Armenian Families Research Articles

ВРЕДОНОСНЫЕ МАГИЧЕСКИЕ ПРАКТИКИ В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ АРМЯНСКОЙ СЕМЬЕ

This article is devoted to the question of place which harmful magical practices occupy in the everyday life of modern Armenia, in particular, in the modern Armenian family. The main source of the research is field work, which was carried out in 2019 in Armenia (Yerevan, Gyumri). Interviews were conducted with informants who had encountered harmful magic or who themselves turned to sorcerers and fortune-tellers. Magical practices common in modern Armenia include fortune telling, healing, and harmful practices. The latter are often a tool for a solution to family conflicts; in interviews about witchcraft, women accused other women – their relatives – of wanting to harm their family. This may be due to the structure of the Armenian family, which remains extended and in which women become competitors with each other, vying for power in the family

Studia medyczne Jana Jaśkiewicza na Uniwersytecie Wiedeńskim (1766/1767–1775)

Jan Jaśkiewicz’s Medical Studies at the University of Vienna (1766/1767–1775) During the Age of Enlightenment, many Poles pursued medical studies at various European universities. One of them was Jan Dominik Piotr Jaśkiewicz. Born on 6 July 1749 in Lviv to an Armenian family, he moved to Vienna in the late 1760s to study medicine at the university under the supervision of renowned professors: Anton de Haën, Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, and others. Jaśkiewicz graduated in 1775 with a Doctor of Medicine degree, based on the thesis titled “Dissertatio inauguralis medica sistens pharmaca regni vegetabilis”, in which he provided a list, description, and healing properties of some plant species, arranged according to the systematics of Carl von Linnè (Linnaeus). Through his dissertation, Jaśkiewicz popularized in Poland the views of the Viennese medical school, among others, on the medical use of digitalis. For some time he remained in Vienna, attempting to secure a suitable position. Between 1780 and 1783, Jaśkiewicz expanded his knowledge of nature through travels to Italy, Germany, and France. After presenting his mineralogical observations in Paris, Jaśkiewicz was appointed as a correspondent member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. It was during this time in Paris that Jaśkiewicz met Jan Śniadecki, who later became his friend, colleague, and patient. Subsequently, Hugo Kołłątaj appointed Jaśkiewicz as a professor of natural history and chemistry at the Crown’s Main School in Kraków (Jagiellonian University). He began his lectures in Kraków on 1 October 1783. It should be emphasized that Jaśkiewicz laid the foundations for Polish scientific vocabulary. He also played a crucial role in establishing a chemical laboratory and organizing a botanical garden and a cabinet of natural history. In February 1783, Jaśkiewicz took on the position of a hospital physician (director) at the St. Barbara Academic Hospital, where he focused on organizing the hospital’s finances and management. Around the same time, he declined additional remuneration for this role. In 1787, Jaśkiewicz assumed the duties of the house physician for the Wielopolski margrave in Pińczów. Jaśkiewicz died in Kraków on 14 November 1809. Throughout his life, he was an active physician and performed his medical career independently of other duties. Jaśkiewicz gained considerable recognition and popularity for his achievements in the medical field.

Ethnicity-Related Partner Selection Experiences Among Young Adults from Christian Armenian Families: A Qualitative Study in Turkey

ABSTRACT In this qualitative study partner selection experiences of young Armenian adults were examined using Ecological Systems Theory and Filter Theory as a theoretical basis. The literature review of partner selection was reviewed in three subtitles as theoretical foundations of partner selection, partner selection studies in Turkey, and intermarriage and intramarriage in Armenians. The study was conducted with 10 participants and data analysis was undertaken through thematic analysis using MAXQDA. This approach emerged nine themes and eight subthemes across four levels. Individuals’ Filters and Preferences about Partner Selection Level themes were as follows: 1. Choosing an Armenian partner is a priority, 2. Importance of the Partner’s Ethnic Identity is Highlighted for Long-Term Relationships, 3. Implementing other selection filters than ethnic identity, 4. Advising Armenian Partner to Children without Rigid Restrictions. Impact of Immediate Social Environment level emerged as Theme 5: Community disapproves and judges out-group marriages, 6. Friends tend to select Armenian partners w/out isolating others, and 7. Families implement and contain partner restriction, Social Connection Level theme revealed: 8. Strength of ties to Armenian Culture/Community promote deeper interiorizing of ingroup partner selection, Attitudes and Ideologies of the Culture Level emerged as 9. Concerns about sustaining culture/population promote in group partner selection. Themes and Subthemes were elaborated upon and discussed in the results and discussion sections providing comprehensive insight into the partner selection experiences of young Armenian Adults. Thematic analysis of the interviews exhibited the interaction of the larger social systems during the partner selection process of Armenian young adults. Thus, this study introduced an extended framework illuminating partner selection experiences among ethnic minorities in the Turkish context

