By admin Archaeologists discovered the remains of an Armenian church dating back almost 2,000 years, making it the oldest building of this type in the country and one of the oldest in the world.
A team from Germany’s University of Munster and a team from the Armenian Academy of Sciences called it a “sensational testimony” of early Christianity in the country.
They discovered the building during excavations in Artaxata, once a thriving metropolis and trading center that served as the capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom for almost six centuries. It is located near the modern city of Artashat.
Experts believe the church was originally built in the 4th century AD, coinciding with the construction of Etchmiadzin Cathedral, also in Armenia, which is considered the ancient kingdom’s first cathedral and is often considered the oldest cathedral in the world, according to CBS News. .
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country located in Western Asia. It borders Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Nakhichevan exclave to the south.
“The building dating back to the 4th century is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country – a sensational testimony of early Christianity in Armenia,” Achim Lichtenberger, a professor at the University of Münster who works on the archaeological project in Artaxata, said in a statement.
The excavations were part of the Armenian-German Artaxata project, an initiative launched in 2018 to explore the area.
Mkrtich Zardaryan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences separately noted that architecture can help researchers discover something new about the country’s history. The church is octagonal in shape, with rectangular chambers protruding from its four sides.
It is the first octagonal church known in Armenia, Zardaryan said, adding that churches of this shape usually appear in the eastern Mediterranean. According to the University of Munster, they resembled early Christian memorial buildings.
The ancient Armenian church measured about 30 meters wide and originally had a mortar floor made mainly of sand and cement, and the walls were made of thick slabs of terracotta, then produced in places such as Greece and Italy.
Fragments of original material found on site, including fragments of marble, suggest that the church was once richly decorated, and the terracotta was probably imported from the Mediterranean.
The university says the remains of wooden platforms found along with the clay helped scientists confirm the building’s origins through carbon dating.
According to tradition, Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates III of Armenia to Christianity at Artaxata in 301, marking Armenia as the first Christian state in the world, a milestone that still resonates in the country’s religious and cultural history.
The nearby medieval monastery of Khor Virap, a famous pilgrimage site, is a reminder of this heritage, located near the newly discovered church.