Every city has an unusual place. Somewhere it’s a park, somewhere an odd monument or a peculiar museum. Yerevan is rich in such landmarks. And one of them is the Big Cascade, a spectacular system of stairs, sculptures, fountains, flower beds, spread out on the slopes of the Kanaker hills.

Today, the Big Cascade can be called a museum that includes open-air exhibitions as well as displays inside. The initial idea was rather straightforward: to create a functional staircase that would connect two parts of the city, the upper and the lower ones. But the architect of this wonder, Alexander Tamanian, could not make the staircase trivial. He managed to design an architectural masterpiece that soon became the main landmark of Yerevan.

The building of the Cascade started in the 70-s of the 20th century. At that time the project already included fountains, flower beds, and exhibition halls besides the stairs. But the project had to be put on hold for a few decades because of the USSR demolition, the shift in power, and subsequent lack of funds. The Cascade acquired the look that it has now only in 2009 thanks to an American patron with Armenian roots.

The Cascade begins in a small park, where you can also find the monument of its creator, architect Tamanian, who looks as though he is thinking about his most ambitious work. At the top of the stairs, there is one of the best viewpoints that offers to admire the breathtaking scenery of Yerevan with Big and Small Ararat in the background.

Inside the Big Cascade, there are exhibit rooms located under the fountains. It’s a museum that houses works of the ancient craftsmen: sculptures, ornament carved on the columns of old temples. The complex of the Big Cascade displays works of contemporary art outside: unusual monuments and sculptures fit harmoniously into the general landscape. Even water obeys human’s will here: its dancing spurts paint national Armenian ornaments.

There are no analogues of such stairs anywhere in the world. That is why the citizens are so proud of their Big Cascade and so eager to show its unique beauty to the guests of the city.