Church of Gregory the Illuminator (Kayseri)

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The Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator or Surp Lusavoritsch Church ( Armenian Սուրբ Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ եկեղեցի , Turkish Surp Krikor Lusavoriç Kilisesi ) is an Armenian Apostolic church building consecrated to Saint Gregory the Illuminator in what is now the Turkish city ​​of Kayseri (formerly Caesarea ), whose foundations go back to the 12th century. Since the demolition of the Church of St. Sarkis in Kayseri, it has been the last Armenian church in the city to be used for worship and the only one active in Central Anatolia .

Caesarea was the place where Gregory the Illuminator grew up and was baptized. The St. Gregory the Illuminator Church consecrated to him was first mentioned in 1191. Since the building was threatened with collapse, the church was rebuilt in 1856. Due to the genocide of the Armenians , the Armenian community in the city had shrunk considerably. In 1937 EH King reported in his Asiatic Review that there were only 2,000 Armenians out of 70,000 inhabitants. In order to prevent expropriation by the Turkish state and to keep church life active, priests came from Istanbul several times a year . In the 1990s the church was renovated and reopened for worship in 1996.

The church was originally built as a three-nave basilica and was heavily influenced by post-Byzantine Greek architecture, today it is a rectangular basilica with one nave. The interior has six free-standing columns, four of which support a large dome with a drum .

In 1997, another Cathedral of Saint Gregory the Illuminator was built in Yerevan , the capital of Armenia .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Kilisemiz Hakkında. Foundation of the Surp Lusavoritsch Church Kayseri, accessed on January 31, 2013 (Turkish).

Coordinates: 38 ° 43 ′ 2.9 "  N , 35 ° 29 ′ 23.3"  E