Armenian Church, Chernivtsi
The Armenian community's church of 1869–1875 by Josef Hlavka.
The Armenian Catholics of Chernivtsi at first prayed in a Catholic church, and in 1865 they set up a committee to raise funds for a church of their own. It was built in 1869–1875 to a design by the Czech architect Josef Hlávka, the author of the Residence of the Bukovinian Metropolitans; among the donors was Emperor Franz Joseph. On 9 October 1875 the church was consecrated in honour of the Apostles Peter and Paul. The philharmonic's website calls its style Byzantine with elements of Gothic, while the Chernivtsi tourist portal adds Romanesque and Armenian motifs. After 1944 the church was not reopened — it served as a warehouse, and the watchman moved the statues of the apostles to his wife's grave (they were later returned). The building was handed over to the philharmonic — in 1992 according to its website, in 1986 according to “Molodyi Bukovynets”; on 18 August 1992 a hall of organ and chamber music was opened here, with an organ by the Czech firm Rieger-Kloss. In 2008 the regional council allowed the community of the Armenian Apostolic Church to hold services here on Sundays.
The surest way inside is an organ concert.