Polish Armenians Research Articles

Inauguracja prac Ośrodka Badań nad Kulturą Ormiańską w Polsce przy Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie

Inauguration of the Research Centre for Armenian Culture in Poland as a part of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow
 The inauguration of the Research Centre for Armenian Culture took place on January 21, 2019 at the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.The Centre was founded on the basis of old and contemporary achievements of Kraków armenologists and armenists. They were accompanied by the constant interest of Polish Armenians – from Kraków, Warsaw, Gdańsk, Lower and Upper Silesia. Such support was invaluable in the efforts to create the Centre, because it demonstrated not only the scientific but also the social need for research in this field. In this atmosphere, in recent years, important initiatives for Polish armenology were born – the magazine Lehahayer, devoted to the history of Polish Armenians, financially supported by the Lanckoroński Foundation, the Jagiellonian University and the Gumiński Foundation (this year, the 6th edition will be released), and a series of archival sources, Historical Monuments of Polish Armenians, implemented under the care of the Foundation for Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians thanks to a grant from the National Humanities Development Program. In organizational terms, however, these activities were semi-private or, so to speak, partisan. They were institutionalized when the Centre was founded.

Konferencja „Ormianie polscy. Siedem wieków istnienia” Warszawa, 19 września 2017 roku

Conference „Armenians in Poland. Seven Centuries of History”Senator Jan Żaryn, the Culture and Media Committee of the Senate, the Polish Academy of Art and Sciences in Kraków, with the help of the Armenian Culture Association and the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians, organised an international conference „Armenians in Poland. Seven Centuries of History” on 19th September 2017. The conference was to celebrate the 650 anniversary of issuing the privilege for Grigor, an Armenian bishop of Lwów, by King Casimir the Great on 20 January 1367. The bishop was consecrated and sent to the Kingdom of Poland by M esrob Artazetsi, the catholicos of Sis in Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

Milites et nobiles: Ormianie a stan szlachecki Królestwa Polskiego i Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego od XIV do XVI wieku

Armenians and Noble Status in Kingdom of Poland and Great Duchy of Lithuania, 14th-16th CenturiesArmenians living in Kingdom of Poland and Great Duchy of Lithuania were mostly burghers, however, cases of social advancement were noted on Ruthenian territory officially belonging to the Crown. Initially, the advancement was possible only for royal court-based Armenian translators, but later also for those with merits for the country’s defence. Another way to advance socially was to marry a Polish nobleman. In such marriages religious differences rarely posed a serious problem; generally, females did not need to convert from their Christian Armenian denomination. Nevertheless, ennoblement was rarely attractive for Polish Armenians at that time; trade and other typically burgher activities brought more profit than the landownership privilege. For this reason ennobled men and their descendants often took on those activities anyway and pleaded their noble status only to escape inconvenient legal consequences or town court. A few Polish noble families of Armenian origin are dated back to that time: the Tyszkiewicz, the Siekierzyński, the Balicki, the Zwartowski, the Sołtanowicz-Chalepski, the Lenkowicz-Ipohorski, the Iwaszkiewicz, the Makarowicz, the Domażyrski, the Pleszkowski.

Projekty genealogiczne Fundacji Kultury i Dziedzictwa Ormian Polskich

Genealogical Projects of the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish ArmeniansThe Foundation of the Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians located in Warsaw collects both original and copied birth certificate registries dated at the times from 17th to 20th centuries and coming from Armenian Catholic parishes. The Foundation catalogues and translates them from Kipchak, Armenian and Latin into Polish. Additionally, it collects information on grave inscriptions and photographs. All data is being stored electronically and published online. It serves the purpose of compiling genealogical trees of Armenian families living in Poland (over 5000 people in 9 generations) and creating an online biographical dictionary of Polish Armenians (WikiOrmianie, over 1200 biograms).

