Marian Devotion of New Julfa (Vank Cathedral, Isfahan)

Marian Invocation of Isfahan (New Julfa) (Isfahan Province)
Recognized by the Church

New Julfa, the Armenian district of Isfahan, was created on the initiative of the Sapphany as the centre of the Armenian community transferred to the Persian capital. Its religious and cultural heart is the Cathedral of San Salvador, called Vank, the great Armenian ecclesial sanctuary of the city and one of the most famous Christian temples in Iran.

Main data

Origin and history

New Julfa, the Armenian district of Isfahan, was created on the initiative of the Sapphany as the centre of the Armenian community transferred to the Persian capital. Its religious and cultural heart is the Cathedral of San Salvador, called Vank, the great Armenian ecclesial sanctuary of the city and one of the most famous Christian temples in Iran.

The image and the sanctuary

Although Vank's main dedication is to San Salvador, not to Mary, her Marian interest is enormous for her extraordinary mural decoration, in which the Virgin appears repeatedly in scenes of the history of salvation, a characteristic feature of Armenian art. The neighborhood also retains several historical Armenian churches with remarkable Marian iconography, although the precise advocation of each one does not contain security in the sources.

Sponsorship and coronation

It's not recorded. The owner of Vank is San Salvador; the Marian dimension is artistic and devotional, not of title.

Party and devotion

In the Armenian calendar, the Sleeping / Assuming of the Mother of God is the great Marian feast. For Vank, being not its Marian headline, there is no feast of the Virgin, but the Marian devotion of the temple is indisputable in its art and in its liturgical use.

Link to the Rosary

The centrality of the Mother of God in the Armenian spirituality and iconography of New Julfa links with the Marian contemplation that the Rosary proposes: the walls of Vank visually narrate the mysteries of salvation starring Mary.