24th December
2016.
As a part of the Heritage walk in the George Town area, after Sri Chennakesava Perumal
temple and Sri Chenna Malleeswarar temple, we continued our walk on the
Armenian street.
A Church was
built in 1712 CE inside Fort St George by the Armenian people exclusively
for their worship. (Church of Astvatzatzin). The Church was destroyed by the
French. After 1749CE, the land was not allotted to construct a new Church inside,
Fort St. George, this Church was constructed,
on the Armenian street of the Black Town in 1772CE. The required land was obtained
from Shameer Sultan. Even before the construction of this Church, the Shmeer room
was constructed in 1765CE.
The deceased
Armenians are buried in the Church Complex. In front hall paintings of Jesus, Old
Church, etc, The bell
tower was built separately and will be struck manually around 18.00 hrs.
Regular prayers are not conducted in the church. The church is open to the public on all days with fixed timings and it is extended to Armenians.
During the Armenian archbishop’s arrival, mass will be conducted. In the Altar
picture, Mary carries Jesus ( child ) to heaven. The original Altar
is maintained to date and the paintings of Jesus can be seen on steps of the
altar.
There is
a memory stone fixed on the wall, which speaks about an Armenian merchant
Kojah Petrus Woskan’s contribution to the reconstruction of the
Marmalong Bridge ( Saidapet Bridge ) and steps laid to St Thomas Mount. His
wife Mamakhatoon died in Madras in the year 1781 and was buried in this Church
Complex. We could see a lot of tombstones paved on the floor of the
church premises and it was said that many Armenians are buried there.
LOCATION OF THE CHURCH: CLICK
HERE
---Om
SHIVAYA NAMA---
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