The Last Armenian Catholic Chapel in Ankara and Transmission of its Community to the French Church

Abstract

It is known that there were a total of fourteen places of worship belonging to Non-Muslims in the late 19th-century. Some of these structures were owned by the Armenian Catholic Community, namely Surp Gımes (Clement) Church, Surp Bogos-Bedros Church, Surp Pırgich Church and Surp Asdvadzadzin (Virgin Mary) Cathedral, the latter of which was used as a base for bishops and included a monastery managed by the Anarad Hıghutyun nuns. However, while the Armenian Catholic churches in Ankara were recorded, there was no mention of the chapel in the graveyard. This study aims to reveal briefly outline the history of the graveyard that belongs to the Ankara Armenian Catholic Community, and that of the barely known chapel which was positioned inside the field. After this church was closed in 1935, the community accepted the authority of the Latin Catholic Church of Sainte Therese and were obliged to offer their prayers to God in this church. In the early 19th-century, the Armenian Catholic Chapel in Ankara, which was thought to have been built alongside the Armenian Catholic Cemetery by Garabed Agha Tingirian and Haci Ohannes Agha, was the only church in Ankara that survived the 1916 fire and remained in use into the Republican period. This increases the status of this small church beyond being merely just a place were funerals were held in the late 19th-century. The photographs of the period, along with video records, aerial photographs, and cadastral maps of the Armenian Catholic cemetery complex, which now no longer exist, helps us examine the location and the architectural significance of the buildings.

Keywords

• armenian-catholic chapel
• armenian-catholic
• gımes torbadjian
• sainte-therese church
• nerses baghdiguian
• ankara armenian cemetery
• ankara