Novi Sad’s Armenian Memorials: Skulls beside the Bus Stop

A churchyard without a church

The setting makes more sense once you add a building that is no longer there. Armenians leaving Belgrade in 1739, when the city returned to Ottoman rule, established a small community in Novi Sad, with an Armenian Catholic church dedicated to St Gregory the Illuminator. The family monument stood in its churchyard. What looks like an unusually placed tomb once had entirely appropriate surroundings.

The main inscription on the tomb is in German, not Armenian. Without a school of their own, Armenian children in Novi Sad were taught in German, and some families adapted their surnames. By 1939, a single registered Armenian remained in the city.

The church was demolished in 1963 to make way for the boulevard; by then, the city had no registered Armenians at all. The monument survived, although survival has involved several moves. During more recent construction work it was removed and restored. It returned in 2019, about 15 metres from its earlier spot and a little closer to the bus stop. Shortly before, remains of the Čenazi family and other Armenians buried in the former churchyard had been placed in a concrete ossuary—a chamber for human bones—beneath it.

The skulls on top are carved. The bones beneath are real.

A cross-stone, seven names

A short distance away, another reddish stone rises from a small planted patch beside the pavement. Its rough outline encloses a densely carved scene of the Crucifixion, surrounded by figures, curling leaves and interlaced patterns. Behind it, a modern glass façade favours a much simpler approach to decoration.

This is a khachkar, an Armenian “cross-stone.” These carved monuments can commemorate people, events or places, combining a cross with elaborate ornament. The form has a long history, but this example was installed in the early 1990s. Its traditional appearance gives little indication of how recent the story behind it is.

Walk around it and the carving gives way to a second stone, set facing the opposite direction. Seven names are inscribed on it. They belong to the crew of a Yugoslav transport aircraft that crashed near Yerevan on 12 December 1988 while carrying humanitarian aid to victims of the devastating earthquake in Armenia.

The khachkar commemorates those men, while also expressing gratitude to Novi Sad for sheltering Armenians in 1739. Its carved Crucifixion faces Petrovaradin Fortress, where the refugees from Belgrade first arrived. The family tomb preserves a trace of the people who made a home in the city; the cross-stone records a connection that continued after their church had gone.