page_title: Vagharshapat
section_title: Present day
hierarchical_section_title: Vagharshapat / History / Present day
caption_attribution_description: Հայերեն: Հուշարձան երկրորդ համաշխարհային պատերազմի զոհերին, Էջմիածնում This is a photo of a monument in Armenia identified by the ID 4.2/21
context_page_description: Vagharshapat, is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about 18 km west of the capital Yerevan, and 10 km north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is commonly known as Ejmiatsin, which was its official name between 1945 and 1995. It is still commonly used colloquially and in official bureaucracy.
  The city is best known as the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the center of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It is thus unofficially known in Western sources as a "holy city" and in Armenia as the country's "spiritual capital". It was one of the major cities and a capital of ancient Greater Armenia. Reduced to a small town by the early 20th century, it experienced large expansion during the Soviet period becoming, effectively, a suburb of Yerevan. Its population stands just over 37,000 based on 2016 estimates.
context_section_description: Armenia enjoyed a short period of independence between 1918 and 1920 before falling to the Bolshevik 11th Red Army and becoming part of the Soviet Union.
  In 1925, the new plan of rebuilding the modern town was introduced by architect Alexander Tamanian. It was finally completed between 1939 and 1943. In 1945, the town of Vagharshapat was officially renamed Etchmiadzin by the Soviet government.
  During the 1950s and 1960s, the town has witnessed a massive wave of construction, including residential buildings and industrial plants. By the end of the 1960s, the historical monuments of the town; including the religious complex of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Saint Hripsime Church, Saint Gayane Church and the surrounding area of Zvartnots Cathedral, were entirely rehabilitated.
  After the independence of Armenia, the town was officially renamed Vagharshapat in 1995. However, the town is still popularly known as Ejmiatsin.
  In October 2018, Diana Gasparyan, who was nominated by the Civil Contract Party, was elected mayor of the city and the country's first ever female mayor.
caption: Soviet-era World War II memorial
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