Sissian

Church of St. John (the oldest dedication was to St. Gregory), also called the black church during the period of Islamic rule, because of the colour of the basalt. It is a centrally planned building entirely similar, both in its interior space and in its exterior volumes, to the example of Hriphsimé at Vagharshapat (quatrefoil plan flanked by semicircular rooms): although some local scholars tend to date it earlier, it seems more accurate to regard the church as a repetition of the more famous model mentioned. Note the dodecagonal drum articulated by wide arches on paired engaged colonnettes with chamfered cubic capitals (of Rivoira’s pre-Lombard type), and the insertion of sculptural elements in the frieze of the drum and in the corner niches of the façade. The broken gables of the east and west fronts have varying slopes, and likewise cornices of different thickness.