The Armenian Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta, Crimea)

For thousands of years, Crimea was home to many people. As evidenced by historical documents, as early as the 7th century AD Armenians settled in its territory. Particularly active resettlement of representatives of this people on the peninsula began to occur with the Genoese, who encouraged people involved in trade, and artisans.

For various reasons, their large and compactly residing community was deported several times to other regions. At the moment, there are just over 11,000 people living on the peninsula - the same number as many Armenians were forcibly sent from the Crimea to Kazakhstan, the Perm region in 1944.

For 14 centuries the community built in Kaffe (Theodosia), Orabazar (Armyansk), Yalta and in other cities a lot of remarkable architectural structures. In addition, she gave the world a great seascapes painter Ivan (Hovhannes) Aivazovsky. The Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta) is also one of the most significant Armenian monuments of the Crimea .

Prehistory

In 1905 a wealthy oilman, Pogos Ter-Ghukasyan, arrived in Yalta from Baku, who changed his name to Russian and was better known as Pavel Osipovich Gukasov.

He appealed to the authorities of Yalta, asking permission to build an Armenian apostolic church on the hill of Darsan. A man with such a huge fortune could not be denied, and soon the architect G. Ter-Mikaelov arrived at the city at his invitation. It was decided to take as a model the image of the ancient Christian church in the Armenian city of Vagarshapat (the UNESCO site, founded in 618).

Holy Hripsime

The purpose of building the church was to perpetuate the memory of the daughter of Ter-Ghukasyan, who died at a young age from consumption. Apparently, therefore, the father decided to dedicate the church to a virgin to the monk-martyr Hripsime (in the Russian Orthodox tradition Hripsimia). The saint lived under the emperor Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century and belonged to the royal family. She was a Christian and was going to devote herself to the Lord. The emperor-pagan wooed to her, but was refused. The maiden fled to the cave at Mount Ararat, where Saint Gayane lived (in Orthodoxy of Gaia) and 40 maidens. In Armenia, Hripsime did not find peace, as Tsar Trdat wanted to see her as her second wife. Having been refused, he ordered to torment and kill the girl and her friends, for which the Lord turned him into a boar. The cured St. Gregory, then in 301 he was baptized with all the people, and Armenia became the first Christian state in the world.

Building

The Armenian Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta) was built long enough and was consecrated only in 1917. However, the result surpassed all expectations, as a result of the work of Gabriel Ter-Mikaelov turned out to be a real masterpiece. He spent 4 years on the project. At the same time, the architect did not create an exact copy, but used the features of the ancient temple of St. Hripsime as the basis for the appearance of a completely new structure.

Interior

The church also received a magnificent interior decoration. To create a painting on the walls of the temple, the artist Vardges Sureniants was invited - the author of the most famous Armenian fresco of Our Lady, copies of which are present in many apostolic churches around the world. Since 1910, he was a member of the organization of Russian Wanderers and has issued several performances of the Mariinsky Theater.

The frescoes, thanks to his efforts, were decorated with the Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta), were executed according to the patterns of the images of the saints, which he studied in the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, and ancient miniatures.

After the death of Surenyants was buried in the courtyard of the church, and in the Soviet period his grave was decorated with a marble slab.

Description of the structure

The Armenian Church of St. Hripsime has the shape of an equilateral cross. In the center stands a pointed dome, characteristic of Christian churches of Transcaucasia and the Middle East. Pharos tuff of volcanic origin was used for the construction of the church and its decoration. It is this stone, thanks to its easy workability, allowed to create voluminous decorations of the building.

The temple has 2 entrances, but only one of them - the western one - is real and decorated with carved wooden doors. In addition, on this side of the building there is a memorial niche and an apse of the tomb with bas-reliefs of two ravens. The appearance of this entrance to the church is also adorned with a colonnade of 6 columns.

The second entrance is decorative (false) and is located south of the temple. He is on a pedestal, to which exactly 100 stone steps lead. On each side the entrance is decorated with slender, high yew. The second floor of the building is crowned with an arched gallery with a balcony in the center, and the third is crowned by a cross, supported by 2 large arched windows.

Legend

Those who were familiar with Pogos Ter-Ghukasyan called the Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta) his tear (in Armenian - Arthasuk). The early death of his beloved daughter was not the only tragedy in the life of the oil tycoon. Even before the end of construction, Ter-Ghukasyan's eldest son was killed under unclear circumstances, and almost immediately after that, the younger one committed suicide, who lost a large amount of cards and did not dare to ask for help from his father. In 1917, the oil industrialist was forced to flee to Europe, and his further fate remained unknown.

St. Hripsime Church (Yalta): how to get there?

Address of this interesting sight of the Crimea: Yalta, st. Countryside 3. You can get to it on foot or by public transport. In particular, to the next street of Leningradskaya there are buses No. 16 and 21.

By car, you can drive up to the church by turning from Karl Marx Street to Sadovaya Street, and then to Zagorodnaya Street.

St. Hripsime Church (Yalta): reviews

The temple on those who see it for the first time, makes an indelible impression. It is especially beautiful in summer, when it is surrounded by lush vegetation. Strict ancient Christian architecture, unusual to the eye of an Orthodox man, leaves no one indifferent. Judging by the reviews of tourists, those who visited there, believe that the Church of St. Hripsime (Yalta), of course, is one of the main adornments of the city and it is definitely worth a visit. In addition, many travelers recommend a staircase leading to the temple, as a great place for a romantic photo shoot, including a wedding.

Now you know what history has and where the church of St. Hripsime is. Crimea is a place where there is no shortage of sights. At the same time, it is interesting for its multiculturalism and the fact that it is possible to see monuments of history and culture of dozens of peoples: Scythians, Greeks, Romans, Italians, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Russians, Turks, Ukrainians, Jews, Karaites, etc.