ERIVAN or IRWAN, (i) the capital town of Armenian S.S.R. situated in 4o° 16' N., 35' E., 234 m. by rail south south-west of Tiflis, on the Zanga river, from which a great number of irrigation canals are drawn. Altitude, 3,17o feet. Pop. 113,20o. After the creation of the Armenian Republic, an Armenian University was founded at Erivan, and also an Armenian National Museum and an Institute of Music. The population has increased markedly and there are several industrial undertakings including the making of machinery, wine and brandy distilling, rice preparation, brick, leather and furniture factories. In 1928 a factory for extracting glycerine from the oil of cotton was successfully established. A new hydro-electric station, de signed by the Armenian architect, Tamarian, was opened in 1926. The old Persian portion of the town consists mainly of narrow crooked lanes enclosed by mud walls, which effectually conceal the houses, and the modern Russian portion is laid out in long ill-paved streets. On a steep rock, rising about boo ft. above the river, stand the ruins of the i6th-century Turkish fortress, con taining part of the palace of the former Persian governors, a handsome but greatly dilapidated mosque, a modern Greek church and a cannon foundry. One chamber, called the Hall of the Sardar, bears witness to former splendour in its decorations. The finest building in the city is the mosque of Hussein ali Khan, familiarly known as the Blue Mosque from the colour of the enamelled tiles with which it is richly encased. At the mosque of Zal Khan a passion play is performed yearly illustrative of the assassination of Hussein, the son of Ali. Erivan is an Armenian episcopal see, and has a theological seminary. Armenians, Per sians and Tatars are the principal elements in the population, besides some Russians and Greeks. The town fell into the power of the Turks in 1582, and was taken by the Persians under Shah Abbas in 1604, besieged by the Turks for four months in 1615, and reconquered by the Persians under Nadir Shah in the 18th century. In 178o it was successfully defended against Heraclius, prince of Georgia; and in 1804 it resisted the Russians. At length in 1827 Paskevich took the fortress by storm, and in the following year the town and government were ceded to Russia by the peace of Turkman-chai. A Tatar poem in celebration of the event has been preserved by the Austrian poet, Bodenstedt, in his Tausend and ein Tage im Orient (185o). (2) an admini strative district of the Armenian S.S.R. with the town of Erivan as its centre. It has an area of 3,975 sq.km. and a population (1926) of 17 5,816. The district is noted for its vineyards and for its apples, apricots and melons.