Georgia is located to the north of Armenia, with about twice the area of territory and about 1.5 times the population of Armenia, but the scale of their capital cities, Tbilisi and Yerevan, are more or less the same. Although Georgia has had a quite similar history to Armenia and they can be said to be brother countries, they are completely different in terms of both nation and language, so these two small adjoining countries have never been integrated into one. In Japan Georgia was pronounced in the Russian manner as Gruziya, but this is recently changing into the English manner, though the Georgians themselves call their country Sakartvelo.
In the 4th century, it was the second country to adopt Christianity as the state religion after Armenia, and in the 5th century Georgian letters were created following the Armenian. Georgian church architecture also resembles the Armenian in their interrelationship. However, the Georgians seem to have displayed their talent more in painting than in architecture; in Armenian churches murals are seldom seen in contrast to Georgian, which is principally full of wall and ceiling paintings. This influenced Armenian churches within Georgia, which has many murals.
My eventual plan in this website is to fully present Georgian churches in an independent chapter on Georgian architecture. However, for now, in order to compare Armenian churches with Georgian, I will simply insert a few typical examples into this page: those written in blue letters on the above map.
The churches are treated on this page in the order from east to west, that is, from the capital city of Tbilisi to the second largest city, Kutaisi.

The capital city of Georgia, Tbilisi, formerly called Tiflis, has a population of close to 1.2 million, almost the same as in Yerevan, Armenian capital. Since the city was constructed in the 4th or 5th century many Armenians might have lived there along with other various peoples. Particularly after the downfall of Ani, a large number of Armenians flowed in. The majority of population of the Tiflis might have been Armenians in the 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous Armenian churches were erected in the city, said to have reached 24 in number, among which 14 churches still exist.

The Cathedral of Surp Gevorg was first built in 1251 by the donation of a wealthy merchant, Umek Karian, and was rebuilt in the 17th century. Through repairs and improvement in 1832 and 1881, it gained the current figure, as the seat of the Armenian archbishop. Surp Gevorg is the ancient Roman martyr, St George.
Its structure is made of brick in a typical Armenian church style, but its long decorative drum is rather Georgian. Its interior walls were painted by Yovnatan Yovantavean in the 18th century.

25km north of the center of Tbilisi is the city of Mtskheta, which was the ancient capital of the kingdom of Iveria (Kartli) till the 5th century. It corrseponds with the city of Nara in Japan, possessing a good deal of old temples (churches), like Vagharshapat in Armenia. Among them in Mtskheta, the church of Jvari (Holy Cross), located on a hill facing the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari (Kura) Rivers, is considered as the ancestor of both Georgian and Armenian architecture. Though being archaic, it is a very important church in the history of architecture of these regions, representing the archetype of the four-apse churches characteristic of Armenian religious architecture, like Surp Hripsime in Vagharshapat as well as Surp Sioni in Ateni. Look at the plans of these churches.

   

As a piece of early Byzantine architecture, its construction date was half a century later than St Sophia in Constantinople and St Vitale in Ravenna, and it was not decorated with mosaics. The church of Jvari was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with Svetitskhoveli Cathedral and the church of Samtavro as 'Historical Monuments of Mtskheta' in 1994, but it was designated as a 'Crisis Heritage' in 2009.

 

In Samtavisi village near the highway connecting Tbilisi and Kutaisi is a fine Georgian church from the 11th century in the same age of European early Romanesque architecture. An inscription on its western wall indicates that this church was constructed in 1030 by Ilarion Samtavneli. The original dome-roof was destroyed by Timur's army as Svetitshoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta. The current dome of the Samtavisi Cathedral was rebuilt in the 15th century.

   

This is a typical Georgian church that have a long drum under the conical roof, well pointing up the difference from Armenian churches. Having twelve quite long and narrow windows on the dodecagonal drum is the same as on the Cathedrals in Mtskheta and Alaverdi and other Georgian churches. Four independent columns stand inside, supporting the dome. Its apse and dome are frescoed with 17th century murals.

 

In the eastern facade of the Cathedral were made two V-cut deep niches on both sides of the apse, which would be succeeded in Armenian architecture and would become the standard technique for large Armenian churches.

