1.
Armenia
–
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
2.
Yerevan
–
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia as well as one of the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural and it has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia, and the seventh located in or around the Ararat plain. The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, Erebuni was designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital. During the centuries long Iranian rule over Eastern Armenia that lasted from the early 16th century up to 1828, in 1828, it became part of Imperial Russia alongside the rest of Eastern Armenia which conquered it from Iran through the Russo-Persian War between 1826 and 1828. After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire settled in the area, the city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became part of the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the population of Yerevan was 1,060,138, according to the official estimate of 2016, the current population of the city is 1,073,700. Yerevan was named the 2012 World Book Capital by UNESCO, Yerevan is an associate member of Eurocities. One theory regarding the origin of Yerevans name is the city was named after the Armenian king, Yervand IV, the last leader of the Orontid Dynasty, and founder of the city of Yervandashat. However, it is likely that the name is derived from the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni. As elements of the Urartian language blended with that of the Armenian one, while looking in the direction of Yerevan, after the ark had landed on Mount Ararat and the flood waters had receded, Noah is believed to have exclaimed, Yerevats. In the late medieval and early periods, when Yerevan was under Turkic and later Persian rule. This name is widely used by Azerbaijanis. The city was known as Erivan under Russian rule during the 19th. The city was renamed back to Yerevan in 1936, up until the mid-1970s the citys name was spelled Erevan, more often than Yerevan, in English sources. The principal symbol of Yerevan is Mount Ararat, which is visible from any area in the capital, the seal of the city is a crowned lion on a pedestal with the inscription Yerevan. The lions head is turned backwards while it holds a scepter using the front leg. The symbol of eternity is on the breast of the lion with a picture of Ararat in the upper part, the emblem is a rectangular shield with a blue border. On 27 September 2004, Yerevan adopted an anthem, Erebuni-Yerevan, written by Paruyr Sevak and it was selected in a competition for a new anthem and new flag that would best represent the city
3.
Cafesjian Museum of Art
–
Officially, Cafesjian Center for the Arts is an art museum in Yerevan, Armenia. Inspired by the vision of its founder, Gerard L. Cafesjian, over one million people have visited the Center annually since its opening. The museum is directed and run and the Cafesjian Museum Foundation, the Cafesjian Museum Foundation was established in April 2002 in Yerevan under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Cafesjian Museum Foundation of America. The Armenian government provided the Foundation with the half-constructed Yerevan Cascade complex along with the surrounding area, the construction of the Cafesjian Museum was launched in April 2005 and was expected to be completed in April 2008. However, with a delay, the grand opening of the museum took place on 17 November 2009. The Cafesjian Museum Foundation invested over 35 million dollars to complete the reconstruction of the Cascade, the museum is situated within the cascade complex of Yerevan and along the adjacent pedestrian zone and gardens at the entrance to the cascade from the Tamanyan Street. The beginning of the construction of the dates back to 1971, designed by architects Jim Torosyan, Aslan Mkhitaryan. The first phase of the plan was completed in 1980, the cascade is a complex massive staircase on both sides with fountains in between, ascending up from the Tamanyan Street gardens and pedestrian zone. Having five levels, the number of the stairs is 572, however, only between 2002 and 2009 the complex was developed and the museum was opened through the Cafesjian Family Foundation. The New York Times described it as a mad work of architectural megalomania and architectural recovery, the museum consists of the 2 separate sections, the external Cafesjian Sculpture Garden, and the internal Cafesjian Art Galleries. The Cafesjian Sculpture Garden is the front gardens of the cascade where many sculptures are exhibited, sculptures are also exhibited in the garden terrace along the massive steps and fountains ascending up from the Tamanyan street gardens. With unobstructed walkways, long vistas, and formal garden areas, the galleries are home to a massive collection of glass artwork exhibited in several galleries and sections, including permanent shows or temporary exhibitions. Khanjyan Gallery is home to the large scale mural triptych History of Armenia by renowned Soviet, sasuntsi Davit Gallery includes basrelief by Artashes Hovsepyan depicting scenes from the Armenian epic fable David of Sasun. The majority of the collection are derived from the private collection of the founder Gerard L. Cafesjian. Other important glass artists in the collection include Dale Chihuly, Bohumil Elias, Pavel Hlava, Jaromír Rybák, Ivana Šrámková, Bertil Vallien, Lino Tagliapietra, Mark Peiser, and Hiroshi Yamano. The museum organizes regular programmed events throughout the year, Encounters with Art, is a program launched in October 2010 as a series of events for adults and it takes place on the first Thursday of each month. It takes place at the first Wednesday of each month at the Special Events Auditorium, the program was launched in July 2010. Traditional Folk Dances at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, it is performed by the Karin Dance Ensemble on the last Friday of each month between May and September
4.