"Pomniki Dziejowe Ormian Polskich" – nowa seria źródłowa dotycząca społeczności ormiańskiej w Polsce

„Historical Memorials of Polish Armenians” – a New Source Edition Series about Armenian Community in PolandA five-year-long research and editing project “Historical Memorials of Polish Armenians”, funded from “The National Programme for Development of Research in Humanities” of the Ministry of Education in Poland has been led by the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians and headed by Krzysztof Stopka. Other people involved in the project are: Monika Agopsowicz, Armen Artwich, Andrzej Gliński, Tomasz Krzyżowski, Marcin Łukasz Majewski, Hripsime Mamikonyan, Tatevik Sargsyan, Edward Tryjarski, Franciszek Wasyl and Andrzej A. Zięba. The aim of the project is to edit and publish the sources contributive to the history of Armenians in Poland between the 14th and 18th centuries. The historical sources are to be translated from Kipchak, Armenian and Latin into Polish. Volumes 1 and 2 comprise of: Zapisy sądu duchownego Ormian miasta Lwowa za lata 1564-1608 (Records from the Spiritual Court of Lwów’s Armenians between 1564-1608), Metryka katedry ormiańskiej we Lwowie za lata 1635-1732 (Lwów Cathedral Baptism Records from 1635-1732) and Zbiórki pieniężne gminy Ormian lwowskich za lata 1598-1637 (Tax Collections of the Armenian Community in Lwów from 1598-1637); volume 3 is to include Travel Notes by Simeon Lehatsi (in Armenian), volume 4 is to include Chronology, or church yearbooks by Stepanos Roshka; volume 5 is to include a translation of A Journey to Poland and other countries where exiles from Ani live by Minas Bzhyshkyan. Volume 6 Nowy Aliszan (New Alishan) references the historical sources collection published in 1896 by Ghewond Alishan, however, volume 6 is a new critical edition with many documents of which Alishan was unaware.

Najnowsza edycja źródłowa profesora Edwarda Tryjarskiego

The Latest Source Edition by Prof. Edward TryjarskiThe author highly values the latest source edition contributive to history of Armenians from Lwów by prof. Edward Tryjarski (Zapisy sądu duchownego Ormian miasta Lwowa za lata 1564-1608 w języku ormiańsko-kipczackim (Records from the Spiritual Court of Lwów’s Armenian between 1564-1608 in Armenian-Kipchak language), Kraków 2017, v. 1 of the series Pomniki dziejowe Ormian polskich [Historical Memorials of Polish Armenians], s. 791, CD). It documents the activity of the institution vital both to the Armenian self-government and Polish judicial system. The reviewer includes a few transcriptions of texts in Kipchak-Armenian ethnolect used by Armenians from Lwów drawn up by himself.

Ormianie w świetle zapowiedzi przedmałżeńskich rodzimej parafii w Kutach

Armenians in the Light of the Premarital Announcements of the Native Parish in Kuty. Edit Source. Part 2: years 1915-1953The archives of the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians (Warszawa) have preserved a book of premarital parish announcements in Kuty of 1893-1953. In addition, a book of premarital announcements from the years 1860-1892 was published on the website of that institution. This article is an edition of source material which, chronologically, falls within years of 1915-1953. The purpose of this article is to describe the „matrimonial market” of Armenians in Kuty and its ethnic background in particular. It is also a useful material for genealogical, demographic and social research for interested readers.

Ormianie polscy w Besarabii

Polish Armenians in BessarabiaPolish Armenians used to settle in Bessarabia since the early years of Russian rule in this province (after 1812). Initially their activities focused on the lease of land, rearing cattle and its export to Austria. In the second half of the 19th century the wealthiest representatives of these people (families such as Antoniewicz, Demianowicz, Negrusz, Ohanowicz, Szymonowicz) managed to accumulate considerable capital, owing to which they managed to purchase and acquire ownership of great estates in northern Bessarabia. The circumstances of their rise in economic status were a source of controversy and they were strictly associated with the problem of the estates of foreign religious orders. The peak of the influence of Polish Armenians in Bessarabia was associated with the final two decades of Russian rule in that province i.e. the turn of the 20th century. In this context, the figure of Antoni Demianowicz was crucial. He was a deputy during all four terms of the Russian State Duma and one of the principal Bessarabian politicians of this period. The outbreak of the Russian revolution put an end to the “golden age” of the Polish Armenians in Bessarabia, whose fate was sealed by the Romanian agricultural reform of 1920 and the deep crisis which struck this province in the inter-war period.

