St. Hripsime
Vagharshapat, Armenia
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
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Saint Hripsime Church, a seventh-century Armenian Apostolic church in Vagharshapat, Armenia, was built in 618 by Catholicos Komitas above the tomb of Hripsime, a Roman virgin revered as a key figure in Armenia's Christianization. Standing largely intact since its construction, the church is widely regarded as a masterpiece of classical Armenian architecture and has profoundly influenced subsequent Armenian church design. Its innovative structural features include trapezoidal niches and conical squinches—the first dated examples of these elements—as well as a windowed drum and distinctive turrets at the drum's base serving as anchors and buttresses, a unique arrangement in Armenian architecture. The church also preserves two inscriptions by Komitas, constituting the second-earliest extant Armenian-language inscriptions. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 alongside neighboring churches including Etchmiadzin Cathedral, it remains a defining work of classical Armenian ecclesiastical design.
Movement
- Built
- Type
- church building, cultural property
- Heritage
- part of UNESCO World Heritage Site, cultural heritage monument in Armenia
- Place
- Vagharshapat, Armenia
This building on
Architecturally similar
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Location