THE ONE-MAN CHAPEL AT ARMANITOLA IN CITY

by Dhakaites

The Armenian Church was built in the capital’s Armanitola area for the Armenian Orthodox communities who lived there for centuries. It has turned into a one-man chapel after the rest of Armenians left the country down the generations.

The church was built in 1781 widely believed to be the world’s oldest national church, and is now an archaeological site under the jurisdiction of the government’s department of architecture. Only one man was left behind to take care of the church. He was known as Michael Joseph Martin. The church is rarely visited and remains closed most of the time with few religious services held far between.

Armenian Church of Holy Resurrection in Old Dhaka. Photo Credit: Raw Hasan

Martin settled in the country in 1942 following the footsteps of his father and is apparently the last in a long line of Armenian settlers. He looked after the church and the adjoining graveyard where about 400 of his countrymen are buried, including his wife. He lived alone in an enormous mansion in the church grounds and occasionally visited his daughters in Canada. One needs to take special permission to enter the area, according to a local resident of the neighborhood. The church holds only occasional services and prayers on important Christian dates, conducted by a priest from a nearby seminary.

There is a five-storey shopping mall named Armenian Plaza and three grocery shops, as well as a two-storey residential building, supposedly located within the church area. According to sources, the Armenian presence in Bangladesh dates back to sometime in the 17th century when they started moving to South Asian countries for business purposes.

They first started trading in Kolkata and Delhi of India and later expanded their business in Dhaka and other cities, mainly importing spices, stones, muslin clothes, silks and the likes. Building churches was an important part of the Armenian settlement and they built one wherever they went. The church in Dhaka was built in Armanitola, then a popular commercial hub, during the rule of Mughal emperor Akbar.

One of the highlights of the church was a clock tower erected on its western side, which could be seen from as far as Narayanganj. However, it was damaged in the earthquake of 1897 and subsequently replaced by a smaller tower with no clock.
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Doel Chattar

Image
  The Doel Chattar (aka The Doel Square) is a sculpture of our National Bird, the oriental magpie-robin, locally known as the Doel. It is a popular place for shopping traditional Bangladeshi handicrafts made of bamboo, wood, jute and pottery. Dhaka Doel Chattar In the old days, where the Doel Chattar or Doel Square stands today, near Curzon Hall there used to be a market for slaves. People were sold by merchants from far and wide, who were then taken by their masters, to far off lands like Sumatra, Afghanistan, Syria, and many other places. Dhaka city   is nearly 500 years old. The city is engulfed with many secrets of the past. It is a large city and being the capital of the Mughal Empire, there was open trade and business and the cost of living was cheap.   As the population in the city increased, so did the demand for slaves. There is proof of slave trading in Dhaka found in many different Bengali and English historical documents. This Doel Square was then a sla...
Read more

How Well Do You Know Dhaka?

Image
Well here we have some information for you all to lap up. Dhaka was formerly known as Dacca. It is the capital of our beautiful Bangladesh and is rich in history. It is the 9th largest city of the world and is densely populated. Dhaka happens to be the socio, economic and political center of the country. It is also the main cultural center of Bangladesh. Photo taken by Alif Syed Mehrab   The city of Dhaka rose to prominence in the 17th century during the Mughal period. Dhaka was the center of Muslim trade during the Mughal period and was a prosperous city at that time. It was named Jahangirabad in honor of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The Mughals decorated the city with tombs, mosques, palaces, well-laid out gardens and forts. The city was once called the Venice of the East . In 1947 it became the administrative capital of East Pakistan. It was later declared as the legislative capital of Pakistan in 1962. In 1971 it became the capital of independent Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh...
Read more

Bibi Mariam: the Cannon of Dhaka

Image
The Canon which used to sit at the corner of Gulistan, was a landmark which is remembered by many still. The younger generation have not had the opportunity to see it as often as the older generation. As it is now placed at the entrance of Osmani Uddyan, Ramna, Dhaka. This cannon was built by local technicians on the order of Mir Jumla II, who was appointed as Governor of Bengal by Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb. He ordered two cannons to be built named Bibi Marium and Kale Jamjam also known as Kale Khan. One was given a female name and the other a male. They were placed both sides of the Buriganga Riverin Swarighat in front of 'Barakatra' and the other on a sandbar near Jinjira. They were placed there to defend Dhaka's waterfront from frequent attacks of the Mogh and Arakan pirates.  Jumla took both of these cannons when he attacked Assam. They were later placed in front of the Bara Katra to ward off Arkanese Pirates. The Bibi Mariam survived, but its male named counterpart w...
Read more