The Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Kars

The Armenian Church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator in Kars. It was built in 1914 and consecrated in April 1915, shortly before the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. The church stood in the centre of Kars, at the crossing of today’s Atatürk and Faikbey streets.

After 1920 the building stood unused for some time; at various times it served as a warehouse of the Turkish Red Crescent and as the “Eastern Cinema”. It was expropriated in 1958 and blown up in the early 1960s in connection with the reconstruction of the city. Its stones were used to build the central mosque of Kars.

The photograph was taken just days before the demolition. The dome, the bell tower and the stones and earth piled near the wall can be seen.