The Power of Personal Archives in Witnessing, Teaching, and Visual Storytelling: The Armenian Memory Project

Abstract The Armenian Memory Project (AMP) is a collaborative effort designed to harness the energy and resources of the University of Connecticut and the New England Armenian community for the goal of fostering greater understanding of the region’s Armenian cultural heritage and the impact human rights crimes had on the Armenian community. In 2019, students and faculty from the university worked with Armenian American institutions and individuals on an initial component of the AMP, employing digital media technology to tell the story of one immigrant Armenian family, the Dildilians. A unique course was created to produce a documentary film centring around this family’s experiences in Ottoman Turkey before, during, and after the Armenian Genocide. Designed and taught by a documentary filmmaker with support from a family archivist/historian, the course brought students together in a collaborative learning experience. By immersing themselves in the family’s extensive photograph archive, these students came to understand the important role that the past continues to play in the lives of present-day Armenians. Furthermore, by taking on the responsibility as storytellers of the Dildilian narrative, students developed a deeper identification with this distant history and, in a wider sense, an appreciation for the ethical value of memory in bearing witness to the past. This collaborative and participatory framework for teaching using archival collections can serve as a model for creating a transformative learning experience in the study of human rights, war, and genocide.

19th Century Armenian Public Companies in the Villages Adjacent to Tevrik

Key words: reforms, public, educational organizations, donation, craftsmen, porters, family, schools In the 50-60s of the 19th century, social and political life was developing both in Western and Eastern Armenia. In the socio-political life there was a struggle – the stratification of public consciousness. Along with a lively economic life, the Armenians of Tevrik were also active in the social, cultural and educational life of the empire. It was conditioned with the opportunities provided by the Tanzimat, announced by Sultan Abdul Mecid under pressure from the great European powers with the aim of “Europeanizing” the Ottoman Empire. Since the beginning of the last century, the newcomers from Tevrik, who settled in Constantinople, in the 50s of the XIX century, were able to acquire the means not only for a decent existence but also for the solution of some issues related to the enlightenment and education of the population of their hometown and surrounding villages. In this patriotic initiative, the well-known Armenian families settled earlier in Constantinople, such as the Tuzyants family, did not stand aside. A number of organizations were established not only in Tevrik, but also in the surrounding villages of Qirason, Khurnavil, Zimara and Kasma. In 19th century the organizations in Tevrik and the surrounding villages acted mainly in directions: they were engaged in educational and charitable activities. In the 19th century, Armenian non-governmental organizations based in Tevrik and neighboring villages largely ceased to exist as a result of the Armenian pogroms in the Ottoman Empire in 1895, which did not bypass Tevrik and neigbouring villages.

The Denotation of Socio-Political Infantilism in the Context of RA Democratization

The primary goal of this article is to highlight the connection between socio-political infantilism and civic subject culture. Some realities of Armenian family life contributing to the occurence of socio-political infantilism are discussed. The analysis of the results of the research done by the in-depth interview method confirmed that social infantilism makes political infantilism inevitable and subject culture is a consequence of socio-political infantilism. Thus, it also becomes clear that socio-political infantilism is an unfavorable factor in democratization processes.

Novel DCN Mutation in Armenian Family With Congenital Stromal Corneal Dystrophy.

