For many centuries, Etchmiadzin was the national and political center of the stateless Armenian people. It has been called "the focal point of Armenians everywhere." The locus of Etchmiadzin is considered "a sanctified soil" in a way similar to Temple Mount and the Golden Temple, for Jews and Sikhs, respectively. Catholicos Vazgen I called Etchmiadzin "our Solomon's Temple." The cathedral complex has been called "Armenian Vatican" or "Armenian Mecca" as it is a major pilgrimage site for religious Armenians worldwide. Because the cathedral has been so important to the development of Armenians' sense of identity, a pilgrimage to Etchmiadzin is "as much as ethnic as a religious experience." American journalist and historian Francis Whiting Halsey described the cathedral as "the most treasured possession of the Armenian nation" and "the source of that strength which has held them together through centuries of persecution, warfare and massacre." Royal Navy Captain James Creagh highlighted its immense role for the Armenian people in his 1880 book, writing that "The monastery and cathedral of Echmiadzin may, without any exaggeration, be described as the heart of the Armenian nation."