Surb Nshan Armenian monastery is situated in the very center of Tbilisi, presenting a magnificent view. However, the architectural monument looks deplorable at a close distance. Of course, it would be very hard to destroy a monastery built in 1701: thick brickwork walls will keep the church for the generations coming. The point is what kind of look one of the most significant Christian shrines in the Caucasus will offer to the descendants.

The monument is in a pitiful state: a dirty yard, crumbling brickwork, walls seamed with cracks. Windows are replaced by rusty metal sheets; garbage is scattered all over together with the frustrated hopes of restoration. The floor of the building is covered with almost decayed scaffolding thrusting against the trees entwined with thick roots of stiff lianas. A huge crack runs across the wall of one of the buildings. It will surely take much pain to restore the monastery.

Indoors, the building looks still gloomier. It is very difficult to make one's way across the floor, with heaps of rubbish blocking the way. Tigran, a local resident who agreed to be our guide, has been working across the church for fifteen years. He says if there were light inside, we could see the remnants of frescos. There was an archive here in Soviet times since 1936. Later it was transferred to another place but a lot of old newspapers and books are still scattered around the floor. Neighbours say there was a big fire in 2002 and all this literary garbage got burnt, having covered the interior with soot.

This time, the fire lasted longer. According to Tigran, the church caught fire on January, 3. Several fire teams came and put the fire down rather quickly. "It looked like burning peat. There was actually no fire but something kept smoking. Fire teams came here six times after their first arrival", - our interlocutor said.

Surb Nshan monastery is supported by four pillars. One of them was brought down by a jet of water during fire suppression. A tragedy could have happened if firemen had not recoiled from the falling pile.

When we came to the monastery, municipal workers were taking away the garbage left after the fire.

Armenia started hailing accusations on Georgia after the fire in Surb Nshan. Armenian Church made quite a harsh statement, while organizations and diasporas did not restrain themselves at all. Yesterday, GTimes published a letter from Javakh diaspora in Russia, which decided to remind of the fact that the Georgian authorities refuse to settle the issue of giving Armenian churches to the Georgian-Armenian diocese positively. The diaspora assumes it will immediately sponsor the restoration of the monastery as soon as the issue of transferring the churches to the Armenian Apostolic Church is settled.

A day before our arrival, the monastery was visited by a delegation from Yerevan headed by officials of the Armenian Ministry of Culture who examined the shrine. Their visit was attributed to a harsh statement made by Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church where it was reported that last year, during a visit of Catholicos Garegin II of Armenia to Georgia, the Georgian side assured the Armenian side that the cultural monuments having Armenian origin would be protected.

Perhaps, the media exaggerates the political background of the event but the fact that Surb Nshan has again got burnt because of the authorities' complete indifference to the cultural shrine is true. There is no fence; the entrance doors are not locked; the premises of the church are used by local residents for their own needs. The monastery looks no better than the Georgian temples in Turkey turned by peasants into cowsheds.

This time, the government seemed to pay attention to the Armenian monastery, promising to start restoration work or, at least, fence the shrine. Our guide Tigran says it would be good to reinforce the pillars carrying the building and do some work on improving the basement and the façade. Otherwise, Surb Nshan will go down like a house of cards and will resemble a bad tooth in the center of Tbilisi.

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Photos courtesy : Facebook page of the Armenian Community of Georgia

Original Article: http://www.georgiatimes.info/en/articles/70545-1.html