Saturday, July 30, 2005

Chennai Trivia - 7

Armenians had a notable presence in Madras in 1700s. The well known land mark left behind by them is the Armenian Church in the Armenian Street. What is the other major contribution of Armenians to Madras?

Answer: The Saidapet Bridge - connecting Chennai to St. Thomas Mount was initially built by the Armenian Merchant Khojah Petrus Woskan in 1728 at the cost of Rs. 1 lakh. It was called the Marmalong Bridge then and now it is called the Maraimalai Adigal Paalam, but most of us know it as the Saidapet Bridge. There is plaque about this in the Saidapet Bus Terminus.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pondy Bazaar ?!
Btw Chenthil, make this your next trivia Qn - "Why is Pondy Bazaar named Pondy Bazaar?" ;)

Anonymous said...

Anil, that I know!!! But this Armenian influence, Mylapore?? Just guessing, since the last few questions were close to Mylapore??

ada-paavi!!!! said...

googling has resulted in
1)http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/09/21/stories/2004092100350100.htm
2)http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/12/13/stories/2004121300080300.htm

and they contain the answers, is it the father of the stthomas mt?

Chenthil said...

Prash, no.

Anil, no. I myself don't know why it is called Pondy Bazaar :-).

Krithika, may be you can explain why it is called Pondy Bazaar. Armenians were not in Mylapore, don't try to guess my mind :-).

Vatsan, you have googled correctly, but you have not got the answer yet. I will wait till today evening and then post the answer.

Anonymous said...

Ouch, I was trying to make a shrewd guess. I can hardly guess anyone's mind :)

Ravages/CC said...

Also, Coja Petrus Uscan

Chenthil said...

CCG, I did deliberate about the spelling. This spelling of Woskan I took from an Armenian site, not sure of how to verify which is the correct spellinng