Echmiadzin and Zvartnots

Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion at the very beginning of the fourth century, earlier than anywhere else, and the cathedral at Echmiadzin was founded immediately afterwards on a spot where, by tradition, Christ appeared to Gregory the Illuminator and indicated where to build. It has been rebuilt many times but remains the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic faith and the seat of its Catholicos, set in a walled precinct with seminaries, gates and a treasury holding relics of extraordinary claimed provenance. A few kilometres away stand the ruins of Zvartnots, a colossal circular cathedral raised in the seventh century and collapsed, probably in an earthquake, leaving a ring of carved column bases and eagle capitals on open ground with Mount Ararat filling the horizon behind.

What you actually see

• The mother cathedral - the seat of the Armenian church in its walled precinct.
• The treasury - relics and liturgical objects of the church.
• Zvartnots - the ruined circular seventh-century cathedral on open ground.
• Ararat behind - the mountain filling the horizon from the Zvartnots site.

When to go

April to October is mildest, and Ararat is most likely to be clear of haze in spring and autumn; the mountain is often invisible in summer. Sunday liturgy at the cathedral is a full experience with chant and incense. Zvartnots is exposed with no shade.

Honest expectations

The cathedral has been under long restoration, and the interior has been closed or partly scaffolded for extended periods, so check before travelling if seeing inside matters. Zvartnots is foundations and column bases rather than standing architecture, and its power depends on the day being clear enough for Ararat. Both are close to the airport road and easily combined.

Nearby

Yerevan is twenty minutes east; the Sardarapat memorial and the Armavir plain lie west.