EnsemblesUnder 1 km away
St John the Baptist Church, Samarkand
Samarkand's only Catholic church, a neo-Gothic building of 1915–1916 raised with the help of prisoners of war and returned to its parish in 1998.
Armenian Church of St Mary (Surb Astvatsatsin), Samarkand
A small Armenian church built in 1903 by Samarkand's Armenian community, closed in 1939 and brought back to religious life after independence.
Ensembles1903
About the place
Armenians lived in Samarkand in small numbers at the end of the nineteenth century, and in 1898 they won permission for a prayer house. In 1903 the city sold them a plot next to what was then Chernyaev avenue, and by the end of that year the community had built the church of the Holy Mother of God with its own hands; its first priest was Ruben Bekgulyants. A parish school worked beside it.
Services continued into the 1930s, but in 1939 the city council closed the church and handed the hall to a student hostel. After independence the Armenian cultural centre Luys asked the Catholicos for clergy, and in 1991 two priests from Etchmiadzin arrived to restore church life.
Why go
- Built by the Armenian community in a single year
- A parish school once worked beside it
- Revived with priests from Etchmiadzin in 1991
Sources (5)
Nearby
- Ensembles
- © OpenStreetMapAttractions
Under 1 km away
Alisher Navoi Central Park, Samarkand
Samarkand's central park, laid out in 1886 next to University Boulevard, with shady paths, rides, cafes and a 3,000-seat open-air amphitheatre.
Museums1 km away
Samarkand Regional Museum of Local Lore (Kalantarov House)
The regional history museum, housed since 1981 in the lavish mansion of the merchant Abram Kalantarov, built in 1902–1916.
Ensembles1 km away
St Alexius Cathedral, Samarkand
A garrison cathedral of 1909–1911 in Samarkand's European quarter, built to a standard design for Turkestan, closed in the 1920s and reconsecrated in 1996.
