This unusual map of Soviet Armenia was published shortly after WW2 during a brief resurgence of Armenian national identity at a time when the Soviet Union was encouraging the Armenian diaspora abroad to return home. The image below the map depicts the Yerevan Opera Theatre, a landmark building constructed in 1932 to represent the flourishing of the arts in Soviet Armenia.

The only other example we have seen of this map has decorative borders to the left and right of the map with portraits of 10 famous Armenians whose accomplishments were celebrated during the Soviet period. These include opera singers, writers, sculptors and painters, architects, and, unusually, the government minister responsible for overseeing the repatriation of foreign Armenians. Our example has been trimmed to remove these side borders and also the upper border containing the map's title - "Soviet Armenia". It is impossible to say when this trimming might have occurred, but after Armenian independence in 1991 would seem most likely as Armenians tried to distance themselves from their Soviet past.

Though incomplete, this rare and attractive map of Armenia in Armenian script remains highly collectible.

Printed colour. [RUS2670]