YEREVAN. – Georgian Patriarchy’s recent statements that a Georgian church was in the place of the current Armenian St. Nshan are absolutely baseless, head of the Yerevan branch of Research on Armenian Architecture Samvel Karapetyan told the journalists on Monday.

“Indeed there was another more ancient church but it also was an Armenian church,” the expert said adding there was a church which was mentioned in the French traveler Jean Chardin’s notes dating back to 1672.

The expert was also surprised at the Georgian side’s statements that the fires on Jan. 2 and 9 were caused by children’s carelessness. Besides, he disapproved ‘calm’ attitude shown by the Armenian Ministry of Culture on this regard. He said one of the columns is fully damaged and the dome may be destroyed at any moment.