The Armenian church of Surp Sioni is near Ateni village, 12km south of Gori, which is known as the birthplace of Stalin. It stands at scenic Tana valley. It is also famous for the many frescos on its walls and ceilings, though they were painted by Georgian artists in 1080. The plan of Surp Sioni is four-apse type, almost the same as that of Jvari (Holy Cross) Church in Mtskheta in the 6th century, from which and other similarities Surp Sioni is thought to have been erected in the 7th century. An Armenian inscription on its socle informs the name of the architect as Todos. The church was repaired and improved in the 10th and 16th centuries.

 

As for the stone, the under part is made of red sandstone and upper part greenish yellow-gray tuff, suggesting that there might have been a temporary interruption of the construction. The drum of the tower is octagonal as the tiled conical roof. Differing from usual Georgian churches, the drum is short and the slant of the roof is gentle, giving a slightly thickset impression like Surp Hripsime Church in Vagharshapat. The church was completely repaired between 1976 and 1982 in the age of the Soviet Union.

 

The Sapara (Safara) Monastery was constructed in the late 13th and early 14th centuries on the mountains near Akhaltsikhe (meaning New Castle). The central church of the monastery is St Saba Church designed by the architect Paresaisdze.
On the side of St Saba is a older church of St. Mary's Assumption probably from the 10th century. It has unusually a mezzanine supported with two columns on the entrance side
St Saba's Church is made of pinkish yellow stone, shining among green forest and mountains. It represents the 13th century architecture in Georgia, surviving in a good condition. Behind a three spanned portico is a three-naved domed church full of well-preserved bright color murals.

   

The central tower of St. Saba has 16-agonal drum, every other side of which has a long and narrow window as usual. The most impressive mural is painted on the cupola: the Ascension of Christ, who is supported by four flying angels on the drum. This brought the most clarified ceiling paint among numerous Georgian churches, well harmonizing painting with architecture.

10km northeast of Kutaisi, in the vicinity of the Tskhalsitela River among the mountains, is the most famous grand monastery in Georgia: Gelati Monastery. The construction started in 1106 under the order of David IV (1073-1125), also known as David the Builder, of the Bagationi dynasty and was completed during the reign of his son, Demetrius (1125-56).
The main church is the Katholikon (Cathedral), which was dedicated to the Holy Mother (also called the Church of the Virgin). Its interior is almost everywhere painted in the 16th and 17th centuries. To the church was added the narthex in the 12th century, a southern chapel in the 13th century, and two northern chapels in the late 13th or early 14th century, making this cathedral a great church complex.
The monastery was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 along with the Bagrat Cathedral in Kutaisi, but because of its unsuitable reconstruction plan, it was designated as an 'endangered site'.

PLAN of the Gelati Monastery （from "Art and Architecture in Medieval Georgia" 1980, Louvain-la Neuve）  

The far eastern quarter of Anatolia (Asian side of Turkey) was once a part of Great Armenia, where there were a large number of Armenian towns and villages with monastic buildings. However, after the massacres of Armenian people (1894 and 1915) during the last phase of the Ottoman Empire, a lot of Armenians emigrated to the region of the current Republic of Armenia, all over the Middle East, to Europe, and further to America, becoming new diasporas, following an earlier period under the rule of different races in the 10th to 12th centuries.
Most Armenian churches in Turkey were destroyed or collapsed, with only a very few with upper structures intact. Even in later ages of political calm, restoration has not been as well done as in Armenia, to say nothing of reconstruction. Among those, the urban ruins of Ani, the medieval capital of the Bagratid dynasty, and the Surp Khach Vank on the island of Aghtamar in Lake Van are the worthiest to see. Since this page became too large, I have treated Ani independently, in the next chapter 8.

St. Sarkis Church at Tekor near Ani Despite the most well-known Armenian church in Europe, it has been almost completely ruined now. (From "History of Architecture" vol.1 by J. Fergusson)

In the so called ‘Georgian Valleys’ to the north of Erzurum there remain three medieval Georgian cathedrals, Ishhan, Oshki, and Haho, written in blue letters on the map. I introduce them here because they are important to compare with the cathedral of Ani, not far from them.
In this section churches are arranged in the order of the Kars region, Georgian Valleys, Van region, and finally on the furthest west (off the map), Alahan Monastery in the Isauria region. The early intention of this website was to add a chapter that treats early Christian architecture in Anatolia, or Byzantine churches, but this was found to be impossible due to time constraints, and I had to be satisfied with leaving only Alahan in this section.

