Armenian church in Dhubri (India) to be renovated

January 9, 2015

The Telegraph – The Armenian church in Dhubri, built in the 19th
century, will be renovated by Ladies Club, Dhubri, soon.

The church is located on PM Datta Bahadur Road of the town and is
close to a life-size statue of Queen Victoria and the historic
Gurdwara of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Ji.

At present, the church houses the club and its members have been
collecting donations through gift coupons to raise funds to renovate
the old church and construct a separate building on its premises.

The church, which is one of the 33 heritage sites dotted across the
town, and Ladies Club are keen to preserve this heritage Armenian-type
church building as part of history.

“Any building which is over 100-year-old becomes antique and tagged
with heritage status. But now new guidelines are being drawn freshly
by the archaeological department,” an official source said.

Secretary of the club Lilly Chanda said after services in the church
was closed, some European residents of Dhubri town founded the Ladies
Club in 1935.

“Women belonging to the European community as well as benevolent local
women were members who used to render social service,” Chanda said.

“This church is not only a heritage site but also a precious
possession of the town and the club wants it to be preserved at any
cost,” said the club’s president Chandana Paul Choudhury.

“We are finding it tough to raise funds, but we will try our best to
collect necessary funds needed for renovation of the church’s
structure and construction of a new building which is urgently
required for various kinds of training to empower poor girls and women
living. ”

Talking to this correspondent, Sankar Kumar Bose – a renowned
numismatist who originally hails from Dhubri but is now based in
Calcutta – said over phone today that this was built probably between
the end of East India Company’s rule and beginning of the British Raj.

“In my childhood I saw this church illuminated. People of the European
community visited there. It is now in a dilapidated condition and
should be renovated and preserved,” Bose said.

Residents of Dhubri town demand that the state government come forward
to preserve this site and other sites too. Otherwise, the glorious
history of the district and the town would be lost in the passage of
time.

Dhubri town and the district as a whole are dotted with many important
sites that evoke tourist interest. Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib Ji,
Panch Peer dargah, Mahamaya Dham, Mahamaya Snan Ghat, Kamakhya Dham,
Bura-Buri Than, Jinkata Satra and Ramrai Kutir are some of the
pilgrimage sites in Dhubri. Gauripur palace, too, is one of the
precious heritage sites.