''Sourp Asdvadzadzin'' ("Holy Mother of God", hy, Սուրբ Աստվածածին) is an Armenian Apostolic stone masonry church in

Sarnaq Sarnaq ( fa, سرنق), or Sarna (سارنا), is a village in Zulachay Rural District, in the Central District of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. As of 1930, the village had a population of around 180.Berberian, M. and J.S. Tchal ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The church was built in 1625. The church was built 6.5 metres high, with six columns. It spans 15x10 metres. The building material was 'yellow stones' and

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

. The church was renovated in the 19th century. There are a number of tombstones around the church, possibly belonging to members of a wealthy family that financed its renovation. The church was damaged in the

1930 Salmas earthquake The 1930 Salmas earthquake occurred on in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The earthquake, which was among Iran's largest, measured 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent' ...

, its western wall, wooden roof and three out of four central pillars fell down.Berberian, M. and J. S. Tchalenko.
Field study and document of the 1930 Salmas (Shahpur - Azerbaijan) earthquake
', published in ''Geol. Surv. Iran'', 39, 271-342, 1976 As of 2013, only the northern wall remains intact. The southern wall of the church has completely fallen down.

References

{{coord missing, West Azerbaijan Province Armenian Apostolic churches in Iran Salmas County 1620s establishments in Iran 17th-century churches in Iran

See also

References