Leaders of AAC call on Georgian authorities to save Surb Nshan

The Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) has issued a statement expressing concern about the fact of collapse of the Armenian Church Surb Nshan in Tbilisi and calling on the Georgian authorities to take immediate steps to save it.

Let us remind you that that at night on January 9 a fire burst out in the abandoned Armenian monastery Surb Nshan located in Tbilisi, during which the south-eastern tower of the monastery completely collapsed. To determine the cause of the fire and discuss with the Georgian party the measures to restore the church, on January 11, the Ministry of Culture of Armenia sent a special commission to Tbilisi.

"The fire in the Surb Nshan Church occurred back in 2002, but over all these years the Georgian authorities failed to take measures to restore the temple. Today the church stands only on the walls and three support pillars," Samvel Karapetyan, Chairman of the Fund for Studying Armenian Architecture, told reporters.

Earlier, Vagram Melikyan, the head of the press service of the Office of the Holy Echmiadzin, said that the problems of the AAC in Georgia are raised both during various visits of Armenian government officials to Georgia, and through discussions with Georgian officials; however, they still remain unsolved. So far, no reaction of the authorities of Georgia to the statement of the AAC has followed.

Let us note here that earlier the status of Armenian monasteries located near the Armenian-Georgian border had significantly complicated the countries' bilateral relations.