The main architectural monument in Etchmiadzin is, of course, the Cathedral of the same name - the oldest Christian church in Armenia, one of the first in the entire Christian world. The first stone in the foundation of this temple, according to legend, was laid in 301 by Gregory the Illuminator, the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church. The main feature of the cathedral is that in addition to the main one, there are three more altars in it. Two of them are located in the southern and northern niches. The latter is located in the center of the cathedral and is rather a holy place where, according to legend, Christ descended in his appearance to Gregory the Illuminator and ordered to build a temple.
In 2001, when Armenia celebrated the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity, Pope John Paul II brought the relics of the first Armenian Catholicos to Armenia. For five hundred years, the relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator were kept in Naples, and now they are in the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin.
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Vagharshapat, Armenia