Soradir

Church of St. Etchmiadzin. It stands near a Kurdish village not far from the Turkish-Iranian border. It is a small, archaic, centrally planned building surmounted by a dome with two pairs of intersecting relief ribs, of a later period, enclosed in a tall prismatic drum. The articulation of the structure, with a quatrefoil cross plan and four cylindrical corner niches, two of which give access to the two smaller apsed rooms on the east side, and some architectural details (squinch roofing of the niches) recall the “Hripsimè” type (7th c.). Other architectural, stylistic and decorative elements, however, such as the relationship between exterior and interior, the shape of the drum, the cornices and the capitals, lead to the building being attributed to an earlier period. In any case, territorial proximity and the very conception of the structure lead the church of Soradir to be regarded as the architectural model for the famous church of Aghtamar on Lake Van.