Residents of Stepanakert today celebrate the third annual holiday devoted to the capital of the NKR. This evening a gala concert is planned to take place in Renaissance Square in the city centre. The city was called Vararakn up till 1847 and was later called Khankendi from 1874-1923. During the Soviet era it was renamed Stepanakert in honour of communist revolutionary Stepan Shahumyan.