Kars, which has an airport is a small city with a population of less than 100,000 people in easternmost Turkey, a cold district having an altitude of 1,750 meters. It is also a base to visit Armenian churches and remains in Kars Province, such as the ancient capital Ani and others.
Ashot II (r. 914-918), the sun of Sumbat I (r. 890-914) of the Bagratid dynasty chose Kars as his capital, while getting the city of Ani. King Mushegh (r. 989-1020), a brother of Ashot III (r. 952-977) who moved the capital to Ani, became independent to establish the kingdom of Vanand (Kars) in 963, and made his capital city of Kars thrived.
However, Kars Kingdom was subjugated by Murat III of Ottoman Empire in 1585, and became Russian territory in 1807, eventually became Turkish territory in 1921. Now only 5 percent of population of Kars are Armenians as Muslims, having no Armenian church here.

The old Cathedral of Holy Apostles was constructed by the Armenian Bagratid King Abas I (r. 929-953) in the mid-10th century. It was converted into a mosque in 1579 by the Ottoman dynasty, called Cümbet Camii, which is liable to be confused with the ruins of an Armenian church of Cümbet Kilise on the south of Kars. Since becoming a Turkish territory, the Cathedral has been used as a museum. The other plenty of Armenian churches once existed in the vicinity of Kars have collapsed or have been destroyed. Those located near the frontier are inaccessible or forbidden to visit because of mines buried around them.

   

The church is four-apse type, protruding semicircular apses outside the square body, resembling the larger church of Surp Hovhannes in Mastara from the 7th century. Both make protruding apses in half octagonal shape, while the roof of the central dome is conical. The three apses function as entrance, in front of which were added porches with four pillars in the age of the Russian rule in the 19th century. Inside too, an iconostasis (altar screen) was added in front of the main apse as a Russian orthodox church, producing a sublime atmosphere.

 

At the village of Oĝuzlu, 40km south of Kars, are the ruins of a huge Armenian church. A photo taken in the early 20th century before the collapse teaches us its former form. Three-apsed domed hall and a rectangular entrance hall on the west were put in a large rectangular outer block, which is so large as 16m wide and 21m long. On both sides of the main altar is a small chapel.
Three large altars have V-shaped niches on both sides on the outer walls, giving formative effects to the colossal building. Since an inscription says that the church was built by Hasan Gutuni, the construction is presumed to have been before 895. In another inscription is written that the church was restored in 1001 by Ashot Pahlavid.

On further south of Oguzlu, near Armenian border, is a fine Armenian church of Dpre Vank (monastery). It is called Kizil Kilise in Turkish, meaning 'Red Church'. It is best preserved among Armenian churches around Kars. A farmer's family living in the precincts maintains it, using it as a barn. The doorway is blocked with natural stones. Plenty of fierce dogs incessantly bark at visitors.

ANI ***

The medieval capital of Bagratid Armenia, ANI, was abandoned in the 16th century and has become urban ruins. Despite being now in the territory of Turkey, it is treated in an independent chapter in this site, since it still retains a large number of ruins of churches and mosques. See Chapter 8 ( The Medieval Capital, ANI ).

To the north of Erzurm going to Artvin in Anatolia, the so-called 'Georgian Valley' retains three important ancient Georgian churches: Ishhan (Ishkani), Oshki (Öshk) and Haho (Chachuli).
The northernmost one is the Cathedral of Ishhan, first built in c. 828 and rebuilt in 1032 as the current one. The original church seems to have been tetraconch-type, among which only eastern apse survived with the arcade (probably after the model of the cathedral of Bana). The current church takes a Latin cross plan with a high dome at the crossing, over which is a conical tiled roof. The outer wall of its drum is quite decorative. Apart from slightly pointed arches around the crossing, all arches in this church are semicircular.

 

 

In the village of Oshki (Oşk) 90km north-northeast of Erzurum stands a disproportionally grand and magnificent church for the small village. This was the Cathedral church of Oshki, but is also supposed to have been a monastery church. There was a city here and Oshki Monastery was one of the cultural centers of Georgia in the middle ages. The church is the largest among the three large churches in the Georgian Valley and was dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was constructed by the ruler of Taik (Tao), Bagrat III and his brother David III of the Bagrat dynasty in 961 or also said in 970. The name of the architect is left as Grigol Oshkeli who was also a master mason.
Though its plan looks like a Latin cross type, the original was triconch (three-apse) plan with a dome over four independent columns at the crossing. The roof on it is characteristically bellied cone like a bonnet. As wall ornamentation, blind arches are frequently used.

