Classical antiquity and the ancient Armenian Kingdom Archaeological excavations conducted throughout the Soviet period have shown that the area of modern-day Gyumri has been populated since at least the third millennium BC. The area was mentioned as
Kumayri in the historic
Urartian inscriptions dating back to the 8th century BC. Kumayri may be identical with the city of
Gymnias or
Gumnias (Γυμνιάς in
greek) mentioned by
Xenophon in his
Anabasis. At the decline of the
Urartu Kingdom by the second half of the 6th century BC, Kumayri became part of the
Achaemenid Empire. The remains of a royal settlement found just to the south of Gyumri near the village of
Beniamin dating back to the 5th to 2nd centuries BC, are a great example of the Achemenid influence in the region. However, at the beginning of the 5th century BC, Kumayri became part of the
Satrapy of Armenia under the rule of the
Orontids. An alternative theory suggests that Kumayri has been formed as an urban settlement in the late 5th century BC, ca. 401 BC, by
Greek colonists. Later in 331 BC, the entire territory was included in the
Ayrarat province of
Ancient Armenian Kingdom as part of the Shirak canton. Between 190 BC and 1 AD Kumayri was under the rule of the
Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia. During the 1st century AD, Shirak was granted to the
Kamsarakan family, who ruled over Kumayri during the
Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia.
Medieval period Following the partition of Armenia in 387 between the Byzantines and the Persians, and as a result of the fall of the Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia in 428, Shirak including Kumayri became part of the
Sasanian Empire of Persia. In 658 AD, at the height of the Arab Islamic invasions, Kumayri was conquered during the
Muslim conquest of Persia to become part of the
Emirate of Armenia under the
Umayyad Caliphate. Kumayri was a significant and quite-developed urban settlement during the
Middle Ages. According to the Armenian scholar
Ghevond the Historian, the town was a center of the Armenian rebellion led by
Artavazd Mamikonian against the Islamic Arab
Caliphate, between 733 and 755. After 2 centuries of Islamic rule over Armenia, the
Bagratids declared independence in 885 establishing the
Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia. Kumayri entered e new era of growth and progress, particularly when the nearby city of Ani became the capital of the kingdom in 961. By the second half of the 10th century, Kumayri was under the influence of the Armenian
Pahlavuni family, who were descendants of the Kamsarakans. The Pahlavunis had a great contribution in the progress of Shirak with the foundation of many fortresses, monastic complexes, educational institutions, etc. northwest of Gyumri (10th century) After the fall of Armenia to the
Byzantine Empire in 1045 and later to the
Seljuk invaders in 1064. Under the foreign rulers, the town had gradually lost its significance during the following centuries, until the establishment of the
Zakarid Principality of Armenia in 1201 under the
Georgian protectorate. During the Zakarid rule, the Eastern Armenian territories, mainly Lori and Shirak, entered into a new period of growth and stability, becoming a trade center between the east and the west. After the Mongols captured
Ani in 1236, Armenia turned into a
Mongol protectorate as part of the
Ilkhanate, and the Zakarids became vassals to the
Mongols. After the fall of the Ilkhanate in the mid-14th century, the Zakarid princes ruled over Lori, Shirak, and Ararat plain until 1360 when they fell to the invading Turkic tribes. By the last quarter of the 14th century, the
Ag Qoyunlu Sunni
Oghuz Turkic tribe took over Armenia, including Shirak. In 1400,
Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia, and captured more than 60,000 of the survived local people as slaves. Many districts including Shirak were depopulated.
