Archaeologists have discovered the oldest church in Armenia in the ancient city of Artaxata. The octagonal building with four extended bays forming a cross-shaped floorplan dating to the 4th century is the oldest archaeologically excavated and documented church in the country. It is also the only known octagonal church in Armenia, although the design is well-known in the eastern Mediterranean. Typologically, the find corresponds to early Christian memorial buildings. In the cross-shaped extensions, the researchers discovered remains of wooden platforms that could be dated to the middle of the 4th century AD using radiocarbon dating. The building, whose octagon has a diameter of around 30 meters, was equipped with a simple mortar floor and terracotta slabs. Finds of marble indicate that it was lavishly decorated with this material imported from the Mediterranean. The excavation has revealed massive support pillars of the octagonal structure as well as the wooden platforms in the bays. More of the remains have been discovered in a geophysical mapping survey of the site. The city of Artaxata was built around 180 B.C. by King Artashes-Artaxias I as the new capital of the Kingdom of Armenia. Even as Armenia became a client state of the Roman Empire and then of Sasanian Persia, Artaxata remained the political and administrative center of the country until the 5th century A.D. Artaxata plays an important role in the history of Christianity in Armenia as well. Gregory the Illuminator, venerated as a saint and the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was imprisoned by King Tiridates III in a deep pit in the monastery of Khor Virap at Artaxata. Gregory was in the service of the king, but had been raised as a Christian and when he refused to sacrifice to the fertility goddess Anahit, Tiridates had him arrested and tortured. Gregory languished in the pit for 13 or 15 years and was only freed after the king’s sister had a vision. Tiridates then converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of his kingdom in 301 A.D. Armenia thus became the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion. The newly-discovered church is just steps away from Khor Virap Monastery at the foot of Mount Ararat.