Hovhannes Shiraz House Museum

It is in Gyumri, on Varpetats Street, and is listed as a historic-cultural monument of the city. A grand gate on the western façade leads to an inner courtyard.

The house once belonged to a wealthy merchant and was given to the poet in 1983, but he lived there for less than a year before he died. After the 1988 earthquake it housed earthquake victims, and after years of restoration the museum officially opened in 2003.

The six rooms display Shiraz’s personal belongings, manuscripts and published works. The first room tells of his childhood, the second is arranged as it was during his life, and the others show his creative works, drawings and other valuable exhibits.

His real name was Onik Karapetyan; he lost his father young and spent his childhood in an orphanage. His first wife was the poet Silva Kaputikyan, mother of the sculptor Ara Shiraz, and with his second wife, Shushan, he had seven children, among them the poet Sipan Shiraz.