ST. GEVORG CHURCH COLLAPSED
Lragir.am
November 18, 2009
Press service of the Armenian diocese of Georgia
Today, at midnight, the St. Gevorg Church of Mughni in Tbilisi built
in 1356 collapsed. Besides, the main dome, the church had other three
small domes at its three angles. In 1736, St. Gevorg Church was one of
the seven churches of Tbilisi which was a part of the Haghpat diocese.
In 1789, the church tower was built. In 1795, the church was plundered
by the Iranians. In 1852-93, partial reconstructions were made in
the church.
During the Soviet years, the church served as a museum of folk art,
after a reserve and in 1990, it was definitely closed down being
qualified as non-recoverable.
St. Gevorg of Mughni is one of the five churches for which
St. Echmiadzin addressed a number of letters to return it to its
dioceses to the Georgian government, patriarchy, international
organizations.
This issue was brought up by the press too. But all remained
unanswered. Noteworthy, this is the second collapsed Armenian Church,
the first one collapsed in 1989.
We think the whole responsibility bears the Georgian ministry of
protection of culture and monuments. All this creates the impression
that the Georgian government not paying enough attention to the
preservation of churches, destroys them on purpose.