Private Tour to Echmiadzin,St.Hripsime & Gayane Churches, Zvartnots Temple

ose name means “place of the descent of the Only Begotten.” A feature of the Cathedral is that in addition to the main altar in the eastern part, there is another altar in the middle, at the site of the descent of Christ. In the right-hand boundary of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral there is the Treasury Museum, where are kept relics, church clothes, embroidered with gold and pearls, catholicos’ staffs and crosses, numerous ritual objects made of gold, silver and ivory. On the territory of the monastery complex is also the residence of the Armenian patriarch – the Catholicos of all Armenians. Also here you will see many cross-stones, of which “Amenaprakich” (1279), and the cross-stone devoted to the victims of the 1915 genocide.

s I Aghtsetsi in the place of a sepulcher of Saint Hripsime. Since 2000 Saint Hripsime Temple has been included in UNESCO World Heritage List. Two prominent Armenian Cathlicoses are buried in the court yard of Saint Hripsime Temple. They are Catholicos Astvatsatur (1715-1725) and Catholicos Garaped II Oolnetzi (1725-1729).

Gayane in the VII century on the place of IV century chapel, which is one of the best monuments of Armenian architecture. The relics of Saint Gayane are kept in the southern wall of the temple, next to the altar niche. Above the western entrance, there was preserved the murals of the 17th century on the theme of the birth of Christ. Near the Saint Gayane Temple there is a special room where animals are sacrificed and stabbed from the time of St. Gregory the Illuminator. This rite is called – matah, which is customary to perform for any occasion: weddings, birth of a child, etc.

The temple was built for 20 years. Unfortunately, Zvartnots was destroyed by a powerful earthquake in the XX century and only its ruins remained. But even the ruins of this temple give us an idea of its rare and majestic beauty. Today the Zvartnots Temple is an archaeological reserve and museum founded in 1937, where you can see model-versions of the reconstruction of the temple, numerous sculptural fragments, impressive in size. The ruins of Zvartnots Temple are included in UNESCO as World Heritage Site.