The largest and most prominent church in Gyumri, built between 1854 and 1873 following the model of the great cathedral at Ani. The black tufa exterior is striking and the scale is impressive — this was deliberately designed to be the dominant church in a city that already had six others. Badly damaged in the 1988 earthquake, it has been painstakingly restored and stands at the heart of the old city near Vartanants Square.
Holy Saviour Church (Amenaprkitch)
Black tufa church, deliberately built to outshine all others
A story
Legend has it that an Armenian believer was kicked out of the Greek church, and the insult motivated the people of Gyumri to build their own — bigger and grander than anything else in town. The result was Amenaprkitch, modelled on the cathedral at Ani, tall enough to cast a shadow over both the Greek and Catholic churches on either side.