Armavir Region

Armavir city, the administrative center of the Armavir region, is located at the foot of the Aragats Mountain.

Urartian cuneiforms, found near Armavir, tell that in 776 BC King Argishti I established the city-fortress Argishtikhinili and the irrigation system of the surrounding lands by the waters of Araks river. Scythians and Medes destroyed Argishtikhinili at the end of the VI century BC. At the end of the IV century BC, the city, renamed Armavir, became the capital and the religious center of the Armenian kingdom. The fortress was reinforced, the palace and dwellings were rebuilt. By the same time, Armenian pagan shrines are mentioned, including the sacred plane tree grove of the Armavir oracle, according to the rustle of its leaves, fortune telling was performed. The findings, made during the excavation of the fortress Argishtikhinili-Armavir, are exhibited in the nearby ethnographic museum «Sardarapat».

Until 1932, Armavir was called Sardarapat. Not far from Armavir, there is the Sardarapat memorial complex, erected in the Sardarapat battle location and perpetuating the victory over the regular Turkish army by Armenian armed formations and the people's militia in 1918. The complex was opened in 1968.

In the city of Echmiadzin, the Holy Eternal Holy Echmiadzin, the spiritual center of all Armenians, is located. The Echmiadzin Monastery is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Echmiadzin Cathedral, built in 303 on the site of an ancient pagan temple that existed in the Urartian period, is the heart of the monastery. King Trdat III and the first Catholicos - Gregory the Illuminator, erected it. Legend has it that Gregory had a vision, as if Jesus Christ had stepped on this place from heaven and left a dent with a golden hammer for the construction of the future temple. The name Echmiadzin means «the place of the descent of the Only Begotten».

The cathedral is unique in that its northern bell tower depicts the Iranian Shah Abbas. It is believed that the bas-relief was placed on the bell tower so that the Shah's servants sent to destroy the cathedral did not do so.

The cathedral is surrounded by a monastery complex, including a number of buildings - the theological academy, the residence of the Catholicos, the synod of the Armenian Church, the library and the library, the cells of the monastic brotherhood. In 1982, next to the residence of the Catholicos, the museum building was constructed with the help of well-known philanthropists Alex and Marie Manoukians. The khachkars on the territory of the monastery courtyard deserve special attention.

At the entrance to the city of Echmiadzin, there is the Surb Hripsime Church. The central cupola temple was built in 618. It was named after the Roman woman, who wished to remain «the bride of Christ» and fled to Armenia from Rome with her friends (according to legend, the fugitives were thirty-seven). She refused the pagan grooms - the Emperor Diocletian Rome, King Trdat III - in Armenia and she was martyred for this. St. Hripsime’s relics rest in the underground tomb.

Not far from the church of Surb Hripsime the church of Surb Shoghakat is situated. According to popular belief, the temple received its name on behalf of the deceased virgin here. However, the name of the martyr, according to the legend, is Marianeh (her relics rest in the right side-chapel), but Shoghakat's name is connected with the vision of Gregory the Illuminator and means «the falling light ray».

To the south of the cathedral Surb Gayane church is located. It was built in 630, in the place where, according to the legend, Gayane – Hripsime's governess was buried, who also died a martyr's death and was ranked as a saint. In the southern side-chapel of the church, near the altar apse, relics of St. Gayane are buried.

Near Echmiadzin the ruins of the unique temple of Zvartnots are located. The name, translated from ancient Armenian, means «Temple of vigilant angels». The history of Zvartnots starts in the VII century. The temple was erected on the orders of the Catholicos Nerses III Builder. There is a story that the Byzantine emperor Constantine III, who participated in the ceremony of consecration of the temple, was so impressed with its beauty that he wished to erect a temple like that in Constantinople. However, architect Hovnan died on the way there.

In the X century, Zvartnots was destroyed. Only 1000 years later, in the years 1901-1907, under the direction of architect Toros Toramanyan, restoration works began. Nowadays, on the territory of the cathedral, there is a museum, in which fragments of ancient buildings, carved slabs and other artifacts are kept. Zvartnots is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.