Deep inside the alleys of Mussaffah stands a long-awaited Armenian church, which opened its doors three weeks ago.
About 1,000 Armenians live in Abu Dhabi and they are thrilled to have their own church, one that was designed according to their traditions and architectural style.
The 2,475-square-metre building has three main structures placed in a U-shape. The main church building stands on the right and next to it in the centre stands the archbishopric. On the left is a building partially constructed of glass and decorated with the Armenian alphabet. A statue of Mesrob Mashdots, the theologian and linguist who created the ancient script, lies ahead.
"Since the letters were founded in 405AD they have not changed. Only two letters were added, the O and the F," Raffi Simonian, secretary of the council of the Armenian community of Abu Dhabi said.
"[The alphabet] is very important to the Armenian identity. Even the Armenian translation of the Bible from Aramaic is considered the queen translation in the Christian world. When there are any doubts they go back to the Armenian copy."
The translation began in 406 and took Mashdots and a student three years to finish.
Mr Simonian said that the support of governments in the Middle East in general, dating back to the days of Salah Al Deen when he entered Jerusalem, helped. "They gave us the best in everything. Arabs and Muslims protected us and gave us support," he said.
When the first Armenians arrived in the capital in 1976, they established a Sunday school to teach youngsters their language and to keep the community together.
In 1980, the Armenian pope in Lebanon established a council, "and since then until 2005, we were trying to have a piece of land from the government [to build a church] but we had a problem; the members were not fixed and they kept coming and going, so the Sunday school was OK for the time being".
For church activities they used to borrow the Greek Orthodox Church every other week, and the Greek Orthodox borrowed the Armenian church in Sharjah every other week. The priest celebrated Mass one week in Sharjah and the other in Abu Dhabi.
In 2005, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, donated land upon which to build an Armenian church.
"Then we started gathering donations from the Armenian community in the UAE and Kuwait. Construction began in 2012," Mr Simonian said.
So far, a Mass is held every Friday, and celebrations for holy and national holidays will take place at the church. In the near future, a priest is expected to be based there so the church will be open on a daily basis.
Anita Shahmirzayan said she cannot wait for that to happen.
"If I’m feeling down or have a certain issue I can just go and pray, I don’t have to wait for Mass,” the 36-year old bank manager said.
The complex on the left, which contains a ballroom, will be the base for the Sunday school.
“Now we have our own church and it has a ballroom, so if there is a celebration or a funeral or any occasion we can do it here – no need to rent places," Ms Shahmirzayan said.
Once Arpy Eskenian steps inside the gate of the church she says she feels she is back home.
"When I enter I feel I am outside of Abu Dhabi and that I am existing within my own hub," she said. "Because it follows our church style, like the altar and architecture."
Mrs Eskenian, 49, plans to attend Mass weekly with her husband and son, 20.
Armenia was the first country to make Christianity its official religion, in 301.
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
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The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
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The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
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Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
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Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
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Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
The specs
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Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
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On sale: now
