Ecclesiastical or organizational status Not functioning Opened 1887 Affiliation Armenian Apostolic Church | Completed 1869 Architectural style Armenian Architecture Groundbreaking 1863 | |
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Location 38 Nizami Street, Baku, Azerbaijan Similar Church of Saint John - Mastara, Bgheno‑Noravank, Nor Varagavank, Yeghipatrush Church, Aruchavank | ||
Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church (Armenian: Բաքվի Սուրբ Գրիգոր Լուսավորիչ եկեղեցի, Bak’vi Surb Grigor Lusavorich yekeghetsi; Azerbaijani: Müqəddəs Maarifləndirici Qriqori Kilsəsi), is a former Armenian Apostolic church near Fountains Square in central Baku, Azerbaijan. Completed in 1869 it was one of the two Armenian churches in Baku to survive the Soviet anti-religious campaign. It is the only Armenian monument to stand in Baku.
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History
The church was built between 1863 and 1869. In 1920 it became the cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Diocese of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. It survived through the Soviet state atheist policies of the 1920s and 1930s when all but two Armenian churches in Baku were destroyed.
1990 pogrom and aftermath
The large Armenian population of Baku—around 200,000 in the mid-1980s—was targeted in a January 1990 pogrom in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The city's Armenian population was forced to flee. Serious damage to the church was caused by an arson attack on December 25, 1989, but it remained standing.
Current state
Thomas de Waal wrote in his 2003 book Black Garden that the church "remains a gutted shell eleven years after it was burned in December 1989; the cross has been removed from the belfry, now used as a pool hall." He also wrote that it remains the only visible Armenian monument in Baku. Jason Thomson wrote in 2005 that it was "transformed into a billiard hall and tea house." The library of the church consisting of 5,000 books and manuscripts has been preserved.
In 2002 the church was transferred to the Presidential Library, which is located nearby, and now houses its archive. In 2006 Azerbaijani Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev stated that converting the church into a library is purposeful because there are not many Armenian Christians in Azerbaijan. There have been proposals about reopening it as a church.
Visits by Armenians
In April 2010 Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, visited the church and prayed and sang medieval hymns there. He expressed hope that the church will eventually "reopen its doors to believers." It was the first time since 1990 that prayer was heard at the church.
In April 2012 the Armenian delegation participating at a Euronest Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Baku visited the church.