Niedotrzymanie kontraktu zaręczynowego u Ormian polskich (na przykładzie procesu sądowego z 1698 roku w Stanisławowie)

The Failure to Keep the Terms of a Betrothal Contract Among Polish Armenians (on the Basis of a Lawsuit of 1698 in Stanisławów)Cases associated with the failure to keep the terms of nuptial contracts are relevant for the study of various aspects of the functioning of the burgher family in the Old Polish period. In Armenian records of court proceedings from Stanisławów (now: Ivano-Frankivsk) there were about a dozen of cases from which we may infer that there where situations when the terms of a contract were not kept. The position of a woman in a family depended to a great extent on the terms of a nuptial contract.

Stanisław Barącz. Osobowość twórcza niewidomego poety (fragmenty)

Stanisław Barącz. The Creative Personality of a Blind PoetThe poetry of Stanisław Barącz (1864-1936), a blind artist associated with Lwów, belongs to the literary output of the Young Poland period. It involves poems and translations from foreign languages (German and French), as well as texts set to Karol Szymanowski’s music. The poet had an Armenian background, he was involved in the communal life of Polish Armenians in Lwów and he also translated Armenian poetry. Maria Łukasiewicz, a student of Stanisław Pigoń, in her 1952 work (which is published here for the first time) performed an in-depth and unique in scholarly literature analysis of the works of this forgotten poet. She performs a holistic overview of the author’s own works and his translations from other languages, and she discusses the following: themes and thematic motifs, composition, literary technique (style, the study of stanzaic forms, musical elements, work with a text), focusing on the crucial problem of the creative imagination of the blind poet (the visual and colour-related aspects). She also compares Barącz’s poetry with the creative works of the Young Poland period.

Życie towarzyskie Ormian lwowskich od połowy XIX wieku do 1939 roku

<p style="text-indent: 1.25cm; margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%;" align="JUSTIFY">W tekście zostało przedstawione życie towarzyskie Ormian polskich zamieszkujących we Lwowie bądź też związanych z tym miastem koneksjami rodzinnymi w okresie od połowy XIX w. do 1939 r. Ze względu na zachowane materiały źródłowe przedmiotem rozważań były sfery ziemiańskie oraz inteligencja. W pierwszej części autorka podjęła problematykę skomplikowanej kwestii „dziwnej” tożsamości Ormian zamieszkujących na terenach polskich. Wykazała, iż na początku XX w. wykształciła się specyficzna tożsamość Ormian polskich, co można określić łacińską formułą <em>gente Armeni natione Poloni</em>. Ich odmienność od etnicznych Polaków polegała na pamięci o innym pochodzeniu, innym rodzie (<em>gens</em>), a jedynym namacalnym dowodem pozostał obrządek. Następnie omówiła konkretne przykłady życia towarzyskiego, opisując bale karnawałowe, zarówno te organizowane w prywatnych domach, jak i te oficjalne (w tym słynny z okresu międzywojennego na całą Polskę „bal ormiański”), omówiła najbardziej popularne sposoby spędzania wolnego czasu – życie salonowe, organizacje i uczestnictwo w potańcówkach, przedstawieniach teatralnych, koncertach muzycznych imprezach charytatywnych, polowaniach, gonitwach koni; wyjazdy na kuracje oraz wczasy zagraniczne. Dzięki artykułowi możemy poznać zwyczaje i reguły panujące w tym środowisku na przestrzeni omawianego okresu oraz śledzimy proces akulturacji Ormian. Artykuł jest szczególnie cenny dla współczesnej mniejszości ormiańskiej, która jest bardzo aktywna w odkrywaniu i pielęgnowaniu historii swojego narodu. Dzięki niemu członkowie niektórych rodów – zwłaszcza ci odkrywający dopiero swoją „ormiańskość”, mogą również poszerzyć wiedzę o swoich przodkach.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%;" align="JUSTIFY"><span lang="en-US"><br /></span></p>

