Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran

In Iran's far north-west, three Armenian Christian ensembles — St Thaddeus, St Stepanos and the Chapel of Dzordzor — preserve the last intact regional remains of Armenian culture on its south-eastern fringe. The oldest, St Thaddeus, reaches back to the 7th century, and all display the exchange of Armenian building and decorative traditions with Byzantine, Orthodox and Persian neighbours. Still living places of pilgrimage, they were inscribed by UNESCO in 2008.