Saint Hripsime Church is situated right at the entrance of Vagharshapat city, about a 30-minute drive from Yerevan. The church was built in 618 AD, above the grave of Saint Hripsime.
In the 1st century AD, Hripsime and 40 other nuns fled from the Roman Empire and found shelter in Armenia. The Roman Emperor Diocletian wanted to marry Hripsime, but she and her fellow sisters refused to marry the pagan emperor. Soon, Diocletian discovered that the nuns were hiding in Armenia and sent a letter to the Armenian king Tiridates III, asking him to find Hripsime and send her back.
However, Tiridates, enchanted by Hripsime’s beauty, wanted to marry her himself.
He ordered that Hripsime and Gayane be brought to his palace, and in front of Gayane, he asked Hripsime to marry him. Hripsime responded that she could not marry, as she was already betrothed to Jesus Christ, as were the other nuns. Tiridates immediately ordered Gayane to be killed by cutting out her tongue and then executing her. Hripsime was martyred by being stoned to death. The pagan king then ordered that the rest of the nuns be hunted down and killed for disobeying him and for secretly spreading Christianity in Armenia.
Years later, after Gregory the Illuminator healed King Tiridates, he ordered churches to be built on the sites where the martyred nuns were buried.
A small chapel was first erected above Hripsime’s grave, and later, in the 7th century, Catholicos Komitas commissioned the construction of a large and unique church with a massive cupola — a structure that has been preserved to this day.
In former times, the church was surrounded by fortress walls, though today only a small part of the walls remains.
Saint Hripsime Church is a unique pearl in the history of Armenia, it is listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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