Cathedral of Echmiatsin (Armavir province - Armenia) - World Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

Magnificent Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, the oldest state-built Christian church in the world, is the key part of "Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots" UNESCO World Heritage Site in Armenia.

Echmiadzin Cathedral is the Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Founded in 303 by the first Armenian Catholicos, St. Gregory the Illuminator (Lousavoritch), the church was built on the foundations of a pre-Christian temple in the city of Vagharshapat, the former name of Etchmiadzin. Vagharshapat was founded by King Vagarshak (117-140) in the place of Vardkesavan. An ancient settlement of the third-second centuries B.C. In view of the might of the town's fortifications, fortress walls, ramparts and moats, the Romans, upon the second destruction of Artashat in 163, transferred the capital of Armenia to Vagarshapat which, after Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in 301, became the country's religious centre as well.

In 480, Vahan Mamikonian, the Persian governor of Armenia, ordered the dilapidated basilica to be replaced with a new cruciform church. In 618, the wooden dome was replaced with a stone one, resting on four massive pillars linked to exterior walls by arcades. This was the church much as it is today. Murals in the interior and extravagant rotundas surmounting the apses appeared in the early 18th century. A three-tier belfry was constructed half a century earlier.

Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin was inscripted into UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.