Yerevan lies in the highlands surrounding the biblical mountains of ARARAT, upon which Noah's Ark is said to have come to rest after the flood (Bible, Gen. 8:4).  The Bible states “And on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the Mount ARARAT.”  Anyone who visits Yerevan will forever remember the most majestic noble scene in the world - the fabulous view of Holy Mount Ararat.

Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 - ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration. Etchmiadzin Cathedral is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  Built between 301 and 303, it is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.

Armenians have their own unique alphabet of 39 letters, which was invented in 405 AD. Within a century, Armenians had a library of classical and Christian learning and were able to build their own literary tradition.

The Matenadaran, is a repository of ancient manuscripts that holds one of the world's richest depositories of medieval manuscripts and books which span a wide array of subjects such as theology, philosophy, historiography and history, geography, grammar, art and art history, medicine and science. The Matenadaran is in possession of a collection of nearly 17,000 manuscripts and 30,000 other documents.

After the invention of the mechanical printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in 1439, the first book which had Armenian letters was published in Mainz (Germany) in 1486, and the first printed Armenian book was published in Venice in 1512.

The National Library of Armenia, founded in 1832, is the official cultural deposit for the entire republic. Currently, the library has a collection of 6.6 million books.

The Yerevan State University, founded in 1919, is the largest university in the country.  Of its 3,150 employees, 1,190 comprise the teaching staff which includes 25 academicians, 130 professors, 700 associate professors, and 360 assistant lecturers. The university has 400 researchers, 1,350 post-graduate students, and 8,500 undergraduates. Some of the its departments are the departments of Physics, Mathematics & Mechanics, Radiophysics, Informatics & Applied Mathematics.

The Yerevan Polytechnic University, established in 1933, is the leading technical university in the region for its fundamental engineering education and advanced research. During 80 years of its existence, the University has given over 115 thousand graduates who have contributed greatly to the development of the engineering manpower and technology base of the country.

The National Academy of Sciences was founded in 1943. The Academy promotes and carries out fundamental and applied research in different scientific fields, as well as coordinates research carried out throughout Armenia. It combines 40 research institutes.

The Yerevan Physics Institute, founded in 1943, performs world-class theoretical and experimental research in the field of elementary particles and nuclear physics, astrophysics, and cosmic ray physics.

Byurakan Astophysical Observatory, founded in 1946, is located on the picturesque southern slope of the mountain Aragatz. At the observatory five observation instruments are installed the larger ones being 2.6m Cassegrain telescope and 1m Schmidt telescope. Scientific researches of the observatory are related mainly with the instability phenomena taking place in the Universe.

The Yerevan Computer R&D Institute (Mergelyan Institute), founded in 1956, was a major centre for the development of computers and automatic control systems.  Some of the first Soviet computers, Nairi and Razdan, were designed here.