50 000 Dram Holy Cross Church

Issued in anticipation of the 1700th anniversary of Armenia's adoption of Christianity, a milestone reached in 2001 — making this 1999 coin part of a multi-year commemorative program launched well ahead of the occasion. Armenia's claim to being the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, attributed to the baptism of King Tiridates III under Gregory the Illuminator in 301 AD, is one the Armenian Church has defended vigorously against competing historical interpretations from neighboring Georgia.