Mount Ararat
–
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the eastern extremity of Turkey. It consists of two volcanic cones, Greater Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey and the Armenian plateau with an elevation of 5,137 m. The Ararat massif is about 40 km in diameter, scholars agree the biblical mountains of Ararat do not refer to specifically Mt. Ararat. Nevertheless, it has perceived as the traditional resting place of Noahs Ark since the 11th century. It is the national symbol of Armenia and has been considered a sacred mountain by Armenians. It is featured prominently in Armenian literature and art and is an icon for Armenian irredentism, along with Noahs Ark, it is depicted on the coat of arms of Armenia. The first efforts to reach Ararats summit were made in the Middle Ages, however, it was not until 1829 when Friedrich Parrot and Khachatur Abovian, accompanied with four others, made the first recorded ascent. Mount Ararat forms a near-quadripoint between Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran and its summit is located some 16 km west of both the Iranian border and the border of the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, and 32 km south of the Armenian border. Following the 1826–28 Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Persian controlled territory was ceded to the Russian Empire, Little Ararat became the point where the Turkish, Persian, and Russian imperial frontiers converged. The current international boundaries were formed throughout the 20th century, the mountain came under Turkish control during the 1920 Turkish–Armenian War. It formally became part of Turkey according to the 1921 Treaty of Moscow, in the late 1920s, Turkey crossed the Iranian border and occupied the eastern flank of Lesser Ararat as part of its effort to quash the Kurdish Ararat rebellion. The Kurdish rebels were using the area as a haven against the state in their uprising, Iran eventually agreed to cede the area to Turkey in a territorial exchange. The Iran-Turkey boundary skirts east of Lesser Ararat, the peak of the Ararat massif. Ararat is the Hebrew spelling of Urartu, a kingdom existed in the Armenian plateau in the 9th-6th centuries BC. The mountain is known as Ararat in European languages, however, none of the native peoples have traditionally referred to the mountain by that name. The traditional Armenian name is Masis, which is transliterated as Massis. However, nowadays, the terms Masis and Ararat are both widely, often interchangeably, used in Armenian, the peaks are referred to in plural as Մասիսներ Masisner. Greater Ararat is known as simply Masis or Մեծ Մասիս, while Lesser Ararat is known as Sis or Փոքր Մասիս
5.
Fernando Botero
–
Fernando Botero Angulo is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor. Born in Medellín, his style, also known as Boterismo, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume. Self-titled the most Colombian of Colombian artists early on, he came to prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1958. Working most of the year in Paris, in the last three decades he has achieved recognition for his paintings, drawings and sculpture, with exhibitions across the world. His art is collected by major international museums, corporations. In 2012, he received the International Sculpture Centers Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, Fernando Botero was born the second of three sons to David Botero and Flora Angulo. David Botero, a salesman who traveled by horseback, died of an attack when Fernando was four. His mother worked as a seamstress, an uncle took a major role in his life. Although isolated from art as presented in museums and other institutes, Botero was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches. He received his education in Antioquia Ateneo and, thanks to a scholarship. In 1944, Boteros uncle sent him to a school for matadors for two years, in 1948, Botero at age 16 had his first illustrations published in the Sunday supplement of the El Colombiano, one of the most important newspapers in Medellín. He used the money he was paid to attend school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia. Boteros work was first exhibited in 1948, in a show along with other artists from the region. From 1949 to 1950, Botero worked as a set designer and his first one-man show was held at the Galería Leo Matiz in Bogotá, a few months after his arrival. In 1952, Botero travelled with a group of artists to Barcelona, in Madrid, Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando. In 1952, he traveled to Bogotá, where he had an exhibit at the Leo Matiz gallery. In 1953, Botero moved to Paris, where he spent most of his time in the Louvre and he lived in Florence, Italy from 1953 to 1954, studying the works of Renaissance masters. In recent decades, he has lived most of the time in Paris and he has had more than 50 exhibits in major cities worldwide, and his work commands selling prices in the millions of dollars
6.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
7.
