Gyumri (Armenian: Գյումրի, pronounced [ɡjumˈɾi]) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city was known as Alexandropol, it became the largest city of Russian-ruled Eastern Armenia with a population above that of Yerevan. The city became renowned as a cultural hub, while also carrying significance as a major center of Russian troops during Russo-Turkish wars of the 19th century.

The city underwent a tumultuous period during and after World War I. While Russian forces withdrew from the South Caucasus due to the October Revolution, the city became host to large numbers of Armenian refugees fleeing the Armenian genocide, in particular hosting 22,000 orphaned children in around 170 orphanage buildings. It was renamed Leninakan during the Soviet period and became a major industrial and textile center in Soviet Armenia. The city's population rapidly grew to above 200,000 prior to the 1988 Spitak earthquake, when it was devastated, with the city's population being reduced to 121,976 as of the 2011 census. The city was renamed Gyumri under modern independent Armenia soon after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue. As of the 2022 census, the population of the city was 112,301.

Today, Gyumri continues to grapple with the lasting effects of the 1988 earthquake, but remains known as the cultural hub of Armenia due to the many artists and craftsman who originated from the city. The city is also in particular notable for the large Kumayri historic district that managed to mostly survive the 1988 earthquake, dating back mainly to the 19th century and being one of the few surviving places in the world with authentic urban Armenian architecture.

The area of modern-day Gyumri was originally known as Kumayri (Armenian: Կումայրի) during the period of the Kingdom of Urartu. Over time, the name became disrupted through phonetic changes to Kumri, then Gumri, and finally Gyumri. In 1837, Gyumri was renamed Alexandropol after Czar Nicholas I's wife, Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna. Between 1924 and 1990, the city was known as Leninakan in honor of Vladimir Lenin. Following independence, the original name Kumayri was used until 1992, when Gyumri was chosen as the name of the city.

Urartu 832 BC–590 BC
Satrapy of Armenia 570 BC–321 BC
Kingdom of Armenia 321 BC–428 AD
Armenian Marzbanate 428–646
Arminiya 654–884
Bagratid Armenia 884–1024
Kingdom of Georgia 1024–1071
Seljuk Empire 1071–1100s
Mongol Empire 1240s–1330s
Kara Koyunlu 1360–1380s
Timurid Empire 1380s–1430s
Aq Qoyunlu 1430s–1500s
Safavid Empire 1555–1812
Russian Empire 1813–1918
Republic of Armenia 1918–1920
Turkey 1921
Soviet Union 1922–1990
Armenia 1991–Present

Archaeological excavations conducted throughout the Soviet period have shown that the area of modern-day Gyumri has been populated since at least the third millennium BC. The area was mentioned as Kumayri in the historic Urartian inscriptions dating back to the 8th century BC. Kumayri may be identical with the city of Gymnias or Gumnias (Γυμνιάς in greek) mentioned by Xenophon in his Anabasis.

At the decline of the Urartu Kingdom by the second half of the 6th century BC, Kumayri became part of the Achaemenid Empire. The remains of a royal settlement found just to the south of Gyumri near the village of Beniamin dating back to the 5th to 2nd centuries BC, are a great example of the Achemenid influence in the region. However, at the beginning of the 5th century BC, Kumayri became part of the Satrapy of Armenia under the rule of the Orontids. An alternative theory suggests that Kumayri has been formed as an urban settlement in the late 5th century BC, ca. 401 BC, by Greek colonists.

Later in 331 BC, the entire territory was included in the Ayrarat province of Ancient Armenian Kingdom as part of the Shirak canton. Between 190 BC and 1 AD Kumayri was under the rule of the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia. During the 1st century AD, Shirak was granted to the Kamsarakan family, who ruled over Kumayri during the Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia.