St. Hripsime Church

St. Hripsime Church is located in the eastern part of the city of Vagharshapat and is considered one of the masterpieces of Armenian architecture. It was founded in the year 618 by Catholicos Komitas I Aghtsetsi, on the site of the 4th-century tomb of the martyr St. Hripsime. In 1776, a brick wall was built around the church. In 1880, a bell tower was constructed over the church’s narthex, and later, in 1894, the eastern and southern walls and several auxiliary structures were built from finely hewn stone. St. Hripsime Church is considered a unique structure in the Armenian style. The building has a square plan with a central dome, while the interior forms a cruciform layout. The interior design of St. Hripsime Church is both complex and extraordinary. This innovative architectural design, created by Armenian architects, was later widely used in 7th-century Armenian architecture and also influenced later religious buildings—most notably, the masterpiece Holy Cross Church on the island of Aghtamar in Lake Van. A. According to Agathangelos, the Roman pagan emperor Diocletian desired to marry one of the very beautiful virgins—the Christian Hripsime. Hripsime, along with the abbess Gayane and several dozen other nuns, fled to Armenia to escape Diocletian’s pursuit. However, the emperor learned of their escape and wrote to the Armenian king Tiridates III, asking him to find the virgins and execute them, and to return Hripsime to him. Smitten by Hripsime’s beauty, the king himself decided to marry her, but failing to win her over, he grew enraged and ordered the virgins to be isolated and killed in different locations. The church was built on the site of Hripsime’s martyrdom, and her tomb remains there to this day.