Przemiany społeczności ormiańskiej w Polsce pod wpływem unii ze Stolicą Apostolską

Transformation of the Armenian Community in Poland under the Influence of the Union with the Holly See
 The article is an outline of the problem and the introduction to further research on the process of Latinization of the rites of Polish Armenians. So far researchers have primarily underlined the influence of the Catholic Church on Polonization of Armenians. They indicated that the union between Armenian and Catholic churches accelerated the process of Catholization of Armenian settlers. However questions on what the Catholization process actually looked like, its course, and symptoms have remained mostly unanswered. The way the unification process was accomplished in 1630 by bishop Mikołaj Torosowicz, himself a rather controversial personality, accompanying conflicts and divisions in the initial period contributed to deepening the existing differences. The author is trying to find answers to several important questions, among the others of how the activity of the Papal College in Lvov and the convent of Armenian Benedictine nuns contributed to the rapproachement of both rites. How was Latinization reflected in Armenian rites (new services, prayers, and songs that emerged)? What were the new places of religious cult taken over or adopted by Armenians from the Roman Catholic Church? What role did the Armenian Synod in Lvov in 1689 play in the history of Armenian Catholic Church? How was the adoption of the church union by Armenians reflected in culture and arts (among the others in music, architecture, painting, miniature, and language)? Such information will enable to formulate initial conclusions of the influence of the Latin Church on religious and social life of Polish Armenians in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. They will also allow to answer the question whether the adoption of the church union by Armenians really contributed to their Polonization, as indicated by historiography (particularly the Ukrainian one) or was the process easier due to acculturation which occurred much earlier.

Ormianie w świetle zapowiedzi przedmałżeńskich rodzimej parafii w Kutach. Edycja źródła

Armenians in Light of the Premarital Announcements of the Native Parish in Kuty. Edit Source. Part. 1: The Years 1860-1914
 In the archives of the Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians (Warszawa) has been preserved a book of premarital parish announcements in Kuty from 1893-1953. In addition, a book of premarital announcements from the years 1860-1892 was published on the website of that institution. This article is an edition of this source material, which, chronologically, belongs to Galician times (1860-1914). The purpose of this article is to describe the „matrimonial market” of Galician Armenians, especially its ethnic background. For interested readers it is also a useful material for genealogical, demographic and social research.

Opowieści ormiańskie z miasteczka Kuty w tłumaczeniu na język polski wraz z komentarzami

Armenian Tales from the Town of Kuty Translated into Polish and Annotated
 The small town of Kuty on Cheremosh river was the last place in Poland where the local west Armenian dialect was spoken until World War II. Rev. Kazimierz Roszko in the 1950’s met some persons living in various places of central and western Poland who were last native speakers of the dialect. He recorded their tales in Latin transcription and published them in the annual “Folia Orientalia” (Cracow 1959, 1961) with French translation and glossaries. Now prof. Andrzej Pisowicz, a specialist in Armenian linguistics, is presenting his translation into Polish of the texts gathered and published by Rev. K. Roszko. A. Pisowicz is also commenting on some difficult words of the extinct dialect of Polish Armenians.

Agnus Dei cum labaro, czyli znak i herb Ormian polskich – dzieło Katarzyny Agopsowicz

Agnus Dei cum labaro – the Sign and Coat of Arms of Polish Armenians, the Work of Katarzyna Agopsowicz Armenian communities, which existing in Polish cities from the 14th to the 18th centuries, had the status of self-governments and as such used coats of arms. Most often it was a sign of a lamb with labarum (Agnus cum labaro). The same sign also repeated in the heraldry of noble gentry of Armenian origin, and was present in many artistic images and literary statements of Polish Armenians. Today the sign returned as the symbol of the group. On the occasion of the 650th anniversary of granting the Armenians the first privilege by King Casimir the Great (1367), Katarzyna Agopsowicz, graphic designer and the author of animated films of Armenian origin, developed a new versions of this sign and coat of arms, which constitutes her original reconstruction of historical symbols.

