Skip to content- Agathangelos · Person ChristianityLiteratureHistory Author of the History of the Armenians, the account of how Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates III and brought Christianity to Armenia.
- Aghtamar · Place ChristianityArtsHistory The island in Lake Van with the Church of the Holy Cross, built between 915 and 921 for King Gagik I Artsruni of Vaspurakan and famous for its stone reliefs.
- Amaras · Place ChristianityHistoryArts Monastery in the Martuni region of Artsakh, founded by tradition by Gregory the Illuminator and linked to the first Armenian school.
- Ani · Place HistoryArtsChristianity The medieval capital of the Bagratid kingdom of Armenia, a walled city on the Akhuryan River, now an archaeological site in Turkey on a World Heritage List.
- Aragatsotn · Place HistoryChristianity The province on the slopes of Mount Aragats whose capital is Ashtarak, with the fortress of Amberd and the tomb of Mesrop Mashtots at Oshakan.
- Ararat Province · Place HistoryChristianity The province south of Yerevan whose capital is Artashat, with the monastery of Khor Virap where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned.
- Armavir · Place HistoryChristianity The province west of Yerevan whose capital is the town of Armavir, containing Etchmiadzin, Zvartnots and the site of the ancient capital Armavir.
- Armenian alphabet · Concept LanguageChristianityLiterature The writing system created around 405 by Mesrop Mashtots for the Armenian language, still used by Armenians today.
- Armenian Apostolic Church · Institution Christianity The national church of the Armenians and one of the Oriental Orthodox churches, headed by the Catholicos of All Armenians at Etchmiadzin.
- Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem · Institution ChristianityDiaspora The Armenian Church’s patriarchate in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, seated at the Cathedral of St. James, where Armenians have lived since the fourth century.
- Artsakh · Place PoliticsHistoryChristianity The Armenian name of the historic region known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, and of the Armenian republic that governed it from 1991 until its dissolution in 2024.
- Bartholomew · Person ChristianityHistory The apostle Bartholomew, who the Armenian Church holds was, with Thaddeus, the first to preach Christianity in Armenia, and who was flayed at Aghbak in 66.
- Battle of Avarayr · Event HistoryChristianityPolitics The battle of June 451 in which the Persian army defeated the Armenians under Vardan Mamikonian, who died defending the Christian faith against Persian rule.
- Catholicosate of Cilicia · Institution ChristianityDiaspora The Holy See of Cilicia, one of the two Catholicosates of the Armenian Church, seated at Sis until 1921 and at Antelias in Lebanon since 1930.
- Conversion of Armenia to Christianity · Event ChristianityHistory The adoption of Christianity as the state religion of Armenia in 301, when King Tiridates III and his court were baptized by Gregory the Illuminator.
- Etchmiadzin · Institution ChristianityArtsHistory The mother cathedral of the Armenian Church and the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, built in Vagharshapat in 301 to 303.
- Eznik of Koghb · Person ChristianityLiterature Armenian churchman and pupil of Mesrop Mashtots, translator of the Bible and author of the Refutation of the Sects.
- Gegharkunik · Place HistoryChristianity The province around Lake Sevan whose capital is Gavar, with the monastery of Sevanavank, built in 874.
- Gosh, Mkhitar · Person LiteratureHistoryChristianity Armenian scholar and cleric of the twelfth century, the author of the Armenian Law Book and the Fables, who founded the monastery of Nor Getik, later called Goshavank.
- Gregory of Narek · Person LiteratureChristianity Armenian monk, poet and mystic of the tenth century, author of the Book of Lamentations, and a Doctor of the Catholic Church since 2015.
- Gregory the Illuminator · Person ChristianityHistory The saint who converted King Tiridates III and baptized the Armenian nation, and the first head of the Armenian Church.
- Holy Apostles Monastery · Place ChristianityHistoryArts The monastery of Arakelots near Mush in Taron, a major center of medieval Armenian learning and writing, said to have been founded by Gregory the Illuminator in 312 and destroyed in 1915.
- Khaz notation · Concept ArtsChristianity The system of signs, called khazes, in which medieval Armenian church music was written; its meaning was lost by the modern era and is only partly recovered.
- Komitas · Person ArtsChristianityDiaspora Armenian priest, composer and musicologist, born in 1869 in Kütahya, who collected thousands of folk songs and was arrested in 1915 and died in Paris in 1935.
- Koriun · Person LiteratureChristianityLanguage Pupil of Mesrop Mashtots and author of his biography, The Life of Mashtots, the oldest account of the creation of the Armenian alphabet.
- Kotayk · Place HistoryChristianity The province east of Yerevan whose capital is Hrazdan, home of the temple of Garni and the rock-cut monastery of Geghard.
- The Life of Mashtots · Work LiteratureChristianityLanguage Koriun’s biography of Mesrop Mashtots, written soon after 440, and the oldest account of the creation of the Armenian alphabet.
- Lori · Place HistoryChristianityLiterature The province in northern Armenia whose capital is Vanadzor, home of the monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin and the birthplace of Hovhannes Tumanyan.
- Mamikonian, Vardan · Person HistoryChristianityPolitics Commander of the Armenian army who died leading the revolt against Persian rule at Avarayr in 451, and is honored by the Armenian Church as a saint.
- Mashtots, Mesrop · Person ChristianityLanguageLiterature Armenian monk and scholar who created the Armenian alphabet in the early fifth century and founded the schools and translations that made Armenian a written language.
- Syunik · Place HistoryChristianity The historic Armenian province in the far south, now a province of Armenia, home of the monastery of Tatev and an independent kingdom from 987 to 1170.
- Taron · Place HistoryChristianity The historic Armenian province centered on the plain of Mush, west of Lake Van, a stronghold of Armenian monasteries and one of the most densely Armenian regions of Western Armenia before 1915.
- Tavush · Place HistoryChristianityLiterature The forested province in the northeast of Armenia whose capital is Ijevan, with the monasteries of Haghartsin and Goshavank, where Mkhitar Gosh founded his school.
- Thaddeus · Person ChristianityHistory The apostle Thaddeus, who the Armenian Church holds was, with Bartholomew, the first to preach Christianity in Armenia, and who was put to death in Artaz.
- Tiridates III · Person ChristianityHistory King of Armenia in 301, under whom Christianity became the state religion.
- Vagharshapat · Place ChristianityHistoryArts Town west of Yerevan, the site of the cathedral of Etchmiadzin and the center of the Armenian Church.
- Vaspurakan · Place HistoryChristianity The historic Armenian province around Lake Van, a kingdom of the Artsruni family until 1021, with the city of Van and the island of Aghtamar.
- Yeghishe · Person LiteratureHistoryChristianity The author of the History of Vardan and the Armenian War, the account of the Armenian revolt against Persia that ended at the Battle of Avarayr in 451.