Armenian Americans
–
Armenian Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community in the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia, the first major wave of Armenian immigration to the US took place in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thousands of Armenians settled in the US following the Hamidian massacres of the mid-1890s, between the 1960s and 1980s Armenians from Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Turkey migrated to America as a result of political instability in those countries. At around the same time immigration from the Soviet Union began and it accelerated in the late 1980s and has continued after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 due to socio-economic and political reasons. The 2011 American Community Survey estimated that 483,366 Americans held full or partial Armenian ancestry, Various organizations and media criticize these numbers as an underestimate, proposing 800,000 to 1,500,000 Armenian Americans instead. The city of Glendale in the Los Angeles metropolitan area is thought to be the center of Armenian American life. The Armenian American community is the most politically influential community of the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian General Benevolent Union is known for its financial support and promotion of Armenian culture and Armenian language schools. The first recorded Armenian to visit North America was Martin the Armenian, in 1653–54, two Armenians from Constantinople were invited to Virginia to raise silk worms. A few other Armenians are recorded as having come to the US in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by the 1770s over 70 Armenians had settled in the colonies. Khachig Oskanian, a Constantinople American missionary school student, arrived in America in 1834 to pursue higher education and he later worked for the New York Herald Tribune and became the New York Press Club president. Many Armenians followed him and went to the US for education, during the Civil War three Armenian doctors—Simeon Minasian, Garabed Galstian, and Baronig Matevosian—worked at military hospitals in Philadelphia. The only Armenian known to have participated in hostilities was Khachadour Paul Garabedian, the number of Armenians rose from 20 in 1854 to around 70 by the 1870s. In the late 1870s, small Armenian communities existed in New York City, Providence, Rhode Island, by the late 1880s, their number reached 1,500. Many of them were young students of the American Evangelical Missions spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. About 40% came from the Province of Kharpert, before 1899, immigrants were not classified by ethnicity, but rather by country of birth, obscuring the ethnic origins of many Armenians. After 1869, however, Armenians from the regions of the Ottoman Empire were registered as Armenian in American records. The number of Armenians who migrated to the US from 1820 to 1898 is estimated to be around 4,000. Armenians began to arrive in the US in unprecedented numbers in the nineteenth century, most notably after the Hamidian Massacres of 1894–96
8.