Persian and Russian rules In 1501, most of the
Eastern Armenian territories including Kumayri were conquered by the emerging
Safavid dynasty of Iran led by Shah
Ismail I. Soon after in 1502, Kumayri became part of the newly formed
Erivan Beglarbegi, a new administrative territory of Iran formed by the Safavids. During the first half of the 18th century, Kumayri became part of the
Erivan Khanate under the rule of the
Afsharid dynasty and later under the
Qajar dynasty of Persia. of old Alexandropol with the
Holy Saviour's Church (1859–1873) In June 1804, the
Russian forces controlled over Shirak region at the beginning of the
Russo-Persian War of 1804 and 1813. Kumayri became officially part of the Russian Empire at the
Treaty of Gulistan signed on 1 January 1813 between Imperial Russia and Qajar Persia. During the period of Russian rule, Gyumri became one of the developing cities in the
Transcaucasus. In 1829, in the aftermath of the
Russo-Turkish War, there was a big influx of Armenian population, as around 3,000 families who had migrated from territories in the Ottoman Empire, in particular from the towns of
Kars,
Erzurum, and
Doğubeyazıt- settled in and around Gyumri. The Russian poet
Alexander Pushkin visited Gyumri during his journey to
Erzurum in 1829. In 1837 Russian
Tsar Nicholas I arrived in Gyumri and changed the name into
Alexandropol. The name was chosen in honour of Tsar Nicholas I's wife, Princess
Charlotte of Prussia, who had changed her name to
Alexandra Fyodorovna after converting to
Orthodox Christianity. A major
Russian fortress was built on the site in 1837. Alexandropol was finally formed as a town in 1840 to become the center of the newly established
Alexandropol Uyezd, experiencing rapid growth during its first decade. In 1849, the Alexandropol Uyezd became part of the
Erivan Governorate. The town was an important outpost for the Imperial Russian armed forces in the
Transcaucasus where their military barracks were established (e.g., at Poligons, Severski, Kazachi Post). The Russians built the
Sev Berd fortress at the western edge of the city during the 1830s in response to the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829. Alexandropol had been quickly transformed to become one of the major centers of the Russian troops during the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. After the establishment of the railway station in 1899, Alexandropol witnessed significant growth and became the largest city in Eastern Armenia. By the end of the 19th century, Alexandropol was home to 430 shopping stores, several workshops, cultural institutions, a girl's gymnasium, a commercial school, a theater, and leather, bear, and soap enterprises.
Modern history In 1902, the first bank in the city was opened. Until the Sovietization of Armenia in 1920, Alexandropol had 31 manufacturing centers including beer, soap, textile, etc. After the
October Revolution of 1917 and the Russian withdrawal from the
South Caucasus, the Ottoman forces launched a new offensive capturing the city of Alexandropol on 11 May 1918, during the
Caucasus Campaign in
World War I. However, the Ottomans withdrew from the city on 24 December 1918, as stipulated by the
Armistice of Mudros. On 6 December 1918, the Armenian army reoccupied the city. The newly established
Republic of Armenia proclaimed on 28 May 1918, included the city of Alexandropol. On 10 May 1920, the local Bolshevik Armenians aided by the Muslim population, attempted a
coup d'état in Alexandropol against the Dashnak government of Armenia. The
uprising was suppressed by the Armenian government on May 14 and its leaders were executed. However, during
another Turkish invasion, Turkish troops attacked Alexandropol and occupied the city on 7 November 1920. Armenia was forced to sign the
Treaty of Alexandropol on December 3 to stop the Turkish advance towards Yerevan, however a concurrent Soviet invasion led to the fall of the Armenian government on December 2. The Turkish forces withdrew from Alexandropol after the
Treaty of Kars was signed in October 1921 by the unrecognized Soviet and Turkish governments. Under
Soviet rule, the name of the city was changed in 1924 to Leninakan after the deceased Soviet leader
Vladimir Lenin. The city suffered an
earthquake in 1926, when many of its significant buildings were destroyed including the Greek church of Saint George. Leninakan became a major industrial center in the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and its second-largest city, after the capital Yerevan. The city suffered major damage during the
1988 Armenian earthquake, which devastated many parts of the country. The earthquake occurred along a known thrust fault with a length of . Its
strike was parallel to the Caucasus range and dipped to the north-northeast.
Bruce Bolt, a seismologist and a professor of earth and planetary science at the
University of California, Berkeley, walked the fault scarp in 1992 and found that the vertical displacement measured along most of the length with the southwest end reaching . The earthquake had a disastrous impact on the city, as many buildings are still not recovered. , according to some news websites, between 4,000 and 5,000 residents of Gyumri remain homeless, although there are no official figures provided by the local authorities of the city. At the time of the
breakup of the Soviet Union, the city was renamed
Kumayri from 1990 until 1992 when it was finally given the name
Gyumri. The
Russian 102nd Military Base is located in the city. Gyumri was celebrated as the Capital of Culture of the
Commonwealth of Independent States for 2013. Major events took place in the city on 30 June 2013. On 12 January 2015, Valery Permyakov, a serviceman from the Russian 102nd Military Base,
murdered seven members of an Armenian family in Gyumri. On 25 June 2016,
Pope Francis delivered a Holy Mass at Gyumri's
Vartanants Square. Catholicos of All Armenians
Garegin II also took part in the ceremony. ==Geography and climate==