Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection

Armenian merchants traded in Bengal from the seventeenth century and were substantial enough in Dhaka to give a quarter its name, Armanitola, and they built this church in 1781 on the site of their graveyard. It is a plain white building with a portico and arched windows in a walled compound, with a graveyard around it holding several hundred stones inscribed in Armenian, some very worn, recording a community that dwindled through the twentieth century until effectively nobody was left. The clock tower fell in an earthquake and was not rebuilt. A single caretaker maintains the building and the graves, services are held rarely, and the compound is a quiet walled space in a very dense part of the city.

What you actually see

• Several hundred Armenian gravestones - the record of a vanished community.
• The plain white church of 1781 - portico and arched windows in its compound.
• A walled quiet space - the compound in a very dense quarter.
• The caretaker's account - the history told by the one person maintaining it.

When to go

November to March. One hour. The gate is often locked and the caretaker opens it; ring and wait. Mornings are best. Services are very occasional.

Honest expectations

Access depends entirely on the caretaker being there. The church is small and the visit short. Many gravestones are illegible. The lanes around it are congested and hard to navigate.

Nearby

The Star Mosque is nearby; Ahsan Manzil lies south.