PLACES OF WORSHIP

Saint Sargis Church is the prelacy church of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.

1835-1842, rebuilt: 1971-1976

Saint Sargis Church is located in the Dzoragyugh district of Yerevan, at 19 Israelyan Street, on the left bank of the Hrazdan River.

The date of its foundation is unknown. It was the church of the Dzoragyugh desert, then of the Yerevan thematic presbytery. It was destroyed by the devastating earthquake in the Ararat valley in 1679 and was rebuilt during the reign of Catholicos of All Armenians Nahapet I of Edessa (1691-1705). In the 19th century, the Primate of the Ararat Diocese, Bishop Hovhannes Shahkhatunyants, by order of the Catholicos of All Armenians Hovhannes VIII Karbetsi (1831-1842), demolished the dilapidated church and in 1835-1842 built a four-nave domed basilica church on the same site. During the Soviet years, in 1971-1976, on the initiative of the Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen I, the St. Sarkis Church was reconstructed, preserving the previous layout (the author of the project was the Honored Artist of the Armenian SSR, Honored Architect, People's Architect of the USSR Rafael Israelyan). The outer facades were faced with orange, polished tuff. Inside, on the western side, a loft was added for the choir, and the dome was replaced with a new, higher and more majestic dome. The main, western facade was lavishly decorated, with the altarpiece of the entrance carved with the image of the Holy Mother of God, and the bas-reliefs of the archangels Gabriel and Michael on the wall (sculptor: People's Artist of the Republic of Armenia Artashes Hovsepyan). The symbols of the four evangelists were carved on the sails under the dome. The building of the Ararat Diocese's Prelacy (1980-1981, author of the reconstruction project: architect Hamlet Khachatryan), a fountain built in accordance with national traditions (1996, architect: Baghdasar Arzumanyan), khachkars and carved tombstones of the 16th-17th centuries (some with inscriptions). In 2000 The construction of the bell tower, crowned with a four-column rotunda adjunct to the church, was completed (architect: Romeo Julhakyan).