Key facts
- Affiliation
- Armenian Apostolic Church
- Status
- Active
- Location
- 85 Mesrop Mashtots Street, Vagharshapat , Armavir Province , Armenia
- Type
- Domed tetraconch
- Style
- Armenian
- Founder
- Catholicos Komitas
- Completed
- c. 618 (church) , 1653 (portico) , 1790 (belfry)
- Length
- 22.8 m (75 ft)
- Width
- 17.7 m (58 ft)
- Interior area
- 212 m (2,280 sq ft)
- Height max
- 32 m (105 ft)
- Dome height inner
- 23 m (75 ft)
- Criteria
- (ii) (iii)
- Designated
- 2000 (24th session )
- Reference no
- 1011-004
- Region
- Western Asia
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- cultural property
- Named after
- Rhipsime
- Religion
- Armenian Apostolic Church
- Country
- Armenia
- Located in
- Vagharshapat
- Image
- St. Hripsime church in Vagharshapat msu-2018 11-2.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- St. Hripsime church, Vagharshapat
- inception
- 0601-01-17
- directions
- Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց - Գր. Նարեկացի փ. խաչմերուկ
- architectural style
- Armenian architecture
- diocese
- Araratian Pontifical Diocese
- commemorates
- Rhipsime
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Saint Hripsime Church is a seventh-century Armenian Apostolic church in the city of Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), Armenia. It was built in 618 by Catholicos Komitas over the tomb of Hripsime, a Roman virgin and a key figure in the Christianization of Armenia.
Standing largely intact since its construction, the church has been widely admired for its architecture and proportions. Considered a masterpiece of classical Armenian architecture, it has influenced many other Armenian churches. It features innovations, namely trapezoidal niches and conical squinches, containing their first dated examples, a windowed drum, and the only example in Armenia of turrets at the base of the drum serving as anchors and buttresses. The two inscriptions left by Komitas constitute the second-earliest extant Armenian-language inscriptions. The church was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with other nearby churches, including Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's mother church, in 2000.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “St. Hripsime” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.