 

There must have been a narthex on the west for the main entrance, but a colonnade was made on the south side, from which one enter the church nowadays. The reason of the complexity of the plan is that every apse has a small chapel on both sides. The number of altars became nine in total, but the large apses on the north and south seemes to have been converted to entrances. In front of the southern apse was added a porch with a gabled roof. As the Cathedral of Ishhan, only the arches around the crossing are slightly pointed, while all other arches are semicircular.

 

At the village of Haho (Khakhuli or Chachuli in Georgian) in the Georgian Valley is an ancient monastery, now used as a mosque. Since it is this monastery and then that of Oshki to first encounter when one goes north from Erzurum, tourists often visit only these two spots in the Georgian Valley and back to Erzurum. The main church dedicated to Holy Mother was converted into a mosque, so it survived and keeps the best preserved state among the three churches in the Georgian Valley.

 

The church based on a Latin cross plan with a dome over the crossing was built in the 10th century by the Taik King David II Kuropalat of the Georgian Bagratid dynasty. Though it has a large narthex-like hall on its west, a colonnade was added to its northern and southern sides, in which the current entrance doorway has been made like at the Oshki Cathedral. Inside is well preserved for the use as a mosque, the floor of which is carpeted. Almost all murals have been lost except small parts on the dome and apse. There stands a small chapel with a gabled roof in south front of the church.

Ahlat is an old town originated in the time of ancient Rome, facing south to Lake Van. It was called Kelath in the era of Great Armenian Kingdom. Though it was ruled by Seljuks in the 11th century, it retained strongly traditional Armenian culture for a long time. In the vast cemetery from the Seljuk period, all carved tombs turn toward Makkah (Mecca) in the same appearance with Armenian graveyards turning overall toward the east such as in Noratus Cemetery.
In the town remain sporadically eleven Armenian architectural style mausoleums with conical roofs, which are called 'Cümbets' in Turkish. They might have been worked by Armenian craftsmen and sculptors. The largest one is the Ulu Cümbet of 20 meters in height, having an semibasement domed tomb chamber.

 

INDEX

---

TATVAN *

KIZVAK KILISE, 13c. 17c.

 

At Kizvak village 6km from Tatvan is an Armenian church from the 13th century, called Kizvak Kilise in Turkish. It is a barn-like simple, large building, now used actually as a barn for the village. Its western doorway is made under a pointed arch with a niche on both sides, with no other ornamentation inside and outside. The interior of the extensive square hall like a Gavit comprises nine bays with four pillars. Each bay is vaulted with rough stones on ashlar pointed arches. font>

INDEX

---

AGHTAMAR ***

AGHTAMAR VANK (Surp Khach), 10-13c. ***

 

At 3km from the village of Gevash along the south bank of Lake Van is the Island of Aghtamar, where a celebrated Armenian monastery was there. Nowadays only the church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross) remains.
King of Vaspurakan, Gagik I (r.989-1020) of Artruni family transferred of his capital from Van to Aghtamar Island and commissioned the architect Manuêl to build various facilities as well as the church of the Holy Cross. There is a doubt if it was a so convenient capital, for Lake Van is a salt lake, the water of which was not able to be used for drinking and irrigation.
The palace, treasury, government office, school, stores, arsenal, and prison have all disappeared, leaving only the Holly Cross Church intact. After its construction by Gagik in the 10th century, the church was the seat of the Patriarch of Aghtamar between 1272 and 1296 and has survived through many times of repair and enlargements. The two small churches on the north were erected in the 13th or 14th century, while the Gavit on the west and the belfry on the south were constructed in the 18th century.

PLAN of the Aghtamar Vank______________ (From "Documenti di Architettura Armena 8. Aght'amar", 1974)  

The plan of the Holly Cross is descended from the four-apse church of Surp Hripsime in Vagharshapat, but not fit into a square outline, rather being said to be a cruciform plan. Resembling the plan of Surp Echmiadzin at Soradir, it could be a model, but their outer forms are not similar to each other. The drum of the Holly Cross is sixteen-sided and has eight windows on every other face.
A great number of relief sculptures on its tufa walls are mainly on the themes from the Bible, from Adam and Eve to Christ and the Virgin. There are no other churches having such a series of numerous narrative sculptures. It is also interesting to have a continuous band full of vegetables, humans and animals' carvings, going around the upper walls. This church is a genuine treasury of Armenian art.

