St. Nshan church in Tbilisi replaced more ancient Armenian church-expert.

Claims that previously Georgian Orthodox was standing on the place of St. Nshan Church in Tbilisi are groundless, head of the NGO studying Armenian architecture, monument scientist Samvel Karapetyan told news conference today. According to him, the working style of putting under doubt the national belonging of the Armenian churches is not a novelty as there are few appropriated churches. "This time as well the same strategy has been applied and St. Nshan is not exclusion," the monument scientist said.

For having a full idea about the issue Samvel Karapetyan has carried out a scientific survey and found out that till the construction of today's church for already a century ancient Armenian church with the same name had been standing there. "The sources testify that the church standing before this one was again Armenian and not Georgian. By the way, it is remarkable that the name of the church has not been changed," Samvel Karapetyan said, adding that the church has never been perceived as a historical monument by Georgians.

The monument scientist also presented three records proving the existence of the Armenian church there.