Karen Demirchyan Complex

Officially Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, also known as Demirchyan Arena, Sports & Music Complex, or simply Hamalir (for complex in Armenian), is a huge sports and concert complex located on the Tsitsernakaberd hill in Yerevan city. The complex consists of two big halls; the concert hall and the sports hall, in addition to the Hayastan conferences hall designated for political summits with a huge space which gives the facility to organize fairs and exhibitions.

History
The complex was opened in 1983 but forced to close within a year and a half after a fire burst in 1985. A renovation process took place until the end of 1987 when it was ready again to host concerts and sport events.

In 1999, shortly after the assassination of the former speaker of the Armenian parliament Karen Demirchyan in the Armenian parliament shooting, the complex was renamed in honour of him, for his contribution in the construction and the renovation of the complex during the Soviet era.

On October 9, 2005, the complex was sold for US$ 5.7 million. The contract was signed between the Armenian government and the Russian organization BAMO holding. Murad Muradian, an Armenian from Moscow, and head of the BAMO holding, attempted to gain the support of Yerevan citizens who were hesitant about the privatization of the building. Two conditions were put forward by Armenian president Robert Kocharian: The name of the complex must not be changed and it must preserve its functional meaning. The organization agreed to these conditions and a commitment to make an investment of nearly 10 million US dollars was envisaged for the upcoming 3 years.

The renovation process took almost 3 years and its cost grew up to 42 million US dollars, thus turning the complex to a modern and a high level sports and concerts arena.

On October 31, 2008, exactly after 25 years of its first inauguration, the second opening ceremony of the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex took place with the presence of president Serzh Sargsyan, catholicos Karekin I, Karen Demirchyan's son Stepan Demirchyan and daughter Rima, and a huge crowd of Yerevan's residents. Song concerts and ice skating shows were included in the ceremony. The Russian figure skating legend Evgeny Plushenko was the surprise guest and performer of the day.

Informations
The complex has a unique design, an outside view of the whole construction reminds the shape a big bird opening its wings. Its architectural concepts include a turning tribune seating 1200, which can rapidly connect the two big halls to reveal additional seating, a concept for which the architects were awarded the USSR State Award -the highest of its kind- in 1987.

Nowadays, the sports hall is mostly used for Figure Skating shows and events all around the year. It was also the home of World Youth Boxing Championship in May 2009.