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Vagharshapat (Armenian: Վաղարշապատ pronounced [vɑʁɑɾʃɑˈpɑt]) is the fifth largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about 18 km (11 mi) west of the capital Yerevan, and 10 km (6 mi) north of the Turkish-Armenian border. It is commonly known as Ejmiatsin (Էջմիածին, pronounced [ɛt͡ʃʰmi(j)ɑˈt͡sin] ⓘ, also spelled Echmiatsin), which was its official name between 1945 and 1995. It is still commonly used colloquially and in official bureaucracy, a case of dual naming.
The city is best known as the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is thus unofficially known in Western sources as a "holy city" and in Armenia as the country's "spiritual capital". It was one of the major cities and a capital of the ancient kingdom of Greater Armenia. Reduced to a small town by the early 20th century, it experienced large expansion during the Soviet period becoming, effectively, a suburb of Yerevan. Its population stands just over 37,000 based on 2016 estimates.
According to Movses Khorenatsi, the area of Vagharshapat was known as Artimed (Արտիմեդ), derived from the ancient Greek deity Artemis. Later, it was renamed Avan Vardgesi (Ավան Վարդգեսի, "Town of Vardges") or Vardgesavan (Վարդգեսավան) by Prince Vardges Manuk who rebuilt the settlement near the shores of Kasagh River, during the reign of King Orontes I of Armenia (570–560 BC). However, in his first book, Wars of Justinian, the Byzantine historian Procopius refers to the city as Valashabad (Balashabad), named after king Vologases I of Armenia. The name evolved into its later form by the shift of the medial l into a gh, which is common in the Armenian language. Movses Khorenatsi mentioned that the town of Vardges was entirely rebuilt and fenced by King Vagharsh I to become known as Norakaghak (Նորաքաղաք, "New City") and later Vagharshapat.
Ejmiatsin (Echmiatsin, Ēĵmiacin) literally means "the descent of the Only-Begotten" or "the Only-Begotten descended", from ej 'descent' (also the third person singular aorist of ijanem 'to descend') and miatsin 'only-begotten', referring to how Gregory the Illuminator had a vision of Jesus (the only-begotten son of God) descending to the place and marking it as where Gregory should erect churches. The name has been used to refer to Etchmiadzin Cathedral since the medieval period and in 1945 was extended also to the city and the surrounding district.
During the period of Persian rule, the city was also known by the Turkish name Üch-Kilisa, which means 'three churches', in reference to Echmiatsin Cathedral and the churches of Saint Hripsime and Saint Gayane.
The territory of ancient Vagharshapat was inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. Many sites, such as Metsamor Castle, Shresh hill and Mokhrablur hill date back to the Neolithic period. The first written records about Vagharshapat were found in the inscriptions left by the Urartian king Rusa II (685–645 BC), where it was mentioned as Kuarlini (Կուարլինի). The inscription found in the archaeological site of ancient Vagharshapat cites to a water canal opened by king Rusa II, between Ildaruni river (Hrazdan River) and the valley of Kuarlini.
According to 5th-century writer Movses Khorenatsi, the oldest name of Vagharshapat was Artimed (Արտիմեդ), derived from the ancient Greek deity Artemis. Later, it was renamed Avan Vardgesi (Ավան Վարդգեսի, "Town of Vardges") or Vardgesavan (Վարդգեսավան) after being rebuilt by prince Vardges Manuk near the shores of Kasagh River, during the reign of king Orontes I Sakavakyats of Armenia (570–560 BC).
In the first half of the 2nd century AD, under the reign of the Armenian Arsacid king Vagharsh I of Armenia (117–144), the old town of Vardgesavan was renovated and renamed Vagharshapat (Վաղարշապատ). Movses Khorenatsi mentioned that the Town of Vardges was entirely rebuilt and fenced by king Vagharsh I to become known as Norakaghak (Նորաքաղաք, "New City") and later Vagharshapat.
Vagharshapat has served as the capital of the Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia between 120 AD and 330 AD. After embracing Christianity as a state religion in Armenia in 301, Vagharshapat was gradually called Ejmiatsin (Armenian: Էջմիածին), after the name of the Mother Cathedral; the seat of the Armenian Catholicosate, which is considered one of the oldest religious organizations in the world. As a spiritual centre of the entire Armenian nation, Vagharshapat has grown up rapidly and developed as an important centre of education and culture. The city was home to one of the oldest educational institutions in Armenia founded by Mesrop Mashtots.
The political capital of the Armenian kingdom was transferred to the city of Dvin in 336.
Vagharshapat maintained its status as the country's most important city until the fall of the Arsacid Kingdom in 428. The city gradually lost its importance under the Persian rule, specifically when the seat of the Catholicosate was transferred to Dvin in 452. However, the first manuscript library in Armenia was founded in 480 in Vagharshapat.
The Armenian Church rejected the Council of Chalcedon (451) because they believed the Chalcedonian christology was too similar to Nestorianism; however, some Armenian bishops who were present in the territories of Roman Armenia signed the council's documents and also accepted Pope Leo I's 458 encyclical mandating adherence to the Chalcedonian Definition. In Persarmenia, the Persian Nestorian Church supported the spread of Nestorianism, which the Armenian Church had previously declared heretical and saw as a threat to the independence of their Church. Peter the Iberian, a Georgian prince, also strongly opposed the Chalcedonian Creed. Thus, in 491, Catholicos Babken I of Armenia, along with the Albanian and Iberian bishops met in Vagharshapat and issued a condemnation of the Chalcedonian Definition.
