SAINT HRIPSIME CHURCH (SOURP HRIPSIME)

It's the first one you see when you come from Yerevan. Its majestic silhouette of ochre stone rises on a platform at the eastern entrance to the city, on the site of the mausoleum of the holy martyr Hripsimus. Fleeing the overly pressing advances of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the saint is said to have taken refuge among the Christians of Armenia. But the Armenian king Tiridate III, seduced by her beauty, would not leave her in peace either. Hripsimus chose martyrdom rather than marriage to the king, who had not yet been "enlightened" by St. Gregory. Of his mausoleum, only the tomb has survived under the apse of the church dedicated to him by Catholicos Komitas in 618. The architectural unity of the building did not suffer too much from the restorations undertaken in the 17th century: a canopy porch was added as well as 4 turrets to reinforce the large polygonal drum topping the building. Since 1776, the church has been surrounded by a mud wall, later reinforced. Obeying the plan of the cross inscribed in a square, this church perfectly sums up the Armenian architectural principles and will serve as a model for many other churches. There is a striking contrast between the angular outer walls, with niches emphasizing the apses, and the rounded volumes of the interior space, dominated by the vast dome pierced by windows flooding it with light. The dome is sculpted with rays that refer to the celestial vault, a frieze of 32 medallions runs along its base.