Depozyty cyfrowe z prywatnych kolekcji jako sposób wzbogacania zasobów bibliotek cyfrowych i ochrony dziedzictwa kulturowego

Teza/cel artykułu – Celem artykułu jest zwrócenie uwagi na potrzebę włączania do kolekcji bibliotek cyfrowych zdigitalizowanych prywatnych zbiorów bibliofilskich oraz ocena udziału tego rodzaju materiałów w zasobach polskich bibliotek cyfrowych. Metody badań – Na podstawie przeglądu materiałów informacyjnych opublikowanych na stronach internetowych bibliotek cyfrowych, Narodowego Archiwum Cyfrowego, Narodowego Instytutu Audiowizualnego oraz miejskich portali informacyjnych, prasy lokalnej publikowanej w Internecie itp. podjęto próbę oceny stopnia zainteresowania digitalizacją prywatnych kolekcji bibliofilskich wśród twórców bibliotek cyfrowych. Udział cyfrowych depozytów prywatnych kolekcji bibliofilskich w polskich bibliotekach cyfrowych zanalizowano na podstawie wyników badania ankietowego przeprowadzonego w lutym 2012 r. wśród bibliotek zrzeszonych w Federacji Bibliotek Cyfrowych. Badania obejmowały ocenę liczby zasobów cyfrowych pozyskanych ze zbiorów prywatnych, rodzaju zasobów uzyskanych z tego źródła oraz zasad współpracy z prywatnymi właścicielami. Wyniki – Stwierdzono, że obiekty znajdujące się w większości bibliotek cyfrowych to w przeważającej mierze zabytkowe i współczesne materiały biblioteczne, natomiast zbiory prywatne praktycznie wykluczone są z listy źródeł, z których pozyskiwane są zasoby cyfrowe. Dotyczy to zwłaszcza uczelnianych bibliotek cyfrowych funkcjonujących w oparciu o biblioteki tradycyjne czy cyfrowych repozytoriów związanych z różnymi instytucjami. Zbiory prywatne stanowią bardzo znikomą część opublikowanych w tych bibliotekach materiałów. Największą ilość zbiorów prywatnych zeskanowała dotąd Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa – ok. 3 tys. publikacji (2% wszystkich zbiorów). Inaczej wygląda sytuacja w bibliotekach cyfrowych ukierunkowanych na specyficzne księgozbiory, gromadzących regionalia, materiały dotyczące określonej dziedziny wiedzy, grupy kulturowej, instytucji, osoby, itd., takich jak np.: Biblioteka Multimedialna Ośrodka „Brama Grodzka” – Teatr NN, Wirtualne Archiwum Polskich Ormian czy Ziemiańska Biblioteka Cyfrowa zawierająca głównie elektroniczne reprodukcje czasopisma Wiadomości Ziemiańskie, której 100% zasobów (ok. 2 tys. skanów) pochodzi z prywatnych kolekcji. Dla tych bibliotek kolekcje bibliofilskie są bardzo istotnym źródłem pozyskiwania zbiorów, dlatego czynią one starania o ich pozyskanie. Wnioski – Nie ma w polskich bibliotekach cyfrowych zwyczaju tworzenia depozytów cyfrowych bez równoczesnego gromadzenia oryginałów. Tymczasem pozyskiwanie kolekcji bibliofilskich to znakomity sposób zarówno wzbogacania bibliotek cyfrowych o niezwykle cenne, nierzadko unikatowe druki, jak również zabezpieczania dzieł stanowiących dziedzictwo kulturowe.

Dzieje Kościoła ormiańskiego w Polsce na tle pasterskiej działalności jego arcybiskupów (rys historyczny)

This article shows eight centuries of Polish Armenians' history. Peaceful coexistence between the Armenian nation and Polish people, who represented western culture, resulted in the catholic union with the Apostolic See, which appeared to be solid. Armenian archbishops rendered a great service to consolidate the union. Most of the them were great patriots, who merged perfectly Armenian tradition and heritage with Polish culture.