CATHEDRAL SOURP GRIGOR LOUSSAVORITCH

It was built by order of the Catholicos on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity, the jubilee year 2001, which was celebrated with pomp and circumstance in Armenia and throughout the Diaspora. It rises at the end of the ring boulevard, in the triangle bounded by Yervand Kotchar Street and Tigrane Medz Avenue, at the level of Kino Rossia. From a green area decorated with khatchkars, one can reach the square of the imposing building, which is decorated with domes with umbrella roofs, according to the Armenian architectural tradition. The cathedral is 54 m high and covers an area of 3,800 m², and can be considered the largest Armenian church built to date. With a capacity of 1,700 faithful, it was consecrated by Catholicos Karekine II and welcomed Pope John Paul II in September 2001 and Pope Francis in 2017. It contains the precious relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator, which were kept for centuries in a church in Naples, and which were handed over to the Catholicos by Pope John Paul II in November 2000. The Cathedral, besides its dimensions, compensates for the lack of places of worship in the Armenian capital, where only the relatively modern Sourp Sarkis Church could meet the capital's religious requirements. The great feasts of the Christian calendar are often celebrated there by the Catholicos in person, in the presence of the country's political elite.