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.