Shoghakat Church, Religious monument in Vagharshapat, Armenia.

Shoghakat Church is a domed single-nave basilica with a semicircular eastern apse flanked by narrow chapels. Four pendentives carry the transition to an octagonal drum and conical dome, set off-center to the west. A vaulted open gallery with a six-column belfry stands at the western end, its arched entry framed by geometric patterns, rosettes and khachkars.

Prince Aghamal Sorotetsi built this church in 1694 during the time of Catholicos Nahabed I on a site connected to early Christian martyrs. Excavations uncovered remains of a 4th-century memorial chapel beneath the present building, showing religious activity here for many centuries.

The name Shoghakat, 'drop of light', recalls the ray of light said to have come down from heaven during the martyrdom of the nuns. Armenian tradition gives the name Mariamne to the nun who stayed behind at the winepress because of illness and was killed there; Agathangelos does not name her. The church is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

The main portal opens from a vaulted open gallery attached to the western wall, so you pass through the gallery before reaching the interior. A second, smaller portal stands in the southern wall. The drum and conical dome sit off-centre, toward the west, above the central bay.

The 4th-century chapel found southwest of the church was built of smoothly cut tufa on a stepped base; its pier bases and apse corners match 4th- and 5th-century Armenian work. Two doorways, one south and one west, led into it, and a small semicircular apse on the south wall probably closed a portico.