Ambassador Jonathan Aves visited to the tomb of Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Kinneir MacDonald in Echmiadzin

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, ARMENPRESS: UK ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Aves visited to the tomb of Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Kinneir MacDonald in the cemetery of Saint Gayane Monastery in Echmiadzin. “One of the best things about being Ambassador is learning about the history and culture of the country you are posted to. One of the stories in Armenia which has fascinated me is Sir John Kinneir MacDonald’s role in some of the most dramatic, historic events of his time and his links withArmenia”, as reports Armenpress, ambassador said after his visit.

Sir John was the author of the 1818 best-seller, ‘A Narrative of Travels in Asia Minor, Armenia, and Kurdistan in 1813–14’. In 1824 he was appointed the Envoy of the British colonial administration in India to the Persian Shah. Sir John was involved in the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 which fixed the boundary between the Russian Empire and Persia along the Araks River, which is still the border between Armenia and Iran today. He was also on good terms with Aleksandr Griboyedov the famous Russian playwright who was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary of the Russian Tsar to Persia in 1828. After he was murdered by an anti-Russian mob, his wife Nino Chavchavadze lived for a while with Sir John’s wife in Tehran. Sir John died in Tabriz in 1830.

Thecircumstances which led to his tomb ending up in Echmiadzin are unclear.