Church of the Holy Mother of God (Tehran)

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Surb Astwazazin in Tehran, 2015

The Church of the Holy Mother of God , also Marienkirche ( Armenian Սուրբ Աստվածածին եկեղեցի Surb Astwazazin jekeghezi , Persian کلیسای مریم مقدس Kelise-ye Maryam Moghades ), is a church in the Iranian capital Tehran that was consecrated in 1945. It belongs to the diocese of Tehran of the Armenian Apostolic Church and is located in Tehran's city center.

Location

The Church of the Holy Mother of God is located between Masud-e-Sad Street and Mirza-Kutschak-Khan Street, not far from Dschomhuri Avenue in the city center of Tehran.

history

During and after the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and after the loss of their homeland to Turkey , around 50,000 Armenians found refuge in Iran. After the defeat of the Democratic Republic of Armenia , the establishment of the Armenian SSR in 1920 and the subsequent purges under Josef Stalin , more refugees from Armenia crossed the border into Iran, among them Nikolai Lauri from Nagorno-Karabakh , who later became the architect of Tehran's Church of St. Mary. The number of Armenians - mostly members of the Armenian Apostolic Church - increased sharply in the Iranian capital, and the need to build a new church became apparent. On April 17, 1937, members of the Armenian Apostolic Congregation gathered in Tehran and the Armenian architect Nikolai Lauri was asked to present a plan for the construction of a new church on the basis of a budget of 60,000 Toman . However, Nikolai Lauri died as early as 1939, and the plan was carried out by Nikolai Markov . Roman Isajan (called Isajew in Russia) financed the construction of the church, which cost 100,000 tomans. Construction work began on April 17, 1938 with the participation of numerous Armenians and clergymen from the churches of Tehran. The church building was finished in 1938, but was not consecrated until 1945 by Karekin I of Cilicia as the Church of the Holy Mother of God ( Surb Astvatsatsin ) .

From 1945 to 1960 the Church of Our Lady was the seat of the Armenian diocese of Tehran and the residence of the archbishop, but both of these were later relocated to the new Saint Sarkis Cathedral , which was completed in 1970 . On February 13, 2002, the church building was registered as a cultural monument by the Iranian Organization for Cultural Heritage and Tourism under the number 7237.

architecture

The original blueprints of the church have not survived, but the architects were obviously inspired by the architecture of Armenian churches from the seventh and tenth centuries. The church, built of gray basalt stone , has a size of 32.5 meters by 19.8 meters and occupies an area of ​​around 550 m². Like other Armenian churches, it is in the shape of a cross and its sanctuary is on the east side. The church has two domes , one larger and one smaller. The main dome is influenced more by Byzantine than Armenian architecture. The main entrance to the church is on the west side.

literature

  • ویکتور دانیل ، بیژن شافعی و سهراب سروشیانی ، معماری نیکلای مارکُف (تهران: ۱۳۸۲)
    [Victor Daniel, Bijan Shafei and Sohrab Sarshiani: Nikolai Markov's architecture. Tehran 2003.]
  • دانشنامهٔ تاریخ معماری ایرانشهر. سازمان میراث فرهنگی و گردشگری ایران.
    [Encyclopedia of the history of Iranshahr architecture. Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Iran.]
  • پروندههای ثبت آثار ملی ایران ( Memento from October 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Church of Our Lady Tehran  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Information board at the Church of Our Lady in Tehran , 2015.
  2. a b ویکتور دانیل ، بیژن شافعی و سهراب سروشیانی ، معماری نیکلای مارکُف (تهران: ۱۳۸۲) [Victor Daniel, Bijan Shafei and Sohrab Sarshiani, Nikolai Markoviani's Architecture. Tehran: 2003.]
  3. Յովիկ Մինասեան (Yovik Minasian). ԱՄԵԱԿ - Ռոման Բաղդանի Իսայեան (1889-1966), Ս. Աստւածածին եկեղեցու օծման 70-ամեակի առթիւ [AHEAK - Roman Baghlan Isayan Isayev (1889-1966), on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the consecration of St. Astvatsatsin Church]. Alik (Ալիք) online, September 5, 2015.
  4. Թեհրանի Ս. Աստւածածին եկեղեցու 70-ամեակի տօնահանդէսը ՝ «Կոմիտաս» սրահում . Alik (Ալիք) online, November 24, 2015.
  5. پروندههای ثبت آثار ملی ایران ( Memento from October 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) [Encyclopedia of the history of Iranshahr architecture. Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization of Iran.]