Congenital stromal corneal dystrophy (CSCD) is a rare congenital, dominantly inherited disorder characterized by diffuse stromal opacification associated with mutations in the decorin gene ( DCN ). As only 5 families with genetically confirmed CSCD have been reported, the identification of a novel pedigree provides the opportunity to better characterize the phenotype and genetic basis. An Armenian family with individuals in 4 consecutive generations demonstrated clinical features consistent with CSCD. Consented individuals underwent slit lamp examination, optical coherence tomography, and confocal microscopy. Genomic DNA was collected from saliva and all coding and adjacent intronic regions of DCN were sequenced. In silico analysis was performed for identified mutation(s). Excised corneal tissue underwent light, electron microscopic, and immunohistochemical evaluation. Affected individuals demonstrated bilateral, diffuse, panstromal corneal opacification. Three of the 6 individuals diagnosed with CSCD underwent genetic analysis; all demonstrated a novel heterozygous frameshift deletion in exon 8 of DCN (p.His317Thrfs*11), predicted to cause a 33 amino acid truncation and to be damaging and disease causing by SIFT and MutationTaster. Light and electron microscopic examination of an excised cornea demonstrated increased corneal thickness, stromal scarring, keratocyte loss, and an irregularity of lamellar collagen spacing and fibril formation. Immunofluorescent examination demonstrated increased DCN immunostaining, predominantly in the widened interlamellar spaces. We report only the sixth pedigree with genetically confirmed CSCD, associated with a novel DCN frameshift mutation. The clinical evaluation, multimodal imaging, and histopathologic assessment in this family with CSCD broaden our understanding of this rare corneal disease.

The Admissibility of the Detention of Minors in Guarded Centers for Refugees in the Context of the Principle of Best Interests of the Child

The glossed ECHR judgment concerns the extension of detention in a guarded center of an Armenian family seeking international protection. The Court has found that Poland breached art. 5 par. 1 (f) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It has upheld its position expressed in the case of Bilalova and Others v. Poland (application no. 23685/14), that “Various international bodies, including the Council of Europe, are increasingly calling on States to expeditiously and completely cease or eradicate the immigration detention of children. The Court has found that the presence in a detention centre of a child accompanying its parents will comply with art. 5 par. 1 (f) only where the national authorities can establish that such a measure of last resort was taken after verification that no other measure involving a lesser restriction of their freedom could be implemented […]”. Therefore, the “rule of no recollection” operating in Polish legislation may be an additional test verifying the admissibility of minors’ detention in guarded centers.

Karol Mikuli, uczeń Fryderyka Chopina i dyrektor konserwatorium we Lwowie. W 200. rocznicę urodzin pianisty i kompozytora (1821–2021)

Karol Mikuli (1821–1897) pochodził z rodziny Ormian zamieszkałych w Austro-Węgrzech. Podobnie jak nauczyciel Chopina Józef Elsner, także Mikuli należał do bliskich Chopinowi osób, które medycynę porzuciły dla muzyki. W obydwu przypadkach miało to miejsce w Wiedniu. Wkrótce w Paryżu Mikuli znalazł się w najbliższym kręgu Fryderyka Chopina, pod którego kierunkiem kształcił się przez co najmniej trzy lata: 1844–1847, ale doświadczenia te wywarły wpływ na całe jego dalsze życie. Dzięki Mikulemu i jego uczniom właśnie we Lwowie tradycje chopinowskie były kontynuowane na ziemiach polskich. W latach 1858–1887 Mikuli kierował Konserwatorium Galicyjskiego Towarzystwa Muzycznego we Lwowie, gdzie w 1859 roku stworzył klasę fortepianu. Zgodnie z wolą uczniów wprowadził też do Konserwatorium język polski jako wykładowy na miejsce dotychczasowego niemieckiego. W konserwatorium, jak i w ramach lekcji prywatnych, wykształcił w sumie ponad 100 uczniów. Poza działalnością pedagogiczną organizował koncerty GTM. Był też kompozytorem, tworzącym zarówno gatunki uprawiane przez Chopina (np. mazurki i polonezy fortepianowe), jak i muzykę kameralną oraz pieśni, które wskazują na wpływ ogólnoeuropejskiego romantyzmu (kręgu niemieckojęzycznego). Dzięki działalności Mikulego to właśnie we Lwowie w 1910 roku jego dawni uczniowie zorganizowali ogólnopolskie obchody w stulecie urodzin Chopina.

SPOUSES’ COMPATIBILITY AND SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ADAPTATION IN A YOUNG ARMENIAN FAMILY

The article discusses the issue of spouse compatibility and social-psychological adjustment in young Armenian families, which, on the one hand, relies on positive feelings, emotionality, on the other hand, on the agreement of various demands (sexual, material, spiritual), including interests, opinions, views, on the value system established in the family. Aspects of psychological compatibility of couples are also presented. The discussion of the mentioned aspects reveals the supremacy of the compatibility of values ​​and their conformity in Armenian families, which ensures the mutual understanding and coexistence of young spouses. As a result of the conducted research, one of the main areas of joint life in Armenian families was revealed, that is the conformity of the value system of young spouses, which we presented in the form of a hierarchical system. The classification model of socio-psychological adjustment features of spouses in young Armenian families has also been developed. Hence, the analyzes and studies done on the issue determine the novelty of the article.

