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JIHLAVA IS FIRST CZECH TOWN TO HAVE ARMENIAN CROSS-STONE
Czech News Agency (CTK)
November 17, 2006 Friday 7:55 PM (Central European Time)
Jihlava became today the first Czech town in which an Armenian
memorial Cross-stone, a gift from the Jihlava-based Armenian-Czech
society Urartu, has been unveiled.
Mayor Jaroslav Vymazal said Armenian crosses that are a symbol of
Christianity, freedom and friendship, have only been put up in capital
cities in Europe to date.
The Armenian community in Jihlava dates back to 1992. "It exists in
a few other Czech towns as well, but I think that in Jihlava it is
the firmest. That is why we have decided to locate the memorial in
Jihlava," Urartu chairman Alexandr Sargesyan said.
The society has 92 members. Besides Armenians they are Czechs,
Ukrainians and Belarussians.
"We are grateful to the town, we have been given a chance to adapt
ourselves to the European society. Jihlava is our home, children
attend school here, have their friends here, there have already been
several Armenian-Czech weddings, children have been born from them,"
Sargesyan said.
The memorial is made of rose-coloured Armenian tuf. It bears an
Armenian inscription reading "In memory of people who died without
any reason."
It was unveiled by Armenian ambassador seated in Vienna Ashot
Hovakimyan and by Vymazal, and it was consecrated by Mesrop Sarpazan
Grigoryan and Barsek Pilavchyan, from the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Sargesyan said that the cross-stone is also to remind that Armenia was
the first country in the world in which Christianity was accepted as
an official state religion during the reign of King Trdat III in 301.
Czech News Agency (CTK)
November 17, 2006 Friday 7:55 PM (Central European Time)
Jihlava became today the first Czech town in which an Armenian
memorial Cross-stone, a gift from the Jihlava-based Armenian-Czech
society Urartu, has been unveiled.
Mayor Jaroslav Vymazal said Armenian crosses that are a symbol of
Christianity, freedom and friendship, have only been put up in capital
cities in Europe to date.
The Armenian community in Jihlava dates back to 1992. "It exists in
a few other Czech towns as well, but I think that in Jihlava it is
the firmest. That is why we have decided to locate the memorial in
Jihlava," Urartu chairman Alexandr Sargesyan said.
The society has 92 members. Besides Armenians they are Czechs,
Ukrainians and Belarussians.
"We are grateful to the town, we have been given a chance to adapt
ourselves to the European society. Jihlava is our home, children
attend school here, have their friends here, there have already been
several Armenian-Czech weddings, children have been born from them,"
Sargesyan said.
The memorial is made of rose-coloured Armenian tuf. It bears an
Armenian inscription reading "In memory of people who died without
any reason."
It was unveiled by Armenian ambassador seated in Vienna Ashot
Hovakimyan and by Vymazal, and it was consecrated by Mesrop Sarpazan
Grigoryan and Barsek Pilavchyan, from the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Sargesyan said that the cross-stone is also to remind that Armenia was
the first country in the world in which Christianity was accepted as
an official state religion during the reign of King Trdat III in 301.