Dhaka
A church from 1781, built by Dhaka's community of Armenian merchants.
The Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection was built in 1781 by Dhaka’s Armenian community, merchants who traded in jute, cloth, salt and other goods and who were once prominent enough to give their name to the neighbourhood — Armanitola, “the Armenian quarter”.
The church stands on the site of an older Armenian graveyard, and its walled compound is still filled with gravestones, many carved with Armenian script and dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. The bell tower that once stood beside the church was damaged in the earthquake of 1897 and later pulled down.
As the community dwindled through the 20th century, the church was kept going by a handful of caretakers. It is a quiet, whitewashed building with a long nave, arched windows and a small gallery, and one of the few reminders of the many foreign communities that once lived in Old Dhaka.
Start in the morning: see the church and read the old gravestones in the compound.
Walk a few minutes to the mosque covered in china-mosaic stars.
Head down to the Buriganga for the Nawabs’ palace and the busy river port.
Finish with kacchi biryani in Nazira Bazar.
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October to March, in the morning or early afternoon, when the caretaker is more likely to be there.
In Armanitola, Old Dhaka, a few minutes’ walk from the Star Mosque.
