Archaeologists have found one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. Photo

The German University of Münster has announced the discovery of one of the oldest churches of the fourth century. The remains of the building were found in the parking lot of Artaxata in the Ararat Plain.

The school, which is located in Germany, teamed up with archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia to find the ancient ruins. The structure dates back to the third to fourth centuries, making it the oldest structure of its kind in the country and one of the oldest in the world, NY Post reports.

A joint team of archaeologists and researchers discovered the building during excavations in Artaxata. It was once a successful metropolis and commercial center that served as the capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom for several centuries before and after the Christian era. The excavations were part of the larger Armenian-German Artaxata Project, an initiative launched in 2018 to explore the site, CBS News reports.

"The fourth-century building is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country sensational piece of evidence for early Christianity in Armenia," says Achim Lichtenberger, a professor at the University of Münster.

Mkrtich Zardaryan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, who also worked on the project, separately noted that the church's architecture can help researchers understand something new about Armenian history. The church is shaped like an octagon with rectangular chambers on four sides. Zardaryan said that this is the first octagonal church to exist in Armenia, adding that churches of this shape usually appear in the eastern Mediterranean and can date back to the 4th century.

Parts of the original material found at the ruin site indicate that the church was lavishly decorated with terracotta, probably imported from the Mediterranean. The remains of wooden platforms found along with the clay helped researchers confirm the ancient origin of the building using carbon dating.

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