Armenian tradition dates the first church at Etchmiadzin to 301 to 303, built by Gregory the Illuminator over a pagan temple. Vahan Mamikonian rebuilt it from its foundations in 483 or 484, after damage, and the core of the present building dates from that work.
The plan is cruciform, with four free-standing piers, four projecting apses and a central conical-roofed cupola. The 5th-century church is described as a square enclosing a Greek cross. The building measures 108 by 98 feet (33 by 30 m), and the outer dome is about 112 feet (34 m) high. Its style is Armenian.
A western belfry was begun in 1653 and 1654 and finished in 1658, and the sacristy was added in 1868. It is the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians. UNESCO listed it in 2000.
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