• Former Armenian Catholic Church 2

Former Armenian Catholic Church

Images

ID:
2469
Place
Chernivtsi
Date:
1905-1914
Technique:
Photograph (printed on paper)
Size of the resource:
120х60 mm
Creator
Unknown
Collection
Helmut Kusdat
Copyright
Helmut Kusdat
Publisher
Unknown
Description
The photo shows the church of the Armenian Catholics. It was built in style combining byzantine, romanesque and gothic elements, most likely by the architect Josef Hlavka, and consecrated in 1875 to the Apostles Peter an Paul.
The oldest Armenian settlements in the southern Bukowina date back to the 14th c. After the annexation of the Bukowina by Austria in 1774, Catholic Armenians (Uniates) moved in from the Galician capital of L’viv (Lemberg) which was home to an old and significant Armenian community. An Amenian-Catholic parish was founded in 1836. The church on the photo was built in a time when the Armenian community was not only very small but almost entirely assimilated to the Polish community of Chernivtsi. In 1910 Chernivtsi was home to 311 Armenian Catholics and 31 Armenian Orthodox. Among them were wealthy and well respected merchants and landowners. The church was the only place to cultivate and remember on own Armenian traditions and identity. It was used as a warehouse in Soviet times and serves as a concert hall today. In the background the Greek-Orthodox Cathredral can be seen.
Helmut Kusdat
Tags:
Czernowitz, church
Category:
Religious Buildings
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