From the site:
1707
ARMENIAN HOLY CHURCH OF NAZARETH, KOLKATA
2 Armenian Street, Kolkata – 700 001, WB, India
Among all the Armenian Apostolic churches in India, The Armenian Holy
Church of Nazareth, the oldest Armenian church in Kolkata, plays a
unique and important role as it is considered to be the Mother Church of
the Indian Armenians. St. John’s Church, the first Armenian church was
built by the contribution of the people, on June 22, 1688. But,
unfortunately, being a wooden structure, the church was completely
destroyed by a devastating fire in 1707. Seventeen years later, in 1724,
The Holy Church of Nazareth was built on the old burial ground of the
Armenian community by Agha Nazar, hence its name, Nazareth’s church. The
architect was an Armenian from Iran named Mr. Levon Ghevond. The belfry
and the steeple were added ten years later in 1734 by Mr. Manuel
Hazarmall. In 1763 the church was repaired and renovated by Khojah
Petros Arratoon, who also embellished the church and built two altars,
one on the right hand side of the main altar, in memory of his brother
Gorgin Khan, the Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Nawab Mir Kasim of
Bengal (1760-1763) and the other on the left hand side, in his own
memory. Khojah Petros Arratoon was called “the earthly god of the
Armenians in Calcutta” by Joseph Emin. In 1789, Agha Catchik Arakiel
presented an English clock to the church which he had ordered from the
firm of Alexander Hare of London. The clock arrived in Kolkata in 1792
and was fixed in the clock tower, but Arakiel, who built the surrounding
walls and added the houses for the clergy, did not live to see it as he
passed away on July 25, 1790. A special feature of the churchyard is the
tomb of Rezabeebeh, the wife of the late Sookias. This tomb, dated July
21, 1630 is said to be the earliest Christian tomb in Kolkata.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment