Built into the Tsitsernakaberd hill above western Yerevan, this is a sober, restrained memorial to the 1.5 million Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. The complex was inaugurated in 1967, after years of Soviet reluctance to permit any public commemoration. Twelve angled basalt slabs encircle the eternal flame; the underground museum, opened in 1995, traces the genocide through photographs, documents, survivor testimonies, and the records of foreign witnesses.
The walk up through the park is itself part of the visit. From the platform you look across to Mount Ararat — the symbol of Armenia, now on Turkish soil — which gives the memorial much of its emotional weight. Admission is free; the museum closes on Mondays.