CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Guidon, John Patrick |
|---|---|
| Title | Religious Nationalism as an Explanation for the Destruction and Appropriation of Armenian Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage Sites within the Republic of Georgia |
| Summary | In the years immediately following its independence from the Soviet Union, Georgia constructed one of the largest religious buildings in the world, the Sameba Cathedral. However, the cathedral was not constructed on an unassuming, vacant patch of land in the capital of Tbilisi, but on the site of a 17th century Armenian cemetery. Similarly, in 2017, the crumbling Tandoyants Armenian Church in Tbilisi was gifted to the Georgian Orthodox Church with plans to raze the church and build a Georgian Orthodox Church in its place. These are just several of the most recent and well known cases of erasure of Armenian church history in Georgia. Approximately eighty Armenian churches in Georgia were destroyed during Georgia’s time as a member of the Soviet Union, but after freedom was attained in 1991 the policy towards these Armenian churches shifted to a new direction: appropriation. This appropriation and destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites in Georgia is the direct result of a uniquely religious form of nationalism that exists in Georgia, and it has allowed for the creation the environment in which this cultural destruction has occurred. |
| Supervisor | Pap, András László |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/guidon_john.pdf |
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