Yerevan is one of the three major cities of the Caucasus|South Caucasus and is the capital city of Armenia. It is home to some 1.1 million people and to the largest Armenian community in the world. In Soviet years Yerevan underwent massive reconstruction, following Alexander Tamanyan's (the architect) new plans to make a perfect city. The center is a true jewel of early soviet architecture. In those days Yerevan gained the name '''Pink City''' due to the color of the stone used for building.Even though the history of Yerevan dates back to the Erebuni fortress, making it at least 2800 years old, little remains of what was small settlement saving the excavations at Erebuni, Karmir Berd and ??. These sites have been excavated, and the artifacts found are in museums today. Being on a strategically important place Yerevan was a constant war stage for rival Ottoman, Persian and Russian Empires. It has been repeatedly ruined by those wars or natural disasters (e.g. an earthquake in 17th century almost entirely destroyed the town). Few buildings of the old Erivan survived to the present-day Yerevan.At the time of Armenia's independence in 1918, when Yerevan was made the capital of an independent Armenia, Yerevan was a town of just 20,000 Azeris, Armenians, Russians and few Persians and Kurds. Large scale construction began, which took a more holistic approach under the new city plan laid out by Alexander Tamanyan, whose statue overlooking those original plans can be found on Moscovyan Street by the Cascades. The plan involved the demolition of much of what existed, in favor of concentric circles, parks, and taller structures. He planned for Yerevan to become a metropolis of up to 200,000 people.So think of Yerevan today architecturally as a prime example of good Soviet architecture. In central Yerevan, virtually all the facades are surfaced in a pink tuf stone. Examples of excellent Soviet architecture, with an Armenian twist can be found in Republic Square, the Opera, the Cascades and surrounding buildings, Sasuntsi Tavit Metro, Kievyan Street, as well as various buildings and squares around Yerevan. http://wikitravel.org/en/Yerevan