Chapelle arménienne de la rue Jean Goujon
Armenian Chapel of the rue Jean Goujon, Paris , engraving after Albert Gilbert, architect, 1906, 31 x 17 cm. al. Sarkis Boghossian, Paris
In 1902, a correspondent of the Armenian newspaper of Constantinople “Manzou-Meiosis Effniar” wrote: “When will we have our Holy Church in Paris?” This issue did not remain unanswered. A wealthy Armenian (oil) businessman from Baku, named Alexander Mantachiants, discovered that the small Armenian community in Paris did not have its own church. Finding these circumstances unacceptable Mantachiants along with the poet Siamanto, singer Arménag Shah-Mouradian and musicologist Komitas, decided they could not remain deaf to this call.  Religious and deeply patriotic, Mantachiants was touched by the request of the priest of Paris, he vowed to fund the construction of an Armenian Apostolic Church in Paris.