long-forgotten gift of some Mongol or Ilkhanid khan." Reliefs Engraved on the exterior of the edifice are decorative geometric and floral patterns as well as blind arcades and medallions depicting saints. The northern wall of the cathedral contains two reliefs which depict Paul the Apostle and Saint Thecla and an equal-armed cross (Greek cross) with Greek inscriptions. Paul is seated on cross-legged stool. These reliefs have been tentatively dated between the first and sixth centuries. Shahkhatunian and Ghevont Alishan suggested that these reliefs were created before the invention of the Armenian alphabet c. 405. Art historian Sirarpie Der Nersessian believed that they are from the fifth or sixth century. Vahagn Grigoryan insisted that the reliefs were created in the "very beginning, in 302–325." According to Hasratyan, they are the earliest reliefs on the cathedral's walls and among the earliest items of Christian Armenian sculpture art. reliefs and ornaments on the western (main) belfry Interior Etchmiadzin's interior is extensively decorated with frescoes widely described as Persian or Persian-influenced. They depict flowers, birds, scrollwork, arabesque ornamentations. The early frescoes inside the cathedral were restored in the 18th century. Stepanos Lehatsi (Stephen of Poland) illustrated the belfry in 1664. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Armenian painters created frescoes of scenes from the old testament and Armenian saints. Naghash Hovnatan painted parts of the interior between 1712 and 1721. His paintings on the dome and the painting of the Mother of God under the altar have survived to this day. Other members of the prominent Hovnatanian family (Hakob, Harutyun and Hovnatan) created paintings throughout the 18th century. Their work was continued by the succeeding generations of the same family (Mkrtum and Hakob) in the 19th century. Telfer described its interior as "gloomy, ineffective, and entirely deficient in any fascinating touches of architectural force and decoration." The wooden doors of the cathedral were carved in Tiflis in 1889. The paintings were moved out of the cathedral by the order of Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian in 1891 and are now kept in various museums in Armenia, including the National Gallery of Armenia. The frescoes inside the cathedral were restored by Lydia Durnovo in 1956, and in 1981–82 by Vardges Baghdasaryan. In the 1950s, the stone floor was replaced with one of marble. Influence On Armenian architecture The design of the cathedral—classified as "a four-apsed square with ciborium," and called "Etchmiadzin-type" in Armenian architectural historiography—was not common