Vanadzor was rebuilt as a planned Soviet industrial city after the 1926 earthquake, and Hayk Square is the result — a wide rectangular plaza framed by neoclassical and Stalinist-era buildings, including the regional administration, the post office, and the Hovhannes Tumanyan State Drama Theatre. The scale feels deliberately oversized for a provincial capital, which is part of the point.
In summer the square fills with families in the late afternoon, with kids on bicycles and the cafes around the edge open into the evening. The 1988 earthquake damaged many buildings here, and several have been refaced or rebuilt since. It is the obvious orientation point for a walk through the centre — almost everything else worth seeing is within ten minutes on foot.