Investigation of the footprints of ecological criteria in a historical minority mansion in Kayseri Talas

Societies have reflected their cultures and lifestyles through the environment they have shaped. This is also true for minority groups in society. Environmental problems arise due to the use of all resources for cheap and fast production without considering the result of technological developments. Changes in nature, which form the basis of many disaster scenarios, also require urgent measures to be taken in many areas. Efforts should be made to minimize the damage to the environment. In this context, as in many other fields, the number of studies on ecology and sustainability in the field of architecture is increasing day by day. Ecological building designs are the most important reflection of this. In this direction, the development of certification systems and the promotion of ecological structures come to the fore. The research looks at the concepts of ecology and sustainability from a different perspective and traces the ecological architecture through a residential building belonging to minorities that can be qualified as a historical cultural heritage and located in the Yukarı Talas locality of Talas district of Kayseri. In order to produce sustainable designs in places where life is lived, it is considered important to consider the way in which human beings shape the environment in which they live in the historical process, also in minority architecture. Within the scope of the study, the mansion in Talas, Kayseri, which was built in the 19th century and passed from an Armenian family to a Turkish family in the process, was evaluated within the scope of today's ecological architecture criteria and it was found that a significant part of these criteria was met in this building. The mansion is discussed in terms of ecology, energy, economy, indoor environmental quality, health and welfare, innovation, management, land use, transportation, renewable technology, water, environmental pollution, CO2 emission, material and waste criteria. In the study; It has been determined that there are ecological approaches to the historical minority mansion. With reference to the findings, suggestions have been developed to produce ecological, nature-friendly and energy efficient structures for today and the future.

Dynamics of social practices of migration during the pandemic of the example of Republic of Armenia

Historically rich history of Armenian migration was supplemented in 2020-2021 by new social practices, including the return of migrants to their homeland during the restrictions in the first half of 2020, and new practices of quick decision-making on emigration in the fall and winter of 2020-2021. In this article, the impact of the pandemic and the development of adaptation strategies of reactive (forced), active (making a choice from the available options) and proactive (planning the prospects for self-realization, career and professional growth and development) types. These practices are considered based on the analysis of statistical data and on the basis of our own empirical research by the method of focused interviews among Armenian families.

Istanbul in the Descrizione Topografica by Cosimo Comidas De Carbognano

Cosimo Comidas De Carbognano, was born in Istanbul from an Armenian family converted to Catholicism.He was a dragoman for the Bourbon governments of the Two Sicilies and Spain in the Ottoman Empire. His curiosity about the history of Istanbul and his conviction that the various descriptions of the city, provided by foreign travellers, were incompleteasthey lacked ofʻsomeparticularitiesʼled him to write the DescrizioneTopograficadellostatopresente di Costantinopoli (Topographic Description of the Present State of Costantinopole). The book, published in 1794, is dedicated to Ferdinand IV of The Two Sicilies and it has the merit of exposinga description of the various classical monuments, both Christian and Islamic, in the city and in its surroundings in a highly contextualized manner and enriched by twenty-one illustrations. In this paper we propose some reflections on the image of Istanbul at the end of the 18 th century, based on the information provided by De Carbognano.

The school is not enough: the role of non-formal educational spaces in preserving Armenian identity in the diasporic community

ABSTRACT Diaspora communities use school education as a central way to reproduce their identity throughout generations. However, religious institutions, clubs and specific events can also perform a role in reproducing the groups’ cultural identity, working as non-formal spaces of education. We examine how diasporic Armenian families in Brazil perceive the roles that formal and non-formal education play in supporting the conservation of their Armenian identity. The paper draws from an ethnographic study conducted in Armenian ethnic institutions in Sao Paulo. Participants expressed having ambiguous feelings towards these organisations, valuing their educational features distinctly. While they do not perceive the everyday practices of the Armenian school as having a central role in reproducing cultural identities, they acknowledge that non-formal educational spaces and one-day events are pivotal to celebrate these identities.

