Armenia’s Holiest Place Echmiadzin Armenia

Armenia’s Holiest Place Echmiadzin Armenia

Nowhere demonstrates better than Echmiadzin Armenias ability to retain and foster its distinct cultural identity, no matter what the assaults or upheavals history hits it with. Echmiadzin Armenia is Armenia’s holiest place, the seat of Catholicos (Spiritual Leader) of the Armenian Church, and tabernacle of the soul of Armenia’s self-belief.

Echmiadzin Armenia

The Cathedral complex, churches, public offices and houses from top to bottom of the social scale, would elsewhere be souvenirs of history; here they are testament to the longevity of a continuous commitment, to both a religious philosophy, and the Armenian culture of which it is the core.


Echmiadzin Armenia has an extraordinary atmosphere. Just walking the streets, sharing daily routines with the residents, it feels like a communications centre, sending and receiving spiritual signals round the world. You stroll in and out of, between and round buildings and shops whose fabric could be anything from 3rd to 21st century, increasingly aware that they represent a living continuum of dedication to a culture that was ancient when the Cathedral was founded in 303 AD. You can even visit the remains of the pagan, fire-worshipping society that preceded it.

Echmiadzin Armenia is absorbing ad often beautiful. It provokes awe and wonder. Everywhere it shows how Persian, Byzantine, Latin, Greek, Azerbaijani, Syrian and many other influences have been transmuted into a single Armenian entity. Church and State house amazing artefacts whose exquisite intricacies will make you objectively breathless; until at some point, like the Catholicos’ Throne Room in the Cathedral complex, the dazzle of wrought gold is almost overwhelming. That’s when you should head for Echmiadzin’s Zbosaigee (strollers’) park, outside the meticulously groomed complex . Lively and unkempt beneath the shade of tall tress, the park is where people hang out to talk or play or eat. Being friendly, they’ll happy for you to join in, which you might feel is a sort of twinning of souls. Echmiadzin Armenia Map.


Population Of Echmiadzin Armenia

64.000 (2007)

When To Go To Echmiadzin Armenia

April to November. On Sundays, the churches are full of people, incense and music..

Don’t Miss To Visit This Place In Echmiadzin Armenia

*The ‘peasant’ church of Astvatsatsin (1767) where the majority of common folk worshiped, being denied entry to the grand churches and monasteries.
*The khachkars, stone relief tablets, many of brilliant quality, found in the Cathedral complex and most of the other churches. Collectively, they from a resume of Armenian folkloric philosophy – each one is a sory symbolizing a belief or moral.
*The Manougian Museum in the complex, for its illuminated manuscripts. It is often closed, but insist, if necessary offering a small donation to the museum’s upkeep.
*Hovhannes Hovhanessian’s elegant house and gardens, typical of Old Echmiadzin, now a museum to the liberal intellectual circle that challenged entrenched 19th century feudal attitudes, and was purged by Stalin after 1936.
*The music: Komitas Square, the heart of the city, is named after Armenia’s musical hero, who brought its sacred music to the world, and preserved its now flourishing folkloric culture. You’ll find it everywhere.

You Should Know About Echmiadzin Armenia

A b’rdooch is Armenian for a sandwich.

 

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