Preliminary communication

On Armenian and Croatian Contacts

Vinicije B. LUPIS ; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Regional Centre Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

Abstract

Dubrovnik, as an important trade centre between the East
and West, was the meeting place of different peoples and
cultures. Among the many foreigners in Dubrovnik there
were also the Armenians. A special bond between Dubrovnik
and Armenia is also the cult of the city's patron saint
St. Blaise from Armenian Sebaste, in addition to the older city
patron saints of St. Zenobius and Zenobia, who are originally
from Lesser Armenia, as is the cult of the Forty Holy Martyrs of
Sebaste. Of the Dubrovnik Armenians, who were mostly traders,
the most renowned in history is Giuro Baglivi Armeno. The
archbishop Rajmund Jeli} from Dubrovnik was a religious leader
of the Catholic Armenians in Asia Minor at the beginning of the
18th century and exchanged letters with the priest Mkhitar, the
founder of the Armenian Catholic Mkhitarist order. The most important connection between the Armenians and Croats is the
Jesuit Josip Marinović from Perast; he wrote the first history of
Armenians in the West, thus laying the foundations of
contemporary research of Armenian history in Europe. During
the 19th and early 20th centuries the citizens of Dubrovnik
maintained their contacts with the Armenians resulting in the
archbishop of Sebaste’s visit to Dubrovnik in 1902. The interest
of Dubrovnik’s citizens in the place of birth of their patron saint
has continued to the present day, which is proof of a permanent
spiritual bond connecting the Croatian and Armenian peoples.

Keywords

Armenians; St. Blaise; Josip Marinović; Rajmund Jelić; Mkhitar; Smyrna

Hrčak ID:

37186

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/37186

Publication date:

30.4.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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