Holy Mother of God “Seven Wounds” Church, Gyumri

The Holy Mother of God “Seven Wounds” Church in Gyumri was built in 1882–1887 on the initiative of Catholicos Gevorg V Sureniants, on the site of a chapel that housed the icon “The Seven Sorrows of the Holy Mother of God”. According to tradition, the icon was painted directly from the Virgin Mary on a sheepskin. It was brought to Alexandropol in 1830 with Armenian refugees.

The church is a basilica of dressed black tuff, 22 metres high. Its two small domes, destroyed in the earthquake of 7 December 1988, lie in the churchyard.

The old postcard shows the church with its central dome and two small domed towers, and a large crowd gathered in front of it.