UNESCO World Heritage Sites inscription details
Visited in August 2013.
We did not see Etchmiatsin at its best. The cathedral was undergoing restoration and covered in scaffolding. The ruins of Zvartnots are very interesting. Overall, however, we preferred the other sites we saw. Still, it’s a very easy and quick trip from Yerevan and an important part of the country’s history and cultural heritage.
Getting to Etchmiatsin to Yerevan takes less than half an hour. As you enter the complex through St Gregor’s Gate (above) check out the impressive Open Air Altar to your right.
Etchmiatsin is the Mother See of the Armenian Apostolic Church. and it’s a living, active church complex with expansive well-maintained grounds and buildings. Its Treasury holds many Christian relics, including the spear that allegedly was used to wound Christ during the crucifixion, which used to be stored at Geghard.
Etchmiatsin is a good way to start your tour of Armenia, because you can see Armenian religious art and architecture in its full glory, and not worn out by decades of Soviet-era neglect. Take your time enjoying the splendor of the main Cathedral, possibly the oldest Cathedral in the world. None of the other sites we visited were in the same condition as this and having a mental picture of Etchmiatsin can help you imagine the glory of Haghpat or Noravank in their heyday.
In addition to the Holy See complex, there are three churches near Eitchmiatsin, that share the same historic heritage – Surb Gayané , Surb Hripsimé and Surb Shoghakat, which we saw on the way to Zvartnots.
Hripsimé was a beautiful nun in pre-Christian Rome, who was to be forcefully married to Emperor Diocletian. Instead, she escaped to Armenia with abbess Gayané and thirty eight other nuns. Diocletian wrote Armenia’s King Tiridates III, telling him of Hripsimé’s beauty. The Armenian king found the nuns’ hiding place and had her martyred, when she refused to marry him. He then fell in love with Gayané and had her martyred when she also refused his advances. Finally, the other 38 nuns were martyred as well. The three separate sites of these killings later became the sites of the three churches, with Surb Shoghakat getting its name from the ray of light, which appeared in the sky as they were being killed. King Tiridates later went insane, but was cured by Gregor the Illuminator. Upon being cured, the King converted to Christianity and made it Armenia’s official religion in 301.
Zvartnots Cathedral was built in the 7th century presumably at a place where King Tiridates met St Gregory the Illuminator and is dedicated to the saint. There is no definitive answer on the causes of its collapse in the 10th century. The name stands for “celestial angels”.
The ruins of the Cathedral were discovered in the early 20th century. Further digs showed that much older structures had stood at the same spot. Some of the columns have then been partially restored and there is a very interesting museum on the grounds, where you can see a model of what the Cathedral used to look like.
Right next door to Zvartnots is a really nice traditional restaurant called Tteni Tavern, where you can stop for a really good meal, before heading back to Yerevan. Highly recommended.
