Vagharshapat - Shoagat

Shoagat (etymologically “drop of light”) stands near the Church of St. Hriphsimé, within a fortified enclosure that is now partly preserved. A single-nave basilica of the domed-hall type, with a dome on a tall drum, characterised by a particularly compact massing. It was rebuilt in the 17th century on an earlier 13th-century building (some elements of the apse wall seem to date back to the 5th century). The portico in front has elegant decorative motifs of clearly Islamic derivation.