The Etchmiadzin complex

After the disappointing walk to Etchmiadzin it was a wise decision to sit in a café and listen to
Kyoto Jazz Massive - Eclipse.

The Etchmiadzin cathedral is in the center of the town Vagharshapat. It is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church church. The cathedral is located in the complex of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union the complex was party renovated and new buildings were added. For example the Church of the Holy Archangels, the Open Air Altar, a library and a school:

The church has the form of a tower.

The altar of the Church of the Holy Archangels.

The church yard.

The Open Air Altar on the right side. On the left side is the new main gate.

The Manoukian Manuscript Library.

The Karekin I Centre of Theology and Armenology.

Tombstones in front of the construction site of the Eurnekian School.
In the background is the Saint Gayane Church.

The Saint Gayane Church is part of the world heritage. It is located in its own complex right besides Etchmiadzin.

Entrance gate of the Saint Gayane complex

The building with the entrance gate and the church.

Main door of the church with a painting.

The hall over the main door.

The church.

While much money was and is invested in the Etchmiadzin complex the buildings in the surrounding streets still need renovation.

Opposed of the main gate of the complex
is the Khoren Ter-Harutyunyan sculpture museum.

 There are also extravagant buildings like this one:

 Back in the Etchmiadzin complex. The monastery was almost renovated.

Only a roof was missing to complete the renovation.
In the background is the cathedral.

The dormitory of the monastery is a new building.
 

The Gevorgian Seminary occupies a
large portion of the complex.

This is the Christian Education Center,
the old seminary building.

The area around the Pontifical Residence was closed
because of the reconstructions of the ways and the park

The Saints Vartan and Hovhannes Baptistery. In front on the right side is the Armenian Genocide memorial..

If you are interested in details about the different buildings, have a look at this website.

I was lucky because I was there when 3 new khachkars were delivered:

The main building is of course the cathedral. In front of its entrance are the tombstones of former Catholicoses of All Armenians:

Tombstones of the catholicoses. In the background is the Gate of King Trdat.

This is the grave of Khoren I. who was killed by the Soviet's NKVD.

The cathedral is quite small. In contrary to the other Armenian churches I have seen the cathedral has some nice ornaments.

The main door.

The cathedral.

Its interior.

I was again lucky: I entered the cathedral and I only noticed that there were mostly women inside. All in all maybe 30 persons. I took some pictures of the interior when the door besides the altar was opened. The main door was closed and suddenly I was in church service. The surprise was that several bishops appeared and the catholicos himself! I could not believe that this was real because compared to other religions this is hard to achieve. For example when the catholicos of the Georgian Orthodox Church holds a church service there are hundreds of people and getting a place is very hard. And here were only some woman, few security guys and me as the only tourist.

I took this picture when the bishops entered the church.

Some priests. Of course I stopped taking pictures
as soon as I realized that church service began.

On the way to Etchmiadzin - Vagharshapat

Vagharshapat is a small town close to Yerevan. It has several churches that are UNESCO world heritage. One if them is the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Therefore it is a must-see if you are in Armenia.

Driving to Vagharshapat is easy since there are buses all the time from Yerevan. Before entering Vagharshapat one can stop and visit the ruins of the Zvartnots Cathedral
Everybody tries to get some extra money from you as tourist. For example to convince the driver to stop at the entrance of the Zvartnots site (which is an official bus stop) I had to pay the full price for the bus to its final destination. Also Zvartnots cost a lot of money. The official entry fee was quite low but as a foreigner I should pay a ten times higher extra fee. This fee was nowhere announced on the price lists at the entry. I knew that it is just a bribing attempt. I tried to negotiate but when they laughed at me after I threatened to call the police it was clear I have to pay or cannot enter. There was no explanation in English available but if I would like to pay another high special fee they would organize some - I gave up. However, walking through a ruin without background info is boring. All in all very disappointing for a world heritage site. But this is Armenia.

Way to the ruins

The first blossoms.

Inside the ruins.

 

Since Zvartnots is only 2 km away from the next world heritage site, I decided to walk. It was a boring walk because it is just a big street through a dull area.

Along the street to the center of Vagharshapat.

Monument symbolizing the right hand of Saint Gregory.

The Saint Hripsime Church is the first church when walking towards the center of Vagharshapat. It is is a good shape. The area around it is unfortunately full of waste. Also the surrounding streets were full of potholes and nobody had a smile. Therefore walking through the town was quite depressing.

The church is inside a fortified complex.

The Saint Hripsime Church.

Its cupola.

An interesting Chachkar in the backyard.



 

Behind the complex - dull and full of waste.

The residential area around the church.

The potholes make it hard to drive.
 

The old buses from Soviet times are still used. Note the gas bottles
on the roof - most cars in Armenia use autogas.

Right behind the church is a large cemetery. It is worth it to enter because the architecture of the graves is interesting. From within the cemetery I noticed this house. I was curious because of the architecture and went there. Some people worked on the entry gate of the house. I tried to take a picture of the gate because of its nice architecture while standing on the public street. They saw this and ran to me so that I had to flee without a picture. I had such a situation already in Yerevan. It seems that in Armenia some persons can make their own rules.

A gate-like building behind the house that I
was not allowed to photograph.

The mysterious house.
 

In the cemetery.

One of the newest graves.

Very cool with the cigarette in the hand. I like these kind of gravestones
because this way you can decide how people should keep you in mind.

 The next curch on the way is the Shoghakat Church. It is also part of the world heritage.

The Shoghakat Church.

The portal is crowned by a tower. Therefore the entrance is like a hall.

Inside the church

The bells in the main tower.