Saint John the Baptist Church ( hy, Սուրբ Հովհաննես Մկրտիչ Եկեղեցի, ''Surp Hovhannes Mkrtich'') is a monumental Armenian Apostolic church in the town of

Abovyan Abovyan or Abovian ( hy, Աբովյան), is a town and urban municipal community in Armenia within the Kotayk Province. It is located northeast of Yerevan and southeast of the province centre Hrazdan. As of the 2011 census, the population of ...

Kotayk Province Kotayk ( hy, Կոտայք, ), is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. It is located at the central part of the country. Its capital is Hrazdan and the largest city is Abovyan. It is named after the Kotayk canton of the historic Ayrarat province ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

Overview

The construction was launched in August 2006 and funded by the Armenian businessman

Gagik Tsarukyan Gagik Tsarukyan ( hy, Գագիկ Ծառուկյան; born 25 November 1956) is an Armenian businessman, politician, and former athlete. Tsarukyan is the founder and leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party. He also owns various large-sca ...

. After a 7-year duration of construction works, the church was finally consecrated in May 2013 by Catholicos

Karekin II Catholicos Karekin II ( hy, Գարեգին Բ, also spelled Garegin; born 21 August 1951) is the current Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 2013 he was unanimously elected the Oriental Orthodox he ...

, with the presence of then-president of

Serzh Sargsyan, president of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

and former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. The main architect of the church is Artak Ghulyan, and the constructional engineers are Hovhannes Meyroyan and Tigran Dadayan. The internal paintings are the works of Abraham Azaryan and Hayk Azaryan. However, the creative team of the church grouped around 40 painters and sculptors.Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոսի ձեռամբ օծվեց Աբովյանի Սբ Հովհաննես Մկրտիչ եկեղեցին
/ref>

Gallery

File:Abovyan Surb Hovhannes church-1.JPG, General view File:Abovyan (1).jpg, The belfry and the domes at the main entrance File:Abovyan Surb Hovhannes church-8.JPG, Internal view of the central dome File:Surp Hovhannes, Abovyan, 5 Jan. 2016 (4).jpg, The church at Christmas Eve (5 January 2016) File:Saint John the Baptist's Church, Abovyan 15.07.2017.jpg, General view

References

{{Contemporary Armenian Churches Buildings and structures in Kotayk Province Armenian Apostolic churches in Armenia Churches completed in 2013 2006 establishments in Armenia Church buildings with domes