11111The Armenian church in Târgu-Ocna is dedicated to the “Assumption of Mary” and was built for the first time in 1683 (according to other sources in 1662) and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged in 1860, as it arises from the inscription in Greek language placed above the entry door into the narthex: “This church, former «Virgin Mary» monastery, built by the landowner Gheorghe Ursache in 1683 and dedicated by will to the holy monastery of «Iviron» from Mount Athos, being damaged and ready to collapse, was rebuilt and enlarged with the help of God and on the expenses and under the surveillance of the venerable archimandrite and abbot Damaschin Iviritul, in 1860 (for 202 years it was a monastery).” In 1808, the Armenian clergyman Minas Băjăşkian mentioned a wooden Armenian church. A statistics of the Armenians in Târgu-Ocna, from 1809, recorded one wooden church, where a priest and a parish clerk were serving.
11111In 1885 the church became a parish with priests. In 1928 – 1929 the church was painted in oil and in 1968 in fresco by the painter Dimitrie Hornung. In 1987 – 1989, through the diligence of the Parochial Council members, parishioners and other believers, the painting was reconditioned and repainted.
11111The present-day church was rebuilt in 1859 – 1860 in bricks and ashlar. It was rehabilitated in 1914, 1934, 1968 and 1982. Inside, the church is built in shape of clubs and outside in shape of Greek cross, with arches and consoles that support the main steeple. It has a very well-proportioned architecture and an imposing iconostasis painted by D. Petrescu. The design is similar to that of other Armenian churches in Moldavia, but has some annexes (baptizes rooms, the porch) much smaller in size. The steeple of the nave is octagonal, made out of planks, with tall and narrow windows and the belfry is situated on the west porch. Unlike the churches in Roman and Iași, the belfry is smaller, with straight edges and semicircular windows bays at the top. On the south side of the church are two lateral entrances, one providing access into the nave through an open porch – modest in size but very beautiful, in neoclassical style – and the other one into the narthex, crossing the western porch.
11111Above the porch is the belfry with four bells, one of them has an inscription in Greek. Being the church of a community of wealthy merchants it also had a beautiful parochial house, demolished in 1985. In the same year was demolished a very beautiful wrought iron fence which enclosed the church and the parochial house. This fence was moved at the Armenian Church in Roman.
11111Today, this beautiful church is in conservation because the number of Armenians in town is very small. The cemetery has been significantly diminished as a result of the construction of a railway at the end of the 19th century. In this cemetery one can find interesting tombstones.