Katoghike Church
Tiny 13th-century chapel, the oldest in central Yerevan
- Area Yerevan
- Type Religious site
- Time needed 20m
Katoghike is a very small thirteenth-century chapel in a courtyard off Abovyan Street, and the oldest surviving church in central Yerevan. It was found inside the walls of a larger nineteenth-century church when that church was demolished in the 1930s.
Open in the planner →Getting there
Around a kilometre from Republic Square, a minute by car and a ten-minute walk through the centre.
What you see
The chapel is tiny, barely more than a single vaulted room with a conical roof, its stone carved with inscriptions and early khachkars. A large modern church, St Anna, was built beside it in the 2010s and now dominates the courtyard. Together they make an unusually direct comparison between medieval and contemporary Armenian church building.
What to pair it with
A short walk from Zoravor Church, Northern Avenue and the Blue Mosque.
When to go
Daytime, and quietest in the morning. The courtyard is pleasant in spring and autumn and offers little shelter in either extreme.
What is hard about it
This is a fifteen or twenty minute stop, and the new church next to it overwhelms the old chapel visually. There is little interpretation on site.
Common questions
Why is it so small?
It is the surviving core of a medieval chapel. The larger nineteenth-century church built around it was pulled down in the Soviet period, leaving the old chapel standing.
Can I go inside?
The chapel is very small and access is limited; the adjoining modern church is usually open.
Is it worth a detour?
Only a short one. It is interesting if you care about Armenian church architecture and incidental if you do not.
Nearby
- Yerevan CascadeGiant limestone stairway with modern sculpture and city views
- MatenadaranRepository of ancient Armenian manuscripts
- Republic SquareYerevan's central square with musical fountains
- Erebuni FortressUrartian citadel from 782 BC, the birthplace of Yerevan
- Armenian Genocide MemorialHilltop memorial and museum to the victims of 1915
- History Museum of ArmeniaNational collection from prehistory to the modern era
More of the same kind
- Blue Mosque18th-century Persian mosque with a tiled courtyard
- St Gregory the Illuminator CathedralLargest cathedral in Armenia, consecrated in 2001
- Zoravor Church17th-century church in a quiet courtyard
- Karmravor ChurchTiny 7th-century church with original roof tiles