The Armenian Church, Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, constructed in 1712 and reconstructed in 1772, is one of the oldest churches of the Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

. It is famous for its belfry

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 of six. The Church, also called the Armenian Church of Virgin Mary, is located on the Armenian Street, Chennai, South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

.
Michael Stephen was the caretaker of the Church until 2004. The current caretaker (2010) of the Church is Trevor Alexander.

The Church

• Functioning only as a heritage site, the Church is opened for visitors from 9 am till 2:30 pm.
• It is funded by the Armenian Apostolic Church
  Armenian Apostolic Church
  The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
  
   and maintained by The Armenian Church Committee in Calcutta.
• The graves of about 350 Armenians have been laid out throughout the Church.
• The founder, publisher and editor of the world's first Armenian periodical "Azdarar", Reverend Haroutiun Shmavonian, is buried here.
• The Belfry adjacent to the main Church structure houses six large bells which are rung every Sunday at 9:30 am by the caretaker.

Bells

The six bells are all of different sizes, varying from 21 to 26 inches, and weigh around 150 kg each, They are believed to be the largest and heaviest bells of Chennai. The bells were cast at different times as noted below:

• One bell, with Armenian inscription dates to 1754. This was recast in 1808 and also bears Tamil
  Tamil language
  Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
  
   inscription.
• One bell’s inscription indicates that it dates to 1778.
• Inscriptions on two bells indicate that they were given to the Church in memory of 19 year Eliazar Shawmier, buried in the Church’s garden. Shawmier was the youngest son of a leading Armenian merchant of the city of Madras (now Chennai) on whose private chapel ground the present Church stands.
• The remaining two bells date to 1837 and were cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry
  Whitechapel Bell Foundry
  The Whitechapel Bell Foundry is a bell foundry in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The foundry is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain...
  
  , then known as Mears & Stainbank, with inscriptions reading "Thomas Mears, Founder, London".

External links

• The bells of St. Mary’s
• Website of the Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth, Kolkata Armenian Churches in India website