Stone fragments bearing Armenian inscriptions have been uncovered during road construction works in central Tbilisi, at the site of the former Armenian Kamoyants Surb Gevorg Church, destroyed in the 1930s.
Photos of the discovery were published by Artur Mirzoyan, founder of Vector News. One of the stones bears the Armenian surname Kamoyants and the date 1788, directly linking the fragments to the historic church that once stood at the site.
The find is another surviving trace of Tbilisi’s centuries-old Armenian presence.
For generations, Armenians formed one of the city’s major communities, building churches, schools, cultural institutions and neighborhoods that became part of Tbilisi’s urban fabric. Much of that heritage, however, was later destroyed, repurposed or allowed to disappear.
During the Soviet period, numerous Armenian churches in Tbilisi were closed or demolished. In the decades that followed, disputes also emerged over the ownership and identity of several surviving Armenian religious sites, while others deteriorated after years of neglect.
Among the best-known cases is the Armenian St. Gevork of Mughni Church, which was used as a museum and later as a warehouse before years of deterioration led to a major collapse in 2009. Norashen Surb Astvatsatsin Church has likewise been at the center of long-running disputes concerning its Armenian identity and ownership.
Against that history, the fragments uncovered beneath central Tbilisi are not simply construction debris.
The Armenian inscriptions, the Kamoyants name and the date 1788 preserve physical evidence of an Armenian historical layer of the city that was destroyed above ground, but not completely erased.
