On November 11, Holy Echmiadzin hosted a memorial inauguration ceremony. The monument was erected in memory of the Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen I.

The monument was created on the initiative of co-chair of the Armenia-Russia interparliamentary cooperation committee, head of the Russian Commission for Natural Monopolies, Nikolai Ryzhkov.

The memorial is authored by the honoured art worker of Russia, sculptor Friedrich Soghoyan.

His Holiness Vazgen I (September 20, 1908—August 18, 1994) was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 1955 and 1994, in one of the longest reigns of the Armenian Catholicoi. A native of Romania, he began his career as a philosopher, before becoming a Doctor of Theology and a member of the local Armenian clergy.