Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection (আর্মেনিয়ান চার্চ)

The Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection is an 18th-century church completed in 1781 on Armenian Street in Armanitola, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its walled graveyard holds about 350 Armenian graves, and it is open to visitors in the daytime, suiting anyone curious about the traders who once shaped the old city.

Armenian merchants and the church of 1781

Armenian merchants settled in Dhaka from the 17th century, trading in jute, leather and other goods, and the neighbourhood took its name from them. The church was finished in 1781 on land given by Agaminus Catchik. The site was already an Armenian burial ground. A clock tower was later added on the west side; its bell was said to carry four miles, and people set their watches by it. The clock stopped in 1880, and the 1897 earthquake brought the tower down.

Arched windows, wooden screen and 350 graves

The church is a two-storey building with four doors and 27 arched windows, planned as a central hall with rectangular wings. Inside, a railed pulpit, a central section and a rear area behind a wooden screen divide the floor. About 350 people lie in the graveyard. The grave of Catchik Avatik Thomas carries a statue of his wife, bought in Kolkata, inscribed "Best of Husband".

Michael Joseph Martin and the dwindling community

Armenians led Dhaka's jute trade in the late 19th century, but the community later dwindled almost to nothing. In the 1980s Michael Joseph Martin (Mikel Housep Martirossian) saved the church from being taken over. He died in Canada on 10 April 2020. Mother Teresa stayed in the compound during a 1996 visit. The government has declared the site religious and historical heritage, and the Department of Archaeology oversees its care.

Six staff led by warden Armen Arslanian run the church today. Since 2023 an Armenian priest has lived here for most of each month, also serving communities in Singapore and Myanmar, and the Church of Bangladesh uses it for services. On Thursdays hundreds of local people come for the Michael Martin Food Assistance Program, which hands out milk for babies and meals.