The Vank Cathedral Church, Armenia at the heart of Isfahan
If you ask anyone from Isfahan, they undoubtedly have heard the name of The Vank Church. Isfahan Vank Church is located in the Armenian district of Isfahan, called The Jolfa neighbourhood.
The unique architecture, long antiquity and distinctive paintings of The IsfahanVank Church have made this building stand out from all the other churches in Iran.
This historical building is remained from the Safavid Dynasty,The Shah Abbas era. The Armenian immigrants started building TheVank Church in 1655 AD. The Vank Church was built with an area of 8731 square meters where became the community center of the Armenian immigrants.
The Isfahan Vank Church was recorded in the list of national works of Iran on January 6, 1932 . Isfahan Vank Church includes the main church, the museum, the belfry, the monastery, the library, the clock tower, the bishop’s residence room, the meeting halls and the historic printing house.
Two entrances have been designed for the Isfahan Vank Church. The main door facing the outer pond is made of wood and It is for Armenians, visitors, and tourists commute. Above the main door, there is an inscription made of azure and gray tiles and there is an Armenian phrase “Monastery, savior of all, the place for monks” along with the interior view of the Monastery.
Isfahan Vank Church is considered the largest and one of the most beautiful churches in Iran, which is also the Cathedral Church for Armenians from Isfahan.
The exterior wall of the Isfahan Vank Church is built with bricks, however in the past, stones were usually used in the architecture of most churches. But in Isfahan Vank Church, brick has given its place to stone. Among the brick texture of the walls, tiles with the image of winged angels can be seen. The main entrance road to Isfahan Vank Church is paved and decorated with cobblestones where provides a special beauty to the exterior of the church.
There is a bell tower at the entrance of The Isfahan Vank Church The Isfahan Vank Church has three floors. On the second floor, there is a big clock that weighs 300 kg.
Under the clock tower of Isfahan Vank Church, there are two graves, one of which belongs to an Armenian soldier and the other belongs to one of the Armenian leaders.
On the roof of Isfahan Vank Church, right above the entrance door and between the western wall and the edge of the church’s small dome , there is a square-shaped area where a small bell tower has been built and it is considered as the second bell tower of the church.
Isfahan Vank Church has two domes. one big and one small. The big dome of Isfahan Vank Church is built over the altar with a mosque architecture style.
This exquisite dome is made of wood. The Isfahan Vank Church The inside of the dome is painted with azure color. There are 8 windows all around the dome, and between each of these windows there are paintings that narrate the creation of Adam and Eve and also the killing of Abel.
Like all other churches,The Vank Church, promotes visiting and worshiping, in addition to carrying out the task of transmitting Armenian culture to the next generations.
Therefore, there is a museum in this church, which is the location of keeping precious and historical objects . The museum of TheVank Church was built by Thaddeus Hunanian in the northern side of the church.
Inside of Isfahan Vank Church Museum ,valuable objects such as outstanding historical paintings, exquisite manuscripts and other valuable old works are kept, which can be attractive and spectacular for tourists and travelers of the Isfahan Luxurious Chaharbagh Hotel
One of the most visited and famous objects kept in The Isfahan Vank Church Museum of Isfahan is a strand of a girl’s hair on which the sentence “To know wisdom and justice and to understand the words of intelligence” is written.
The creator of this special work is the Armenian artist, Vahram Hakopian, who created such a wonderful work with a diamond pen in 1974 and donated it to Isfahan Vank Church Museum the following year. The writing on the hair can be seen with a microscope placed in the museum.
There is a library on the north side of Isfahan Vank Church. The Library of Isfahan Vank Church was built in 1884 by Hohanes Sornian, the Caliph of the time, with the aim of preserving Armenian manuscripts and books.
More than 30,000 copies of books in Armenian, Farsi, English, etc. exist in the library of The Vank Church .
Only Armenians can have access to the books. However, other people can also use this library by writing a letter and owning an official permission.