 

** There are also the ruins of an Armenian church in the Island of Ktuts (Çarpanak in Turkish) on the opposite side in Lake Van, though I have not yet visited it. The church of Surp Yovhannes was first built in the 15th century and reconstructed in the 18th century.

INDEX

---

OLD VAN *

CITADEL & VANK RUINS, 15-17c.

Van (Wan in Kurdish) is a city near the eastern shore of Lake Van. Its origin goes back to Before the Common Era as the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Urartu. In the middle ages it was an important city of the Kingdom of Armenia, but it became mainly a Turkish city after the 10th century. The old city (Eski Van) was thoroughly destroyed by Russian army in 1917 during the Russo-Turkish Wars into complete ruins. Now the new city of Van has been developing after the World War II on the opposite side of the rock mountain (Vankale).
There is a vast area of the fort (Kale) since Urartu Kingdom on the rock mountain and the old city (Eski Van) spreads at its foot surrounded with ramparts. There are plenty of ruins of mosques and churches scattered all over the city, including the St Paul Church of Armenian from the 10th century and others from the 15th to 17th centuries. However, without a professional guide it is very difficult to discern them.

INDEX

---

YEDI KILISE *

VARAG VANK, 10-11c. 17-19c.

 

   

Varag Vank in Yedi Kilise, which means seven churches in Turkish.

PLAN of the Yedi Kilise （from "Armenian Art" Jean-Michel Thierry, 1987, Harry N. Abrams ）  

INDEX

---

ALBAYRAK *

BARDUGHIMEOS VANK, 13c. 17-18c. *

 

Bardughimeos Vank in Albayrak, located near the Iranian border

   

_＿___PLAN of the　Bardughimeos Vank  (From "Eastern Turkey, vol.1, T.A. Sinclair. 1987)

INDEX

---

SORADIR (DZORADIR) ***

SURP ECHMIADZIN, 6c. 17c. **

 

 

Surp Echmiadzin Church 20km north from Albayrak

 

_＿_____PLAN of the church of Surp Echmiadzin (From "Armenian Art" Jean-Michel Thierry, 1987, Harry N. Abrams)

Its plan is very akin to that of Akhtamar.

 

INDEX

---

(BYZANTINE)___ ALAHAN ***

ALAHAN MONASTERY, 5c. **

   

In the province of Isaulia in southern Anatolia, the next region of Cilicia where once Armenians founded the Kingdom of Cilicia, are the remains of Alahan Monastery (5th century), which is the most important piece of early Byzantine architecture alongside of the church of St Simeon (5th century) in Syria. It is half a century earlier than St Sophia in Constantinople reconstructed by Roman Emperor Justinian. Alahan Monastery was erected in the late 5th century by the Byzantine emperor Zeno (r. 474-491) who had come from Isauria.

  PLAN of the Eastern Church of the Alahan Monastery (From "ALAHAN, An Early Christian Monastery in Southern Turkey" Mary Gough, 1985)

In this site were cave chapels at first, the ruins of the west Basilica, the half collapsed Baptistry, the well preserved East Church at the end, and a long Colonnaded Walk connecting them. Among them the most important is the Eastern Church of three-naved basilica with the central stone dome, that is to say, actualizing a typical type of Armenian church two centuries earlier (though there is an opinion that the central roof was wooden).
After the death of Zeno, the domestic warfare made architects and masons with high skill to be diaspora looking for new places of work. There must have been emigrants to Armenia.

 

---

INDEX

---

The northernmost part of Iran is called Azerbaijan (in Iran), whose largest group of inhabitants are the Azeri people. There are also many Armenians, who area able to travel back and forth freely to the north-neighboring Republic of Armenia through the town of Meghri, located in Armenia near the border.
In Azerbaijan there is the famous Surp Thaddeus Vank (monastery) near Maku and the Surp Stephanos Vank near Julfa (Jolfa), close to the border. Both became uninhabited when the Islamic Revolution broke out in Iran in 1979, and have been preserved as cultural heritage until now. In 2008 the Taddeus and Stephanos Vanks were inscribed on the UNECO World Heritage List as the ‘Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran’ together with the Surp Astvatsatsin Vank, which was reconstructed in Dzordzor (Corcor) near Maku but I have not yet visited.
On the other hand, in the old city of Isfahan in the far south, Shah Abbas of the Safavid dynasty made an Armenian quarter, New Julfa, to which he had Julfa’s Armenian merchants migrate and entrusted commerce in his capital to them. One can still see Armenian churches in Persian style there.

