Tbilisi’s St Nshan church is Armenian - expert

The Georgian Patriarchate’s recent statement that Tbilisi’s St Nshan church has Georgian roots is devoid of substantiated evidence, an Armenian monument expert has said.

At a news conference on Monday, Samvel Karapetyan, the director of the Armenian Architecture Research Fund, dismissed the allegations that a Georgian orthodox church had formerly stood in the place of St Nshan.

“That’s an Armenian church, and we do have three records attesting to the existence of another church. But that church too, was Armenian,” he said.

Historical records suggest that the church, which was built in 1720, was actually founded much earlier - in 1703 - by ethnic Armenian mayors. Its dome was build 60 years later.

As to why St Nshan was declared a historical monument only two years ago, Karapetyan considered it strange given that the monument enjoyed such status in the Soviet period.
The recent fires leveled one of the church’s pillars, and its dome is under the threat of collapse, the expert said, adding that current situation of St Nshan is no accident at all.