Cathedral of Kars

In the heart of Kars is an ancient church, thought to be built between 928 and 958 as understood in the 11th-century documentation. However, the inside of the church offers no inscriptions, they are thought to have been destroyed by the invading Muslims armies during their conquering. After the Seljuks invaded the church was left abandoned, thought to have been partially buried in earth, around the 16th century it was cleaned and converted into a mosque after large parts of Armenia were under conquest.

Following the capture of Kars by Russia in 1877 the building was again converted, this time it was changed into an Orthodox church. During this change, new sections are known as ‘porticos’ were added to three sides at the North, West and South as well as a place for sacred items and texts to be stored. In 1918 the city was once again too over by the Turks, and it was reconverted into a mosque. In 1919 the city was taken over and the cathedral converted to a mosque, however, this only lasted a year ager it was retaken by the Turks. The cathedral was left unused until it was sold by the Kemalist government sold it to the local municipality, where they planned to build a school, however, this did not happen and it was used as a petroleum storage point in the 1950s. Between 1964 and 1978 it was used as a museum before a purpose-built place was constructed. In 1998 it was fitted to be a mosque, while also maintains the original building and key features.