Echmiadzin-Zvartnotc
Situated 20 km away from Yerevan, the ancient town of Echmiadzin is the spiritual and administrative center of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians and the place, where chrism is consecrated for christening every Armenian child. At present the Catholicos of All Armenians is His Holiness Garegin the 2nd. The name is translated as "the place where the Only Begotten Son of God descended". The town (then called Vagharshapat) was founded in the first half of the II century. Starting 163 AD, after destruction of Artashat by the Romans, it was declared the new capital of ancient Armenia becoming its cultural, political and religious (since 1441) center for several centuries. The stones of Mother See of Echmiadzin are the contemporaries of the fall of Rome and Byzantium, witnesses of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia, coronation of many Armenian kings and so on..
Zvartnots (meaning celestial angels) is a ruined seventh century circular Armenian cathedral built by order of the Catholicos Nerses the Builder from 641-653. It is located about 15 kilometers west of Yerevan, at the edge of the town of Echmiadzin, in the Armenian province of Armavir. Zvartnots was built at a time when much of Armenia was found under Byzantine control and during the early invasions of Armenia by the Muslim Arabs. Zvartnots remained buried until its remains were uncovered at the start of the 20th century. The site was excavated between 1901 and 1907 under the direction of vardapet Khachik Dadyan, uncovering the foundations of the cathedral as well as the remains of the Catholicos palace and a winery. The excavations furthermore revealed that Zvartnots stood on the remnants of structures that dated back to reign of the Urartian king Rusa II. Together with churches in Echmiadzin, Zvartnots was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000. A drawing of the cathedral was depicted on the first issue of 100 AMD banknotes and its model can be seen in the Museum of History in Yerevan.
