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For the audio file and transcript, click here
Photo Gallery
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- The steppes around Mren Cathedral
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- More steppes
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- Beginning the walk to Mren Cathedral
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- The tractor track leading to Mren
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- The cathedral in the distance
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- Note the rubble from the town that once surrounded the cathedral
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- The collapsed south wall of the cathedral
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- The relief over the west door. Two angels look down on Christ, SS. Peter and Paul, and the cathedral’s donors
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- The relief over the north door, showing Heraclius’ restoration of the True Cross to Patriarch Modestus of Jerusalem
Practicalities
You no longer need a special permit to visit Mren Cathedral. From Kars, drive about 70 km south along Highway D70, then turn east down a dirt road signed for the village of Karabağ. Park near the grocery store in Karabağ (a few villagers will be probably be around to direct you) and walk three miles east down the tractor road to Mren Cathedral. If you don’t feel like walking, a villager will be more than willing to drive you on his tractor for a small fee.
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Bibliography
Chaumont, M. L. (1986). “Armenia and Iran ii. The pre-Islamic period”. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 418–438.
T. A. Sinclair, Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey (London, 1987). Vol. I, 384-6.
Thierry, Michel and Nicole, “La cathédral de Mren et sa decoration,” Cahiers Archaéologiques 21 (1971): 43-77.
http://www.virtualani.org/mren/index.htm