Organizacja rzemiosła i handlu w gminie ormiańskiej w Stanisławowie w XVII i XVIII wieku

Organization of crafts and trade in the Armenian commune inStanisławów in the 17th and 18th centuries “Orientalization” of artistic taste, which could be observed in 17thcenturyPoland, contributed to the development of crafts and trade in Stanisławów.The owners of the city, the Potocki family, were aware of the benefits that the Armeniansettlement carried. In the second half of the 17th and throughout the 18thcentury, a dozen or so Armenian merchant families from Stanisławów occupiedthemselves with trade in Wallachian and Moldavian farms. Both of these countriesplayed a significant role in the transit of goods from the East. In the last decadesof the 17th century, Stanisławów to some extent replaced in oriental trade KamieniecPodolski, which was then under the Turkish rule. In the 18th century, themain subject of trade for Stanisławów Armenians became oxen and horses, importedfrom Moldova via Pokucie, and then driven to markets in Lublin, Warsawand Gdańsk, or to Silesia. Several Armenian families from Stanisławów also tradedin dried fish from the Danube, morocco leather, silk and wine imported fromHungary. In the second half of the 18th century, trade in textiles and products of Armenian furriery in Stanisławów regressed due to being cut off from the marketsafter the first partition of Poland.

Idea powrotu Ormian z rozproszenia do narodowej ojczyzny w świetle memoriałów Roberta Bogdanowicza z 1877 i 1884 roku

The idea of the return of Armenians from dispersal to their historicalhomeland in the context of the Robert Bogdanowicz’s memorials from 1877 and 1884
 The article contains an analysis of the two memorials, of which the first,from 1877, remained in the manuscript, and the second, from 1885, was publishedunder the title The question of the Church of Armenian rite and its mission, as wellas the Armenian question in the East in their own country. Both were compiled byRobert Bogdanowicz, a landowner, a descendant of an Armenian family who hadlived in Poland for at least four centuries. The memorials were inspired by the author’scorrespondence with the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire,Mikhail Loris-Melikov, and Armenian archbishop Gabriel Ayvazovski. Bogdanowiczdiscussed the issue of Armenia’s independence, and in Russia he saw a patronof the struggle for national liberation. He called for the return of Polish Armeniansto their homeland in order to rebuild the state and its culture and spread ArmenianCatholicism there. Bogdanowicz can be considered one of those political thinkers ofmodern Armenia who were the co-founders of the ideology of Armenian nationalism,although the language barrier excluded its influence on other parts of the Armeniandiaspora. He did not receive any significant response among his peers atfirst, but then gained a few like-minded followers in the generations that followed.Therefore, he can be considered a protagonist of the Armenian national renaissanceof Polish Armenians that took place between the two world wars, and whose furtherdevelopment was blocked by the destruction of their homeland in former Galicia andtheir dispersion after 1944.

Armenian family. Between tradition and modernity

Исторически семья как малая социальная группа сформировалась и существовала намного раньше многих других социальных институтов, оказалась самым устойчивым и просуществовала на протяжении многих веков. Со временем изменялись социальные формы организации семьи, ее структура, размеры, количество членов и роль главы семейства. В статье рассматривается характерная для Армении вплоть до середины прошлого века традиционная, патриархальная форма семьи. Как правило, это многодетные семьи, в которых представители нескольких поколений жили под одной крышей и вели совместное хозяйство, а количество членов семьи достигало иногда 10–15 человек. В современный период доминирующим для Армении стал нуклеарный тип семьи, состоящей только из родителей и детей. В настоящее время наблюдается сокращение числа детей в семье. В целом происходит историческая трансформация от многопоколенной, многодетной армянской семьи к простой, нуклеарной форме.

