Cathedral of Mren

Cathedral of Mren
Mren in the early 20th century
Religion
Affiliation	Armenian Apostolic Church
Location
Location	Digor (District), Kars
Shown within Turkey
Geographic coordinates	40°14′32″N 43°39′47″E / 40.242125°N 43.662953°E / 40.242125; 43.662953Coordinates: 40°14′32″N 43°39′47″E / 40.242125°N 43.662953°E / 40.242125; 43.662953
Architecture
Type	Three-nave basilica with dome
Style	Armenian
Groundbreaking	631
Completed	639

The Cathedral of Mren is a 7th-century Armenian church in an abandoned medieval town site called Mren. It is located in the Kars region of Turkey near the border with Armenia, about 1.5 km west of the Akhurian River.

The church of Mren is a domed triple-nave basilica, believed, on the basis of an inscription on its west facade and on stylistic features, to have been built 631–639. It was built by an Armenian ally of the emperor Heraclius to celebrate his entry into Jerusalem in 628.

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  Path leading from village Karabağ to city of Mren

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  Collapsed side aisle

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  Portal with relief

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  Facade wit kchchkars

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  Lintel with relief

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  Side aisle

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  Apse

See also[]

• Odzun Church, an architecturally similar and contemporaneous three-nave basilica with dome in Odzun, Armenia

Further reading[]

• Kouymjian, Dickran. "Index of Armenian Art: Armenian Architecture - Mren". Armenian Studies Program. California State University, Fresno. Archived from the original on 2008-06-20.
• Maranci, Christina, "New Observations on the Frescoes at Mren," Revue des Études Arméniennes 35 (2013): 203–225.
• Thierry, Michel and Nicole, "La cathédral de Mren et sa decoration," Cahiers Archaéologiques 21 (1971): 43–77.

External links[]

• The Cathedral of Mren on VirtualAni.org
• The Cathedral of Mren^{[permanent dead link]} on Gagik Arzumanyan's photo gallery
• Mren Cathedral at the Rensselaer Digital Collections
• 3D model of Mren

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