Mâkû, once called Artaz, is a small town with a population of about 40,000, located some 20 kilometers to the Turkish border. It is the base town for visiting the remote place of the monastery of St. Tadeus (Surp Tadê Vank). Though the distance to the monastery is 20km in a straight line, it takes close to 1 hour by car from Maku because of the long roundabout road.
Surp Tadê Vank, looking like a fortified monastery, has been called 'Qareh Kalisa', meaning 'Black Church, in northern Iran ('Kara Kilise' in Turkish). It is traditionally said that a chapel was first erected here in 371, and it was enlarged to be a church in the 7th century. In the early 14th century, the church was destroyed by a great earthquake in 1319, after which during just ten years, it was reconstructed. This 14th century 'Old Church' still holds the remains of 10th century church around the alter in its apse.

Since the 14th century old church was mainly made of black tufa, it was called 'Black Church', while the western white one is the 'New Church' built in the early 19th century. The new church is based on the four-apse plan, similar to that of Surp Echmiadzin Cathedral in Vagharshapat, embracing four free-standing pillars supporting the central dome. However, as it has not its own eastern apse for the alter, its function is supposed to have been a Gavit for the old church.

The external appearance of this monastery with two conical roofs side by side is very impressive with its uniqueness. It is also unusual for Armenian Vanks to have monks' cells in line at the periphery of the precincts like in Buddhist monasteries in ancient India.
Because of the isolated monastery in a remote place from any towns or villages, the monastery is surrounded with high robust ramparts with round towers for protection from invaders. On the west side is a backyard for agriculture and its ancillary facilities for the monks' self-sufficient lifestyle.

Cross Section of St. Tadeus Monastery (From "History of Armenian Architecture", 1992)

Tradition says that St. Tadeus (Taddaeus), called Surp Tadê in Armenian, was one of the twelve Apostles who evangelized in Armenia along with St. Bartholomew (Nathanael), from which St. Tadeus is considered as the most important saint in Armenia, and Armenian orthodoxy came to be known as 'Armenian Apostolic Church'. There is also a legend that St. Tadeus was martyred here in the 1st century. Around 19 June is his feast days, when numerous Armenian pilgrims gather here to attend the ceremonies, setting up a large tent village around the monastery to stay three days.
When I first visited this monastery, I could not take photographs due to the camera broke down. In the third occasion in 2007, the monastery was under repair with obstructive scaffolds to prepare the inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Surp Stephanos Vank in the next section.

 

 

Surp Stephanos Vank. It takes 20 minutes by car from Julfa.

PLAN of Surp Stephanos Vank (From "Documenti di Architetture Armena 10. S. Stephanos", 1980)

The current church was constructed in the 14th century.

 

 

The facade was made of Tufa.

There is a three-naved church from the 16th century, near the Sup Stephanos.

A three-naved church of Surp Hripsime at Muzumbar village.

The church standing on a hill east of Muzumbar village

The church of Surp Hovhannes stands in isolation on a hill, north of Tabriz.
Surp Hovhannes is St. John.

A Sectional Axonometric Drawing of the Surp Hovhannes (From "Documenti 20. SORHUL", 1989)

New Julf is on the north of Isfahan, developed by Shah Abbas in the 17th century. Armenians emigrated from Julfa made a commercial community, building many Armenian churches.

MAP of CHURCHES in NEW JULFA, ISFAHAN
（From "Documenti di Architetture Armena 21, NOR DJULFA", 1991)
1 : Vank Cathedral,___2 : Surp Astvatsatsin,___3 : Surp Betghehem,
4 : Surp Gevorg___ 5 : Surp Grigor Lusavorich,___6 : Surp Stepanos,
7 : Surp Sargis, ___8 : Surp Minas,___9 : Surp Nikoghayos,
10 : Surp Nerses,___12 : Surp Katerine

The focal point of New Julfa is the Vank Cathedral, which was erected in 1108-1112. (also in 1655-64, and in 1664 by doc.)

___ PLAN of the Vank Cathedral and the Book of "New Julfa" (From "Documenti di Architetture Armena 21. NOR DJULFA", 1991)  

 

Khuchap Vank (Surp Astvatsatsin) is across the road from the Cathedral, Persian-style Armenian church.

Persian-style Armenian church Bet Vank (Meydani Betghahem), in front of the Khuchap Vank.