Saint John the Baptist church in Feodosia, Eastern Orthodox church in Feodosia, Crimea.
Saint John the Baptist Church is a brick building in Feodosia built in the Armenian architectural style, located close to the Genoese fortress. Its exterior walls are decorated with carved stonework typical of Armenian religious buildings.
Built in the 13th–14th centuries as the Armenian Church of Saint John the Baptist (Hovhannes Mkrtich) in the fortified Armenian quarter of Ayots Berd, beside the Genoese fortress. In 1875 the Russian authorities transferred it from the jurisdiction of Etchmiadzin and consecrated it as a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. It was closed under Soviet rule, when the frescoes were damaged and the sculpture disappeared; restoration led by architect and sculptor Valery Zamekhovsky was completed in 1996.
The church walls carry Armenian stone carvings that are still visible from the outside as you walk past. Old Armenian gravestones remain on the grounds, marking the presence of a medieval community that once called Feodosia home.
The church is easy to find since it stands right next to the Genoese fortress, which is one of the most visible landmarks in the city. As it is an active place of worship, visitors are expected to dress modestly and behave respectfully inside.
The altar area once held medieval reliefs of John the Baptist, Saint George and the Eucharist, recorded in the 1920s but lost in the Soviet period. Similar reliefs survive in 13th- and early 14th-century Armenian churches, and art historian A. L. Yakobson noted that such a carved Eucharistic scene is unknown in Byzantine or Old Russian architecture.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,714 contributors worldwide.