Cathedral of Kars

Kars Cathedral

Kümbet Mosque in 2014
Coordinates	40°36′41″N 43°05′30″E / 40.611336°N 43.091617°E / 40.611336; 43.091617Coordinates: 40°36′41″N 43°05′30″E / 40.611336°N 43.091617°E / 40.611336; 43.091617
Location	Kars, Turkey
Type	Armenian cathedral (until 1065) Mosque (1579–1877) Russian cathedral (1877–1918) Mosque (1918–19) Armenian church (1919–20) Kars Museum (1964–78) Mosque (1993–present)
Material	Basalt
Beginning date	930 or 931–2
Completion date	937, 943 or 967
Dedicated to	Twelve Apostles

The Cathedral of Kars, also known as the Holy Apostles Church (Armenian: Կարսի Սուրբ Առաքելոց եկեղեցի, Karsi Surb Arakelots' yekeghets'i; Turkish: Aziz Havariler Kilisesi or "Church of the Twelve Apostles" 12 Havariler Kilisesi) or is a former Armenian church in Kars, eastern Turkey. Built in the mid-10th century by the Armenian Bagratid King Abas I (r. 928–953), it was converted into a mosque in 1579. In the 19th and early 20th century it was converted into a Russian Orthodox and later Armenian cathedral. In 1993 it was again converted into a mosque and is called Kümbet Mosque (Turkish: Kümbet Camii, literally "domed mosque"). It currently comprises part of a larger Islamic complex that includes the Evliya Mosque, the biggest mosque in Kars.

The cathedral is located at the base of the Kars Citadel.

Historians Stepanos Asoghik, Samuel of Ani, and Mxit'ar of Ayrivank called the church a cathedral. In 19th century Armenian sources it began to be known as the Church of Holy Apostles.

It is a central planned domed tetraconch, and imitates the seventh-century Church of Saint John, Mastara. The main entrance of the church is on the western side also has two more gates on the south and north sides. "Its interior plan is reflected in the exterior volumes. Four apses radiate from a central square bay, over which rises a circular dome. Externally, the right angles of the square between the conchs protrude about three meters beyond the sides of the apses; inside they are represented by four dihedral angles each surmounted with a squinch."

"On the spandrels between the twelve arches on the drum there are twelve figural reliefs in standing position. These are executed in a very primitive style. According to J.M. Thierry, these figures represent the twelve apostles, whose cult was brought from Byzantium in the 10th-11th centuries."