The “Hands of Friendship” Monument – An Inseparable Part of the Panorama of Yerevan

Monument “Hands of Friendship” is located in the Circular Park in Yerevan. In 1967, the fragments of the monument were brought to Yerevan from the Italian city of Carrara. According to the official agreement signed in 1973, Yerevan and Carrara are twin cities. However, their actual cooperation began in the early 1960s.

In 1965, a biennale was organized in the city of Carrara. This event was attended by a young sculptor from Yerevan Ara Harutyunyan who by that time had already authored three major monuments in Armenia (“Sayat-Nova”, Komitas tombstone, “Lion” in Geghard).

Visiting the famous quarry of Carrara, the sculptor noticed the fragments of a large sculpture: hands, parts of legs, and the head. It turned out that these are the parts of an incomplete statue of Christ. Apparently, it was left incomplete because its sculptor ran out of funds.

In 1966, a delegation of the Yerevan City Hall visited Carrara. As a sign of friendship between the two cities, the municipality of Carrara granted those sculpture fragments to Yerevan.

In 1967, Ara Harutyunyan created a composition from the fragments. They were arranged in a way so that the right hand lies in the left, with their index fingers almost touching each other. The monument “Hands of Friendship” was officially opened in 1967. Since that time, the monument has been an inseparable part of the panorama of Yerevan.