Although I’ve completed my write-up of my trip to Turkey, Georgia and Armenia, there was quite a lot that I missed out and have meant to come back to. This is one of those posts, but the summary of the trip is at https://www.julianwhite.uk/turkey-georgia-and-armenia-final-thoughts/, with a link to all the blog posts that I wrote up telling the story of that little adventure.
This rather modern and interesting looking building is Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan is a major Armenian Apostolic church complex built to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Armenia’s adoption of Christianity as the state religion (which is traditionally dated to 301).
Construction of the cathedral started in 1997 ready for the opening in 2001, with the architect being Stepan Kurkchyan. The cathedral is dedicated to Gregory the Illuminator, who converted Armenia to Christianity from Zoroastrianism in the fourth century. There are some relics from St. Gregory, but as is common with these things, there are numerous right arms from St. Gregory around the world.
Although the cathedral is large, it didn’t feel ostentatious or excessive, I quite liked how it felt functional. The building can fit 2,500 worshippers in and there’s a basement with numerous extra rooms, offices, worship space and a library.
We entered when there was a large service on, so I didn’t want to take more than this photo as it felt a little intrusive. Shortly after this, the large curtains were swept across, it was quite a sight, although I’d better add that this wasn’t a response to my taking a photo. It all felt quite welcoming, I liked how it was a little understated but yet still grand.