G. H. CHALKHUSHANS ACTIVITIES IN THE PEDAGOGICAL FIELD

The name of Grigory Chalkhushyan, a well-known lawyer, publicist, historian, speaker of the City Duma of Nakhichevanon-Don, originally from Armenian Crimean immigrants, is associated not only with lawmaking and success in his professional field, but also with the field of education and training of the younger generation. After graduating from the Lazarev Institute, he entered and graduated from the Law Faculty of Moscow University. Here, at the Faculty of Law, famous during this period for its liberal traditions, he met many progressive figures of that time and absorbed many of their ideas for the rest of his life. Returning to his native Nakhichevan, he is actively involved in socio-political activities. A number of files dedicated to G.H. Chalkhushyan’s pedagogical activity and pedagogical ideas have been preserved in the National Archive of Armenia. Unfortunately, there is not a single work in Russian and foreign historiography that fully analyzes the active socio-political and journalistic activities of the outstanding personality of Nakhichevanon-Don Grigory Khristoforovich Chalkhushyan. Having received a fairly conservative Armenian family upbringing, he defended traditional family values from the very beginning of his active social activity. Being a member of the Nakhichevanon-Don City Duma, he repeatedly made various proposals related to the establishment of educational affairs in the city. His pedagogical ideas were not reflected in the studies of historians and local historians. It was he who became the chairman of the association of Parent Committees of educational institutions of Nakhichevan-on-Don. The Parent Committee headed by the chairman – G.H.Chalkhushyan attached serious importance to the health and success of the students. He also called for paying attention to the problems of extracurricular supervision in order to organize places for children and youth to relax. Attention was paid to both nutrition and children’s health. The issues of moral education of children have been repeatedly noted in the reports of G. H. Chalkhushyan. One of the most important aspects of the upbringing of the younger generation, he considered the need to protect children from the harmful influence of the street. Holding the position of a public speaker of the City Duma and having excellent knowledge of the situation in Nakhichevan-on-Don in the field of education, he could not help but see how the lack of a gymnasium negatively affects the education process of Nakhichevan youth. Occupying this semi-official public position – chairman of Parents’ Committees, Grigory Khristoforovich Chalkhushyan touched upon very important issues concerning not only teachers and students, but also parents and in general everything that can affect the spiritual and physical development of children and more than once received the most sincere words of gratitude from the local Armenian society. Thanks to the research of the activities and works of this undeservedly forgotten personality, previously unexplored historical sources in both Russian and Armenian are introduced into scientific circulation.

SOME QUESTIONS ON THE HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY OF ARTSAKH (XVI-XVII CENTURIES)

This article covers several issues related to the historical demography of Artsakh in the XVI-XVII centuries, based on the information from the primary sources. To this end, we have the tasks of classifying the historical-demographic information in the prima¬ry sources, analyzing their significance in the context of general demographic processes in Armenia, showing that in the XVI-XVII centuries, despite the unfavorable regional situation, migration activities of nomadic tribes were not significant within the territory of Artsakh, and the Armenian population maintained an absolute majority. Thus, the aim of the study is to cover some issues of the historical demography of Artsakh in the above-mentioned period, in the XVI-XVII centuries, which was done by means of combination of historical and historical-comparative methods. The information collected during the research was grouped into four types: references related to deportations and mass captives, data on the number of Armenians actually living in Armenia and number of family members, information on migration of foreign (particularly Kurdish) tribes, and lists of Armenian settlements. Finally, as a result of the study, it turned out that the cases of deportation and mass captivity of the population, in contrast to most of Armenia, were relatively few in Artsakh, which is due to the preservation of the Armenian royal ins¬titution of melikdoms. In addition, it turned out that the total population of the dioceses subject to the Catholicos of St. Etchmiadzin and Gandzasar may, with some reservations, be around 3.5 million people, which was too high a figure for the period under discussion. It turned out that the average number of Armenian family members in Artsakh exceeded the general index of Armenia. One of the possible conclusions of the research was that in the historical Tsar province (in Karvachar and in the northern part of Kashatagh), the Armenian population was predominant in the XVI-XVII centuries, which is evidenced by the existence of Armenian village lists dating back to the XVII-XVIII centuries.

‘It is an Important Mission – Useful and National’ – White Spots in the History of the First Armenian Private School in Moskow

In the paper I have analysed the relations between Russian imperial policy, the history of the school and the biographies of the Armenian family Lazarovi in the context of the Armenian liberation movement in 18th and 19th century. I have followed how the colonial Russian policy changed the statute of the first Armenian private school in Moscow and Russified it – the school was designed to be orientated mainly to Armenian students and teaching European languages but was transformed into Institute of Eastern Languages. The task of the paper is to answer the questions what, by whom, and why certain aspects of the history of the school were silenced in the Russian, Soviet and post – Soviet historiography; why the question of the periodization of the Lazarev Institute for Eastern Languages still is not sufficiently decided.