Norashen Church

Norashen ("newly built", Norasheni) is a non-functioning Armenian Apostolic church in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is located in the old town, near Sioni Cathedral and Jvaris Mama Church. The church has historically been known as the Church of the Holy Mother of God (Surb Astvatsatsin). Built in early 16th century, the church belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church until it was shut down and confiscated by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s, later serving as a library. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the church was consecrated by Georgian Orthodox clergy as an Orthodox church in 1995, while Armenian traces were removed from in and around the church. Armenian protests eventually led to it being closed indefinitely. More controversy around the church arose in 2008 when a Georgian priest built a fence around the church and attempted to remove some of the Armenian gravestones. It is one of the several defunct Armenian churches in Tbilisi that the Armenian Church has unsuccessfully sought to return to use in the post-Soviet period.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).