Structure
Most scholars accept the 1905 reconstruction by Toros Toramanian, who worked on the original excavations, that the building had three floors.
Some scholars such as Stepan Mnatsakanyan, and most notably A. Kuzentsov, however, reject his reconstruction and have offered alternative plans. Kuzentsov, for example, contended that Toramanian's plan was "constructionally illogical" and insisted that the technical expertise at the time did not correspond to the bold design that the architect had conceived.
The interior of the mosaic-decorated church had the shape of a Greek cross or tetraconch, with an aisle encircling this area, while the exterior was a 32-sided polygon which appeared circular from a distance.
Some sources claim that the Zvartnots cathedral is depicted upon Mount Ararat in a relief in Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. However, this is not very likely as the fresco was painted more than 300 years after destruction of the church.
Together with churches in Echmiadzin, Zvartnots was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2000.
A drawing of the cathedral was depicted on the first issue of 100 AMD banknotes and its model can be seen in the Museum of History in Yerevan.
Read more about this topic: Zvartnots Cathedral
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