Gyumri

We went to the city of Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city, on a language study field trip. Gyumri was a center of art and culture until it was largely destroyed in the 1988 earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale. Much of the city has been rebuilt since then, although reconstruction is still ongoing both in the city center and on the outskirts of town. There are still buildings left in rubble, a number of half-built reconstruction projects, and people living in trailors outside of town. Pictured here (top) is a detail of the city museum (in a restored 19th century townhouse of one of the city's wealthy inhabitants), and below, the reconstructed church in the main square, where we saw a wedding on the day of our tour.