In 587 during the reign of emperor Maurice, Vagharshapat (then called Valarshapat) and much of Armenia came under Roman administration after the Romans defeated the Sassanid Persian Empire at the battle of the Blarathon.
In 658 AD, Vagharshapat, along with the rest of the Armenian highland, was conquered by the Arabs. The city was briefly revived between the 9th and 11th centuries under the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, before being overrun by the Byzantines in 1045 and later by the Seljuks in 1064.
In the middle of the 13th century, Vagharshapat became part of the Ilkhanate of the Mongol Empire. During the last quarter of the 14th century the Aq Qoyunlu Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribe took over Armenia, including Vagharshapat.
The influence of Vagharshapat waned between 1045 and 1441, when the seat of the Armenian Catholicosate was transferred from the Cilician city of Sis back to Etchmiadzin.
Between 1502 and 1828, Armenia became part of the Persian state under the rule of Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar dynasties, with short periods of Ottoman rule between 1578 and 1603 and later between 1722 and 1736.
In 1828, after the Russo-Persian War, Vagharshapat —as a part of the Erivan Khanate— was handed over to the Russian Empire as a result of the Treaty of Turkmenchay signed on 21 February 1828.
In their 1833 book Eli Smith and H. G. O. Dwight described Vagharshapat, then a village, as follows: "It presents nothing but a crowded collection of mud cabins, perhaps 500 in number."
With the establishment of the Erivan Governorate in 1850, Vagharshapat became the centre of the newly formed Echmiadzinsky Uyezd.
Armenia enjoyed a short period of independence between 1918 and 1920 before falling to the Bolshevik 11th Red Army and becoming part of the Soviet Union. In 1925, the new plan of rebuilding the modern town was introduced by architect Alexander Tamanian. It was finally completed between 1939 and 1943. In 1945, the town of Vagharshapat was officially renamed Echmiatsin by the Soviet government.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the town has witnessed a massive wave of construction, including residential buildings and industrial plants. By the end of the 1960s, the historical monuments of the town; including the religious complex of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Saint Hripsime Church, Saint Gayane Church and the surrounding area of Zvartnots Cathedral, were entirely rehabilitated.
After the independence of Armenia, the town was officially renamed Vagharshapat in 1995. However, the town is still popularly known as Ejmiatsin.
In October 2018, Diana Gasparyan, who was nominated by the Civil Contract Party, was elected mayor of the city and the country's first ever female mayor.
Vagharshapat is the largest satellite-city of Yerevan and the 4th largest in Armenia by population. It is located to the west of Yerevan in the basin of the Kasagh River, in the northeastern extremity of Ararat plain, and very close to Zvartnots International Airport.
According to Moses of Chorene's History of Armenia and as a result of several archaeological researches conducted in the area, the most probable location of the ancient city of Vagharshapat is the area of Shresh Hill near Kasagh River.
Shresh Hill or the Kond of Ghugo, as it was called by the local population, is only 500 metres (1,600 feet) away to the northeast of modern-day Vagharshapat, on the way to Oshakan. It is an artificial hill and has a diameter of 123 metres (404 feet) long. It was first excavated in 1870. In 1913 and 1928, the area was excavated by archaeologist Yervand Lalayan. Large-scale excavations were conducted around the hill and the nearby sites of Metsamor and Mokhrablur between 1945 and 1950.
Historically, Vagharshapat is at the heart of the Armenian Highland, in Aragatsotn canton (Armenian: Արագածոտն գաւառ Aragatsotn gavar, not to be confused with the current Aragatsotn Province) of Ayrarat province, within Armenia Major.
The city has an average elevation of 853 metres (2,799 feet) above sea level. The climate is cold semi-arid (Köppen climate classification BSk).
Vagharshapat is the largest urban community of Armavir Province. However, the population of the town has gradually declined since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The majority of the town's population are ethnic Armenians who belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. The regulating body of the church is the Diocese of Armavir based in the nearby town of Armavir. Between 1996 and 2014, the Holy Mother of God Church of Vagharshapat has served as the seat of the diocese. Opened in 1767 by Catholicos Simeon I, the church is located at the centre of Vagharshapat, north of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
Here is a population timeline of Vagharshapat since 1830:
The Mother Cathedral of Holy Echmiatsin is found in the complex surrounded with many other structures built throughout the centuries. Most buildings are of great architectural significance, such as the old and new Pontifical Residences, the Chancellery or the Divanatoon, the Gate of King Trdat, Alex and Marie Manoogian Treasury Museum (1982), Khrimian Museum, Yeremian Monastic cells, the old Seminary building, the Clock Tower, the Bookstore, etc.
Gevorgian Seminary is a theological college of the Armenian Apostolic Church founded by Catholicos Gevork IV in 1874 within the complex of the Mother See. Apart from the Mother Cathedral, Vagharshapat is home to many other important Armenian churches and cathedrals. The Cathedral of Echmiatsin the Churches of Saint Hripsimé, Saint Gayane and Saint Shoghakat, and the archaeological site of Zvartnots are listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In 2000, the churches of Vagharshapat, together with the nearby ruin of Zvartnots Cathedral, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Principal churches include:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Vagharshapat”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.