Armavir
Armavir is the smallist within the regions of Armenia. Here is the only road-bridge built in the middle part of the stream of Araks (near the village Margara) which connects RA and Turkey. The regional center is the town Armavir. Armavir has been the first capital of Armenia. It is situated on the left side of Yerevan in Araratyan valley.
The sites of Armavir region:
St. Gayane church
St. Gayane is a domed basilica type church in Echmiadzin. It is one of the general sanctuaries of The Armenian Apostolic church. St. Gayane is one of the best monuments of the period of the first prosperity of the armenian architecture. The plan of this church has been worked out in the V-VII centuries and introduced ith a number of similar monuments of that period ( Tekor, Bagavan, Mreni and Odzun cathedrals).
Zvartnots cathedral
It has been built in 643-652 by catholicos Nerses III Tayetsi. The cathedral has been called Zvartnots by the historian Sebeos in the other sources it is mentioned as St. Gregory of Vagharshapat, St. Gregory of Arapar. The name ”Zvartnots” has a relation with the word ”joyful, angel”. The cathedral has been built in the center of a seven-stage pedestal. From outside it is a three-stage of successively lowing 3 cylindrical masses.
Holly Cathedral of Echmiadzin
It is the spiritual and administrative center of the Armenian Apostolic church situated in the city Echmiadzin of RA. Here is located the Holly Temple of Echmiadzin which, according to Gregory the Illuminator, has been founded in the place where Jesus had descended. The temple has been built in 303 by Gregory the Illuminator and the king Trdat III. It is a place of pilgrimage of the most part of Armenians and the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians.
Temple of Hripsime
According to the legend in the place where the Virgins of Hripsime have been martyred the king Trdat and Gregory the Illuminator have built a statement like a semi-dugout resting place with a stony canopy with four columns on it. In the V century the Persians destroyed it, but Sahak Paartev has built a new one. The church has been founded there in 618 by the catholicos Komitas I Aghtsetsi. In the record of the general vestry the catholicos has called himself as”the constructor of St. Hripsime”. In 1653 the catholicos Pilipos reconstructed it and in front of the western entrance he has built an open porch. Then the church has been surrounded by walls and pyramids (1776), in the church porch has been built the belfry (1880), the eastern and southern stony walls, the dwelling house and the auxiliary constructions of the yard (1894). There have been done wide reconstruction works in 1898. During the reconstructions have been founded stones of ornamented cornice put under the basic walls of a Hellenic temple and this has proved that in the place of the Temple of Hripsime had been a pagan temple. During the excavations of the surrounding territory of the temple have been opened funerals belonging to the Christian and early Christian period and one-nave church with a pentahedral abside of an early medieval period.
Shoghakat church
The medieval Shoghakat church is located in Armavir region in Vagharshapat. According to the legend it has been founded in the place where”rays had been dropping” over the Christian victims of Hripsime. It has been built in 1694 by the prince Aghamal Sorotetsi in the times of the catholicos Nahapet. The church is included in the heritage of UNESCO.
St. Atsvatsatsin church in Vagharshapat
This church has been built in 1767 by the catholicos Simeon I. Later on in 1986 catholicos Vazgen I has built a three-floor belfry adjacent to the church. Since 1996 St. Astvatsatsin is the primacy of Armavir eparchy, and since 2000 the church is included in the list of the worldwide heritage places of UNESCO as an exclusive value.
