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Church · Ddmashen, Sevan community, Gegharkunik

St Thaddeus Church, Ddmashen

Դդմաշենի Սուրբ Թադևոս եկեղեցի · St. Tadevos the Apostle Church, Ddmashen · Ddmashen Church

Ddmashen's 7th-century church of St Thaddeus the Apostle, a large cruciform church on a rectangular plan whose dome now rests on a sixteen-sided drum rebuilt in 1907 after earthquake damage.

Where it is

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40.5697, 44.8205

Why go

Come for the form rather than the ornament. Inside and out the church is largely undecorated, so its massing does the work: a conical dome over a drum pierced by eight windows with niches between them, and ten larger windows lighting the nave. The drum is later than the walls and in a different style, which is worth bearing in mind when comparing the church with other early Armenian buildings. Inside there is a painted wooden altar, and a large cemetery of mostly unmarked stones lies to the south. It is a short detour from Sevan town for travellers interested in early medieval architecture.

Base yourself nearby

Lake Town

Sevan

Sevan is the town and shoreline on Armenia's great high-altitude lake, sitting at roughly 1,900 metres where the water stays cold, the wind is constant and the light is unlike anywhere else in the country. It is the base for the Sevanavank monastery on its peninsula, the medieval khachkar field at Noratus, and a short but genuine summer swimming season.

Mountain Resort

Tsaghkadzor

Tsaghkadzor is Armenia's main mountain resort, an hour north of Yerevan on the slopes of Mount Teghenis, with a lift system rising from around 1,966 metres to about 2,819 metres, the eleventh-century Kecharis monastery in the town centre, and a Soviet-era Olympic training complex that explains why a town this size has infrastructure this large. It is a genuine ski destination in winter and a cool-air escape with a ropeway and walking in summer, and the two experiences are almost entirely different.

Near St Thaddeus Church, Ddmashen