Potemkin Stairs
–
The Potemkin Stairs, or Potemkin Steps is a giant stairway in Odessa, Ukraine. The stairs are considered an entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odessa. The stairs were originally known as the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase, the top step is 12.5 meters wide, and the lowest step is 21.7 meters wide. The staircase extends for 142 meters, but it gives the illusion of greater length, the stairs were so precisely constructed as to create an optical illusion. A person looking down the stairs sees only the landings, and the steps are invisible, but a person looking up sees only steps, Odessa, perched on a high steppe plateau, needed direct access to the harbor below it. Before the stairs were constructed, winding paths and crude wooden stairs were the access to the harbor. The original 200 stairs were designed in 1825 by Italian architect Francesco Boffo, the staircase cost 800,000 rubles to build. In 1837, the decision was made to build a monstrous staircase, an English engineer named John Upton supervised the construction. Upton had fled Britain while on bail for forgery, Upton went on to oversee the construction of the huge dry-docks constructed in Sevastopol and completed in 1853. Greenish-grey sandstone from the Austrian port of Trieste was shipped in, as erosion destroyed the stairs, in 1933 the sandstone was replaced by rose-grey granite from the Boh area, and the landings were covered with asphalt. Eight steps were lost under the sand when the port was being extended, reducing the number of stairs to 192, the steps were made famous in Sergei Eisensteins 1925 silent film The Battleship Potemkin. On the left side of the stairs, a railway was built in 1906 to transport people up. After 73 years of operation, the funicular was replaced by an escalator in 1970, the escalator was in turn closed in 1997 but a new funicular was opened on 2 September 2005. After the Soviet revolution, in 1955, the Primorsky Stairs were renamed as Potemkin Stairs to honor the 50th anniversary of the mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin, after Ukrainian independence, like many streets in Odessa, the previous name – Primorsky Stairs was reinstated to the stairs. Most Odessites still know and refer to the stairs by their Soviet name, at the top of the stairs is the Duke de Richelieu Monument, depicting Odessas first Mayor. The Roman-toga figure was designed by the Russian sculptor, Ivan Petrovich Martos, the statue was cast in bronze by Yefimov and unveiled in 1826. It is the first monument erected in the city, Odessa Funicular Depaldo stone stairs FC Chornomorets Odessa The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy Odessa Odessa Opera Theater Seventh-Kilometer Market Kononova, G. Odessa, A Guide
9.
Teishebaini
–
Teishebaini was the capital of the Transcaucasian provinces of the ancient kingdom of Urartu. It is located near the city of Yerevan in Armenia. The site of the city, palace and citadel together measure over 0.45 km2, the name Karmir Blur translates to Red Hill because of the hills reddish hue. It became this color after the city was set on fire, after the tuff was heated by the fire, it took on a more intense red color and therefore the hill became red. The lower portions of the walls were left standing after the fire since they were built with a stronger stone, Teishebaini is situated at a height of 901 metres. The city of Teishebaini was built by Rusa II in mid-7th century BC to protect the borders of Urartu from the barbaric Cimmerians and Scythians. Within the city was a palace that contained a hundred and twenty rooms spreading across more than 40,000 m2. The palace was made of stone, with timber ceilings, the construction of the city, palace, and the citadel were not fully finished until the reign of Rusa III, some 50 years later. Agriculture was essential to the city, as was raising livestock, the Urartians built massive water canals, some of which are still in use to this day. Archaeological excavations have shown that lentils, hemp, peas, sesame, wheat, the grape seeds that had been found were examined further and it revealed that twelve varieties of grape were grown in the surrounding area of Teishebaini during this time. All of these ancient varieties and more are still grown to this day in modern Armenia, smaller ceramic vessels were also found in excavations and are known to have been used in brewing beer made from barley. Other much larger vessels were used for storing foods and wine, small circular markings on the sides of the containers near the top indicated the amount that could be stored inside. The vessels were usually buried half-way into the soil which naturally kept foods cool, the ancient Armenian site of Karmir Blur is on the right bank of the Hrazdan River, near the highway that runs from Yerevan to Yeghvard, behind the Institute of Physics building. The site was discovered in 1939 after being buried for more than two and a half millennia, a cuneiform inscription had been found three years earlier that led to the discovery of the ancient city. It read, Rusa Argishti-hini which translates to Rusa, son of Argishti also known as Rusa II, another set of cuneiform inscriptions were found written upon a bronze belt and bronze bolt, both bearing the words Rusa Argishti, fortress of the city of Teishebaini. The inscriptions helped date the site and tell who its builder was, in 1941 an ivory statuette of the god Teisheba was found within the citadel. The excavations here are considered as one of the most important archaeological discoveries and findings in the Middle East, pottery found in the site was either painted black or had painted designs such as waves of water. Archaeological evidence shows that the city of Teishebaini was destroyed by fire sometime around the beginning of the 6th century BC, numerous fragments of cloth, rope, and other items such as seeds have been found charred from the citys destruction
10.
