Echmiadzin
Echmiadzin is the historical center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to the legend, it was in this place when in 303 Christ appeared before the Saint Gregory, the Illuminator of the Armenians. Hence is the name of Echmiadzin, which literally means “the only-begotten descended.”
In the center of the city there is the Echmiadzin Cathedral, the monastery with the residence of the Catholicos, theological educational institutions. The cathedral, in the form of an ordinary basilica, was built in 303, shortly after the introduction of Christianity in Armenia as a state religion, then it was reconstructed in the 5th and 7th centuries. The belfry was built in the 17th century, the vestry was built in 1869. The interior of the cathedral contains frescos created at the turn of the 15th and 18th centuries, and also at the end of the 18th century (O. Hovnatanyan).
In Echmiadzin, among other remarkable temples, there is also the church of St. Hripsime (618), which is one of the greatest works of Armenian medieval architecture.
