St Hrispime, Etchmiadzin, Altar - a photo on Flickriver

            The nave of St Hrispime church in Etchmiadzin. A family are gathering before having a child baptised.

Widely "considered one of the great achievements of medieval Armenian architecture”, a "gem", and "one of the most complex compositions in Armenian architecture”, Saint Hripsime Church is a 7th Century church in the Armenia’s ecclesiastical capital, Etchmiadzin. Along with the cathedral precincts and other historic churches in the city, it is part of the ‘Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots’ UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the oldest surviving churches in the country, it stands as a "model of the austere beauty of early Armenian ecclesiastical architecture."

The current structure was completed in 618, erected by Catholicos Komitas to replace the original mausoleum built by Catholicos Sahak the Great in 395 that contained the remains of the martyred Saint Hripsime to whom the church is dedicated. The dome was probably restored in the 10th[2] or 11th centuries, although some scholars have argued that it is the original 7th century construction.

A Hellenistic temple, similar to the Temple of Garni and dedicated to a pagan goddess, stood at this site prior to the 4th Century. During excavations in 1958 the foundation of a monumental stone building with Hellenistic ornaments was found under the supporting column. Hripsime, along with the abbess Gayane and 38 unnamed nuns, are traditionally considered Armenia's protomartyrs. 

The church was dilapidated and abandoned by the early 17th Century. According to an inscription on the western façade, the church was renovated by Catholicos Philipos, in 1653. Under his commission a gavit, a traditional Armenian narthex was erected in front of the western entrance. A bell tower was built on the narthex in 1790 under the commission of Catholicos Ghukas I of Karin. In 1776 the church was fortified with a brick wall and towers on the corners by Catholicos Simeon I of Yerevan. In 1880 the eastern and southern walls were built of smoothly hewn stone.

The church underwent considerable renovation in 1898. Its foundations were strengthened and the roof and dome were repaired in 1936, an astonishing event at the height of Stalin’s anti-religious repression. In 1958 plaster from was removed from the interior walls and the interior floor was lowered. The bell tower was renovated in 1987.

St. Hripsime Church is a domed tetraconch enclosed in a rectangle, with two angular niches on the northern and southern side. German art historian Wilhelm Lübke wrote that the church is built on "a most complicated variation of the cruciform ground-plan."

The church is not the earliest example of this architectural form, although it is considered one of the best exemplars of it. Similar church forms are found widely in Georgia as well as Armenia.

This description incorporates text from the

Taken in: Armenia / Armavir / Amenayn Hayots’ Kat’oghikos Abraham G Kretats’i (show map)

Taken on: June 13, 2022

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Sets appears in: • Armenia 2022

Groups appears in: • Orthodox Church Architecture

Camera: Nikon D750, f/10.0, 4 sec, 24mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
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