page_title: Church of the Holy Mother of God (Aleppo)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Church of the Holy Mother of God (Aleppo) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Holy Mother of God church in Aleppo
context_page_description: Church of the Holy Mother of God, is an Armenian Apostolic church located in the Sulaimaniyeh district of Aleppo, Syria. The church is active since its consecration on May 1 May 1983, by then-Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia Karekin II.
context_section_description: The absence of a church to serve the large Armenian community of the Suleimaniyeh area of Aleppo, arose the idea of building a new church, which became true with the donations of Armenian benefactors -especially those whose roots were from the Cilician city of "Aintab" (nowadays Gaziantep)- and throughout the efforts of father Zarmayr Hindoyan, the spiritual leader of Aintabian Armenians in Aleppo.
  The ground-blessing ceremony took place on 10 September 1972 with the presence of Khoren I, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, during the period of Bishop Datev Sarkissian. The construction work was finished completely in 1982. The consecration ceremony took place on 1 May 1983 under the patronage of Karekin II.
  Nowadays, the church itself plays a big role in the life of the Armenians of Aleppo. It is usually crowded with the faithful during regular Sunday masses. Many Armenians are members of the church.
  The church has a large hall opened in 1987 with a stage downstairs, used for cultural meetings, concerts, seminars and celebrations.
  In 1993 a Khachkar-memorial by Sarkis Balmanougian was erected in the right side of the main entrance of the church, to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide. The church was completely renovated in 1998.
  Adjacent to the church is the Armenian Gertasirats High School and the Zohrab Kaprielian Theatre.
caption: The church at night
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE C613 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2011:01:12 23:12:35", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "261", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13495", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7693", "EXIF ExposureTime": "5991/25000", "EXIF FNumber": "27/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Portrait Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:09:27 19:35:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:09:27 19:35:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "103/50", "EXIF ApertureValue": "143/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "143/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF SubSecTime": "78", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1202", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1301", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13415", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}