O armensko-hrvatskim odnosima
On Armenian and Croatian Contacts

Summary/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 Jelić 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.

• Details
• Contents