Armenian Cathedral on Akdamar Island in Turkey

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar</span>

Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar

<p>The <b>Cathedral of the Holy Cross</b> (<a href="/en/Armenian_language" title="Armenian language" class="wl">Armenian</a><span>: </span><span>Սուրբ Խաչ եկեղեցի</span><span>, </span><small about="#mwt11"><a href="/en/Romanization_of_Armenian" title="Romanization of Armenian" class="wl">romanized</a>:<span>&nbsp;</span></small><span><i lang="hy-Latn">Surp Khachʿ egeghetsʿi</i></span>, <a href="/en/Turkish_language" title="Turkish language" class="wl">Turkish</a><span>: </span><i lang="tr">Akdamar Kilisesi</i> or <span><i lang="tr">Surp Haç Kilisesi</i></span>) on <a href="/en/Aghtamar_Island" title="Aghtamar Island" class="mw-redirect wl">Aghtamar Island</a>, in <a href="/en/Lake_Van" title="Lake Van" class="wl">Lake Van</a> in eastern <a href="/en/Turkey" title="Turkey" class="wl">Turkey</a>, is a medieval <a href="/en/Armenian_Apostolic_Church" title="Armenian Apostolic Church" class="wl">Armenian Apostolic</a> cathedral, built as a palatine church for the kings of <a href="/en/Vaspurakan" title="Vaspurakan" class="wl">Vaspurakan</a> and later serving as the seat of the <a href="/en/Catholicosate_of_Aghtamar" title="Catholicosate of Aghtamar" class="wl">Catholicosate of Aghtamar</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Armenian Cathedral on Akdamar Island in Turkey</div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Religion, Affili...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element" style="border-spacing:2px;"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above notheme" style="background-color:#FFCF00">Cathedral of the Holy Cross</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG/220px-Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG" decoding="async" data-file-width="1266" data-file-height="1045" data-file-type="bitmap" height="182" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG/330px-Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG/440px-Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG 2x" alt="Armenian_Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross_2015.JPG"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">The cathedral</div></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#FFCF00">Religion</th></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/List_of_religions_and_spiritual_traditions" title="List of religions and spiritual traditions" class="wl">Affiliation</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Armenian_Apostolic_Church" title="Armenian Apostolic Church" class="wl">Armenian Apostolic Church</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Ecclesiastical_polity" title="Ecclesiastical polity" class="wl">Ecclesiastical or organizational status</a></th><td class="infobox-data">museum</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#FFCF00">Location</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Location</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Akdamar_Island" title="Akdamar Island" class="wl">Akdamar Island</a>, <a href="/en/Lake_Van" title="Lake Van" class="wl">Lake Van</a>, <a href="/en/Turkey" title="Turkey" class="wl">Turkey</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r997900035" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .locmap .od{position:absolute}.mw-parser-output .locmap .id{position:absolute;line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .locmap .l0{font-size:0;position:absolute}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pv{line-height:110%;position:absolute;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pl{line-height:110%;position:absolute;top:-0.75em;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pr{line-height:110%;position:absolute;top:-0.75em;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pv>div{display:inline;padding:1px}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pl>div{display:inline;padding:1px;float:right}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pr>div{display:inline;padding:1px;float:left}</style><div class="center"><div class="locmap" style="width:275px;float:none;clear:both;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"><div style="width:275px;padding:0"><div style="position:relative;width:275px"><span class="notpageimage"><a href="/en/File:Turkey_adm_location_map.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" title="Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar is located in Turkey" data-hash="File:Turkey_adm_location_map.svg"><img loading="lazy"alt="Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar is located in Turkey" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Turkey_adm_location_map.svg/275px-Turkey_adm_location_map.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1578" data-file-height="721" data-file-type="drawing" height="126" width="275" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Turkey_adm_location_map.svg/413px-Turkey_adm_location_map.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Turkey_adm_location_map.svg/550px-Turkey_adm_location_map.svg.png 2x"></a></span><div class="od" style="top:59.424%;left:89.984%"><div class="id" style="left:-8px;top:-8px"><span class="notpageimage"><span><img loading="lazy"alt="Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Aghtamar" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Set01-church1.svg/16px-Set01-church1.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="32" data-file-height="32" data-file-type="drawing" height="16" width="16" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Set01-church1.svg/24px-Set01-church1.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Set01-church1.svg/32px-Set01-church1.svg.png 2x"></span></span></div></div></div><div style="padding-top:0.2em">Shown within Turkey</div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Geographic_coordinate_system" title="Geographic coordinate system" class="wl">Geographic coordinates</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1073938472" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}</style><span class="plainlinks nourlexpansion"><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Cathedral_of_the_Holy_Cross,_Aghtamar&amp;params=38.3403_N_43.0369_E_type:landmark" class="external text" target="_blank"><span class="geo-default"><span class="geo-dec">38.3403°N 43.0369°E</span><span style="display:none"><span>﻿</span> / <span class="geo">38.3403; 43.0369</span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color:#FFCF00">Architecture</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Architect" title="Architect" class="wl">Architect(s)</a></th><td class="infobox-data note">Manuel</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Architectural_style" title="Architectural style" class="wl">Style</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Armenian_architecture" title="Armenian architecture" class="wl">Armenian</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Groundbreaking</th><td class="infobox-data note">915</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Completed</th><td class="infobox-data note">921</td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>



The Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Aghtamar Island, in Lake Van in eastern Turkey, is a medieval Armenian Apostolic cathedral, built as a palatine church for the kings of Vaspurakan and later serving as the seat of the Catholicosate of Aghtamar. 