28 Facts About Rafayel Israyelian

Rafayel Israyelian's father, Sargis, was a philologist and folklorist born in Shusha, Karabakh, while his mother, Mariam was a teacher, originally from Nakhichevan.

Rafayel Israyelian attended an Armenian school in Tiflis and continued his education at the State Academy of Arts of Georgia, from which he graduated in 1928 as an architect.

Rafayel Israyelian later moved to Leningrad, where he studied at the Leningrad Institute of Communal Building from 1929 to 1932.

Rafayel Israyelian thereafter continued his education at the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture until 1936.

Rafayel Israyelian moved to Yerevan, Soviet Armenia in 1936 and worked at different state-run architectural organizations.

Rafayel Israyelian taught at the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute from 1941 to 1963.

Rafayel Israyelian completed a number of projects there, including the retirement home in Nor Kharberd and the dormitory of the Metallurgical Technical College in Yerevan.

Rafayel Israyelian then worked at the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute first as a lab technician, then as an assistant, and after 1947, as an associate professor.

From 1942, Rafayel Israyelian started working in the Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Armenia, whose chairman was academician Hovsep Orbeli.

In 1947, at the conference of young architects held in Moscow, Rafayel Israyelian's works won the first prize.

Rafayel Israyelian was designing a number of residential houses at the time.

Rafayel Israyelian closely worked with the Armenian Apostolic Church, under Catholicos Vazgen I and was part of the architectural committee of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin from 1956 to 1972.

Rafayel Israyelian died on September 8,1973, aged 65, at his Yerevan home, after a long illness.

Rafayel Israyelian was inspired by traditional Armenian architecture, especially church architecture.

Rafayel Israyelian borrowed from the architecture of Mesopotamia.

Rafayel Israyelian extensively studied khachkars and his studies were published in Etchmiadzin magazine posthumously in 1977.

Rafayel Israyelian created two memorials dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide, when its 50th anniversary was commemorated in 1965.

Rafayel Israyelian designed memorials dedicated to self-defenses during the Armenian Genocide.

In 1967 a memorial designed by Rafayel Israyelian was erected in the Armenian-populated village of Banants in Azerbaijan dedicated to the villagers killed in World War II.

Rafayel Israyelian designed two altars for Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's mother church: the Main Altar and the Altar of Descent.

Rafayel Israyelian designed several Armenian churches both in Armenia and abroad.

The reconstruction of Saint John the Baptist church, designed by Rafayel Israyelian, was completed in the 1980s.

Rafayel Israyelian designed and co-designed three churches in the Armenian diaspora: Holy Forty Martyrs Church in Milan, Italy, St Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City, and Surp Nerses Shnorhali Cathedral in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Varazdat Harutyunyan noted that Rafayel Israyelian's design was only modified slightly.

Rafayel Israyelian designed several popular monuments near prominent landmarks of Armenia.

Rafayel Israyelian designed a number of structures and buildings for civic use.

Rafayel Israyelian designed restaurants in Yerevan, Hrazdan, and Vanadzor.

Rafayel Israyelian designed decorative drinking fountains at the courtyards of St Hripsime, Geghard, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, St Gayane, and in numerous villages and towns around Armenia, including Parakar, Karbi, Stepanavan, Sisian, Byurakan, Artik, Goris, Ashtarak, Alaverdi, and Taperakan.