Armenian Church, Chennai – A Forgotten Armenian Legacy in George Town

Armenian Street in George Town is one of those Chennai streets whose name carries a history that is easy to overlook.

Why Armenian Street?

The answer lies behind a simple entrance on this crowded road.

Step inside and the traffic, shops and noise of George Town suddenly seem far away. Set within a spacious compound is the Armenian Church of Chennai, also known as the Church of Our Lady of Expectation. It is one of the most remarkable surviving reminders of a community that once played an important role in the commercial and cultural life of Madras.

Armenians in Madras

Armenian merchants had established themselves in Madras by the seventeenth century. They traded in textiles, silk, spices, precious stones and other goods, becoming an influential mercantile community in the growing port city.

An Armenian church existed here by 1712.

The earlier structure did not survive the turbulent eighteenth century. After it was destroyed during the French occupation of Madras, the present church was built in 1772 on land associated with the Armenian merchant Shahamir Shahamirian.

The street eventually took its name from the community that lived and worshipped here.

Today, very few Armenians remain in Chennai.

The church remains.

A Surprisingly Quiet Church

The church itself is relatively small and restrained.

What interested me was not elaborate decoration but the details: the old tablets fixed to the walls, circular columns, traditional Madras-style roof, neatly arranged seating and photographs that recall the people associated with the church.

But the most striking structure in the compound stands separately from the chapel.

The bell tower contains six large bells.

They were cast at different times during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The oldest bears the date 1754, while other bells were added later. Two were donated in 1790 by the Shahamirian family in memory of Eliazar Shahamir.

Standing below the tower and looking up at those bells, it is difficult to imagine that such a quiet compound was once connected with a thriving Armenian community in Madras.

A Cemetery Beneath Your Feet

Walk around the church grounds and another part of its history begins to appear.

Gravestones lie across the compound, many carrying inscriptions in Armenian. Hundreds of Armenians were buried here over the years.

Some stones are easy to notice. Others almost merge with the ground.

Reading the names and dates makes the history of the place feel much more immediate. This was not simply a church constructed by foreign merchants. Generations lived here, worshipped here and were eventually buried here.

One grave deserves particular attention.

The Man Behind the World's First Armenian Periodical

Rev. Harutyun Shmavonian is buried in the churchyard.

In 1794, while living in Madras, he began publishing Azdarar, the world's first Armenian-language periodical.

Think about that for a moment.

The first Armenian periodical was not published in Yerevan, Constantinople or another major Armenian centre.

It was published in Madras.

Shmavonian edited and published Azdarar from 1794 to 1796. He died in Madras in 1824 and was buried here. His grave is particularly easy to recognise because an open stone book bearing the name Azdarar marks it.

It is a small monument to a surprisingly important chapter in publishing history.

Coja Petrus Uscan

The church also preserves the memory of Coja Petrus Uscan, perhaps the best-known Armenian associated with old Madras.

Uscan was a wealthy merchant and philanthropist who funded several public works in the city. Among them was the first bridge across the Adyar at Marmalong, the predecessor of today's Maraimalai Adigal Bridge. He also contributed towards the steps leading up to St. Thomas Mount.

A memorial plaque inside the Armenian Church remembers him, although Uscan himself was buried elsewhere in Chennai.

His story is another reminder that the Armenian contribution to Madras extended well beyond this church.

A Street Name That Makes Sense

When I first visited the Armenian Church, I expected an old church.

What I found was something larger.

There are the six bells. The graves beneath the trees. Shmavonian and Azdarar. The memory of Petrus Uscan. Old Armenian inscriptions scattered across a compound in the middle of George Town.

Outside, Armenian Street continues with its usual Chennai traffic and commercial activity.

Inside survives the reason the street got its name.

That is what makes this place difficult to forget.

Happy travelling.