fernando Botero – the cat is jet black, looks smug, and is 2.5 metres high – some are rather ugly such as the stunted gladiator, also by Botero, while others are funny such as the Blue Kiwi by American artist Peter Woytuk, which was previously on view in New York . The base of the Cascade is made from concrete, yet looks rather attractive as the wall comprises overlapping circular patterns, tapering from five on the top row to one on the bottom row,out of the centre of which water pours. It’s like having fifteen large satellite dishes, each roughly five feet in diameter, pointing directly at you in a V pattern.