Armenian church in Tbilisi to be restored
19/1/2012
Armenia and Georgia have reached an agreement on restoration of the Armenian Church of Surb Nshan in Tbilisi, News Armenia reports.
A group of Armenian experts from the Culture Ministry, supervised by the head of the Agency for Preservation of Historic and Cultural Monuments, Serzhik Arakelyan, visited Tbilisi on January 11-13 to investigate the fire at the Surb Nshan Church. The delegation learned that power in the church had been shut down and no inflammable objects had been in the building. The experts believe that the fire was caused by fireworks. Fire fighters started extinguishing the fire with water, causing soil submergence. It resulted in collapse of a column in the south-eastern side of the church.
Georgia said that reconstruction would cost 1.4 million lari. Armenia also negotiated movement of literature from the Church of the Holy Mother.
The Armenian Church of Surb Nshan is located in the center of Tbilisi. Its construction was initiated by Amir Bebutyan and his son Aslamaz in 1701. The north-eastern side of the church collapsed on January 9, 2012. Armenia has two churches in Tbilisi, the Cathedral of St. Gevorkyan and St. Echmiadzin, located in the Avlabar District. There are still property disputes of 5 other churches.