Katoghike Tsiranavor Church of Avan
–
Holy Mother of God Katoghike Church of Avan is a ruined 6th century church located in the Avan district of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It is the oldest surviving church inside Yerevans city limits, the church of Katoghike was built in the late 6th century, between the years 591 or 595-602, by the pro-Byzantine Catholicos Hovhannes Bagavanetsi as his headquarters. He was installed as prelate of Byzantine Armenia by the Byzantine emperor Mauricius, the headquarters of his rival, the pro-Persian Catholicos, was located in Dvin. Adjacent to the church on the side are the foundations of the palatial residence of Catholicos Hovhannes. According to the 7th-century Armenian historian Sebeos, both structures were built under the Catholicos supervision, the church is believed to have been dedicated to the Apostles. In the year 602 the Persian King Khosrov II seized Avan, Katoghike Church which would later be renamed Surp Hovhannes, was constructed upon what was the site of previous structures. Numerous ornamented stones found during excavations predominantly on the side of the building confirm this notion. The remains of the sit on a two-stepped platform, while the churchs vaults, domes. If correct, Avan would be the first such example of a church with five cupolas, the church is quatrefoil in plan, with an octagonal central bay originally with a dome above. There are four semi-circular apses, and four three-quarter circle diagonal niches leading to circular chambers in the corners of the church, the circular shape of the side-chapels gives the church its unique design. The front façade has lengthy inscriptions on either side of the entry upon the top third of the building, and also on the lintel above the front door there is a short inscription. The name Yohan can be written within one of the inscriptions, possibly as an earlier style of the name of Hovhannes. A low arched doorway leads into the church from the wall and is surrounded by an ornamented casing, three-quartered pillars, topped with capitals. A vishap stone was used in the interior as the lintel above the main portal, at the north wall is another doorway thought to have been constructed at a later time, after the church was built, to lead to the palace of the Catholicos. Conservation work was done to the church in 1940-1941, and again in 1956-1966, Brady Kiesling, Rediscovering Armenia, p.12, original archived at Archive. org, and current version online on Armeniapedia. org. Kiesling, Brady, Rediscovering Armenia, Guide, Yerevan, Armenia, Matit Graphic Design Studio Armenian Architectural Studies, Avan Church Armeniapedia. org, Avan Church FindArmenia. com, Avan Cathedral
11.
Zoravor Surp Astvatsatsin Church
–
Zoravor Surp Astvatsatsin Church is the oldest surviving church in Yerevan. It was previously known as Surp Astvatsatsin, however, the name Zoravor was added because the church was home to the 13th century bible of Zoravor. The church is located in the Shahar District of Old Yerevan where the tomb and this chapel was looked upon as a famous sanctuary. During the 1st half of the 17th century, monk Movses Syunetsi built a complex with the financial support of the residents of Yerevan. A monastic school was opened within the complex as well, the construction of the monastery took place during the reign of Philip I of Armenia, the Catholicos. However, the newly built monastery did not last long and it was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1679. Present-day Surp Zoravor Astvatsatsin Church was built in 1693-94, on the site of the ruined monastery. According to an inscription recorded 100 years after its construction, the church was renovated by Gabriel Haryurapet during the reign of Catholicos Luke I, the church is of three-nave basilica type without dome. On the eastern side of the hall is the main altar with vestries at the northern and southern corners. Architecturally, the interior and exterior features of the church are characterized by a striking simplicity, to a certain extent the three-vaulted porch in the western part of the church with decorative columns provides a substantial liveliness. On the flat parts of the walls, there are beautifully carved khachkars dating back to the 17th century. In 1889, the Saint Ananias Chapel was constructed on the side of the church. The decayed and falling parts of the walls and roofs were repaired and restored, a choir was added, Saint Ananias Chapel was also renovated
Yerevan, Armenia
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
