Armenian Church

Surp Yerortutyun (Armenian) Church in Eskişehir's Sivrihisar district was built in 1650, was damaged by fire in 1876 and was rebuilt by architect Mintes Panoyat in 1881 during the reign of Patriarch Nerses Varjabedyan. The church was built in the middle of the Armenian quarter, on the skirts of the clock tower. All of them are stonework and local stone production. Many Turks also worked on its construction. It is one of the largest churches in Turkey.

Surp Yerotutyun Armenian Church is located in Eskişehir Sivrihisar district. It was built in 1650. It was damaged by fire in 1876. It was rebuilt in 1881. Many Turks also worked in its construction. It is one of the largest churches in Turkey, with dada bell towers on both sides of the church. They say that the building, which is also called the red church, which is made of red cut stone, is vaguely decorated with frescoes, but I could not see it even though I examined it a lot. There are important places such as the clock tower, open air sculpture museum, the great mosque around it.

Frankly, I was surprised that a church in this small town of Anatolia was so well preserved. Although, when I entered the church, I saw that there was no need to be so surprised because there was nothing left of the church, the walls were either scraped or painted, and an empty space remained. You can see the icons or writings left from the church in small details. Still worth seeing.

I was deeply saddened by the neglect of a building that has survived for nearly 400 years since its construction. There is no point in making such an important work to be used in festivals, at least I think so. It is a very bad situation that the interior walls of an area that should be well preserved and can attract tourists have been scraped and then painted and most of the walls have come to the stage of falling apart. Not to mention that people who want to read the history of the building in front of the church in a torn state can only get information from the internet. This building, which I wanted to see in a better way, was a disappointment for me. It is not possible to understand the people who work on the day of the festival and leave their garbage inside, which I have shown in the photos.