What's in the old courtyards of Yerevan?

Yerevan's courtyards are full of interesting items of the past. Sometimes they're items from the past that have been put together into weird contraptions that look like seating areas. Often occupied by old men that munch on sunflower seeds and drink with their friends into the evenings over some board games. In some areas you'll find cars from the 1960s to 1980s, and these cars are often with a faded coat of paint, slight hints of orange from the slow growth of rust around. Tires flat and haven't been given any air in decades. Their interiors are often showing signs of life still, the ways in which their owners often carried fruit to and from markets, little boxes that would've carried fresh produce around. Their owners likely having passed away, leaving these cars to just sit there within the courtyards, memories of the people that once used them.

Aspects of the more industrial past are also present. You'll see trucks from the 1960s with old faded Russian text on their sides. I can't fully speak or read Russian, and in the moment I didn't think to stop and use my phone to translate the text into English. So I have no idea what this one said, and I really wanted to peek into the windows and see what remained inside. This sat right by the side of an old Khrushchevka, again, clearly hadn't been used in many years. Likely belonging to another aged worker that would've once passed through the area. Perhaps I'll revisit the area sometime and finally have a look inside and see what was left behind. Over time, these vehicles are finally being removed as the city reclaims the space that was occupied by the locals and forgotten vehicles.

Such supposedly occupied environments from the locals often contain their own gardens that they've made. Sometimes these have little homemade benches within, little chairs from the Soviet era that had been taken from the abandoned schools and libraries nearby. Grapes, apricot, and pomegranate trees overhand. Sometimes you see people pulling whatever fruit has grown from them and having a little snack. It's within these little courtyards where life still feels quite simple. Slower. More traditional. The cold walls of the buildings made from Armenian stone can be felt, often with some dated paper advertisements for various services; usually referring to technology services or taxi numbers being displayed. In other areas, you might see the odd advertisement for events that have had a large number of posters placed up.

These locations are changing quite drastically. The past is quickly being erased as the city develops. One of my favourite things in Yerevan is to walk with the camera and find these old stories and imagine how things would've been. How the people of the Soviet era would've lived within these environments, and seeing how they're lived in now. I aim to continue roaming around these environments, to try to find more of these stories and tell them before they're gone.