Orthodox Church - Bab Al Sharqi | Baghdad

The Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, was built between 1954 and 1957, on a vast estate owned by the Armenian church, home to a vast Armenian cemetery since 1904 with a mix of ancient and contemporary graves.

It is an elongated, sturdy building made of reinforced concrete, covered in an off-white smooth coating. The lower section is covered with ochre and beige stone facing. Although the exterior is almost entirely unadorned, the cathedral has a wealth of bright furnishings inside.

The building is characteristic of Armenian sacred architecture. It is a monocoque (one single apse to the east) longitudinal (the east-west axis of the cross is longer than the north-south axis) cathedral laid out in a free-form cross shape (the arms of the cross are visible from the outside). Its octagonal cupola is formed from a drum with windows and a pyramid roof.

Credit : mesopotamiaheritage