Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection

A 1781 church in Armanitola, the only surviving physical trace of the Armenian merchant community that once flourished in Dhaka. The building is well maintained and retains its original character: a whitewashed exterior, a small compound with gravestones of Armenian merchants and their families, and an interior with preserved Armenian inscriptions and an atmospheric mustiness that the few visitors who find it tend not to forget.

The church is staffed and open for visitors most days. It is within easy walking distance of Ahsan Manzil and the Star Mosque, forming a natural cluster of old Dhaka sights in the Armanitola neighbourhood.

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A story
In the 18th century, Dhaka had a thriving Armenian merchant community of several hundred people who had come from Isfahan and Julfa to trade in the booming muslin market. By the mid-20th century only one Armenian remained in Dhaka — Michael Joseph Martin — who maintained the church alone until his death in 1981. The community that built one of the finest churches in Bengal had effectively vanished within two hundred years.

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