KHOR VIRAB

Khor Virab, a view looking towards modern Armenia's western frontier. Originally the dungeon of a fortress, this is the site where St. Gregory the Enlightener was imprisoned for 13 years. When the court physicians and pagan priests failed to cure the mad King Drtad III, the desperate royal family released St. Gregory from his confinement. he cured the king through the power of God, and Drtad embraced Christianity for himself and his kingdom. In the 7th century, Catholicos Nersess III (the Builder) erected a shrine over the dungeon site; the present church was built in the 17th century.