Church collapsed
The domed St. Gevorg of Mughni Church in Tbilisi, built in 1356, collapsed last midnight.
After being closed down, the church turned into a folk museum and in 1990, it was qualified as subject to demolition and was finally closed down.
The St. Echmiadzin and Diocese have addressed the Georgian government, the Patriarchate and international organizations with the purpose to return five churches to the Armenian Diocese of Georgia and the St. Gevorg of Mughni Church is one of them. The issue has also been raised several times in the presses, but unfortunately, all appeals to the Georgian government have remained unanswered.
This is the second collapsed church after the St. Virgin of Shamkhori, which collapsed in 1989.
"We believe that the Georgian Ministry of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sports must take responsibility for all this. All this creates an impression that by failing to solve the issue of returning the churches to the Armenian Diocese, the Georgian Patriarchate and authorities don't pay proper attention to the preservation of Armenian churches, and intentionally destroy important monuments of Armenian culture," the Diocese said.
