Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church , commonly referred to as the Armenian Church of Baku ( , '' Bak ’ vi haykakan yekeghetsi '' ; ) , is a former Armenian Apostolic church near Fountains Square in central Baku , Azerbaijan . Completed in 1869 it was one of the two Armenian churches in Baku to survive the Soviet anti-religious campaign and the Karabakh conflict and the 1990 pogrom and expulsion of Baku Armenians when it was looted . It is the only Armenian monument to stand in Baku . The church was built between 1863 and 1869 by the design of Karl Hippius , ( 1833 — 1880 ) , a Baltic German architect . The cornerstone was consecrated by '' vardapet '' Daniel Shahnazariants , the bishop of the diocese of Shamakhi , in June 1863 . The construction was funded by Javad Melikiants ( Melikov ) , a Baku-based Armenian philanthropist and founder of the first paraffin plant in Baku . The church was consecrated on May 4 , 1869 by archbishop Andreas Andreasian . Next to the church , the Armenian Philanthropic Society of Baku founded a female school in 1866 and a library in 1870 . In 1903 the Russian government 's decision to confiscate properties of the Armenian church were widely opposed by Armenians . The church was the site of a clash between Russian Cossack soldiers and Armenian nationalist activists on September 2 , 1903 . A group of armed activists affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( Dashnaks ) , led by Nikol Duman defended the church . The confrontation turned violent by night and led to the death of 11 Armenians and 45 injuries on the Armenian side . On September 15 , 1918 the church was attacked and looted by the invading Ottoman forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Baku . On June 11 , 1919 Ottoman-Azerbaijani forces circle the church and conduct searches for arms . After not finding any arms inside , the soldiers shot at the walls of the church . In 1920 it became the cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Diocese of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan . It survived through the Soviet state atheist policies of the 1920s and 1930s when all but two Armenian churches in Baku were destroyed . The church was reopened in 1945 and became the seat of the diocese of Azerbaijan . The large Armenian population of Baku — around 200,000 in the mid-1980s — was targeted in a January 1990 pogrom during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict . The city 's Armenian population was forced to flee . Serious damage to the church was caused by an arson attack on December 25 , 1989 , but it remained standing . Vazgen I , head of the Armenian Church , wrote to Yuri Khristoradnov , the chairman of the Soviet Council for Religious Affairs , in January 1990 that " extremist Azeri nationalists set fire to the Armenian Church in Baku on 25 December 1989 , destroying valuable ecclesiastical books , holy paintings , and all ecclesiastical clothing . " Bill Keller wrote in '' The New York Times '' in February 1990 that the church " whose congregation has been depleted over the past two years by an emigration based on fear , is now a charred ruin . A neighbor said firefighters and the police watched without intervening as vandals destroyed the building at the beginning of the year . " Human Rights Watch wrote in 1995 : " Armenians have vanished from the streets of Baku ... the Armenian church in Baku stand s empty . " In accordance with the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan dated August 2 , 2001 , the church was listed as an immovable historical and cultural monument of national importance
1990 pogrom and expulsion
Baku pogrom
Armenian Church, Baku