Armenian premier attends opening ceremony of Red Bridge 

ArmInfo.  Yesterday, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the opening ceremony of the Red Bridge historical monument in Yerevan's Kentron district. The ceremony was attended by Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan, Ambassador Vasilis Maragos, and others.

As reported by the government press service, the opening of the Red  Bridge in Yerevan also marked the conclusion of the "European  Heritage Days" program, which is being implemented as part of the  cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and  Sport of the Republic of Armenia and the EU.

The strengthening, restoration, and renovation of the monument was  funded by philanthropist Yuri Afrikyan, as part of a memorandum  signed in 2022 between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture,  and Sport of the Republic of Armenia and Mr. Afrikyan. The Red Bridge  is a national monument located on the Hrazdan River. It is the oldest  surviving bridge in Yerevan and one of the largest engineering  structures of medieval Armenia. It is 11 meters high, 80 meters long,  and 6.5 meters wide. Connecting the banks of the Hrazdan Gorge, the  bridge provided road communication between the Yerevan Fortress and  the Ararat Valley. The bridge dates back to the 10th-13th centuries.

Reconstruction and repair work on the bridge took place in the 1830s  and 1960s. At that time, basalt supports were added to both ends of  the bridge to strengthen the structure. Later, in the 1980s,  restoration work remained unfinished. Before the complete  restoration, only the large southern arch and the northern chamber  remained. The bridge was almost completely destroyed and required  urgent restoration. In 2024- 2025, the Red Bridge was restored,  preserving all its valuable historical layers.