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UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
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S
(left turn from the main road) of Zvartnots is Voskehat (formerly
Patrinj). |
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The
Monastery of Surp Ejmiatsin
(“The
Descent of the Only-Begotten” in traditional etymology) is
surrounded by the city of the same name, now officially renamed Vagharshapat
after its 2nd century AC founder, King Vagharshak.
The city may also be identical with Kainepolis
(“New City”) founded
as a replacement for the ruined
Artashat
by
King |
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Sohaemus/Tigran,
who was twice installed on the throne by Roman armies, first by
Antoninus Pius (lasting from 144-161 AC) and then by Marcus
Aurelius (164-186). The
city's common name in early modern times was Uch-Kilise or
"Three Churches," named for the most prominent
features of the local landscape.
There are three other major early churches in town:
First is S.
Hripsime Church of 618, built to the right of the main road
on the traditional site of this martyr’s tomb-traditionally;
S.Gayane
Church of 630 was also built on the site of Gayane’s
martyrdom. Shoghakat
Church of
1694 was built by Prince Aghamal Shorotetsi on the site of an early chapel to one of S. Hripsime’s companions.
Near Shoghakat is a small, ruined single-aisle chapel of
the 5-6th c. Because
the Armavir diocese, founded in 1996 on creation of the marz,
has no church or bishop’s residence in the marz
capital of Armavir city, the Bishop currently operates out
of Ejmiatsin’s S. Astvatsatsin church
(1767).
In 1998 there were only eight working churches and 13
priests to serve Armavir Marz’s official population of
315,000. Vagharshapat
also
claims
a hotel, the museums of local artists Manuk Abeghian and
Hovhannes Hovhannisian, and the gallery of Khoren
Harutian.
Just S of Ejmiatsin is the tell of
Teghut, a Chalcolithic-Early
Bronze Age settlement excavated and published by archaeologist
Rafik Torosian. |
