Armenians of Romania

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Romanian. (June 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Romanian article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 285 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Romanian Wikipedia article at [[:ro:Armenii din România]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ro|Armenii din România}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Armenian. (July 2013) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Armenian article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Armenian Wikipedia article at [[:hy:Հայերը Ռումինիայում]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|hy|Հայերը Ռումինիայում}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Part of a series on
Armenians
Armenian culture
Architecture · Art Cuisine · Dance · Dress Literature · Music · History
By country or region
Armenia · Artsakh See also Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian diaspora Russia · France · India United States · Iran · Georgia Azerbaijan · Argentina · Brazil Lebanon · Syria · Ukraine Poland · Canada · Australia Turkey · Greece · Cyprus Egypt · Singapore · Bangladesh · China
Subgroups
Hamshenis · Cherkesogai · Armeno-Tats · Lom people · Hayhurum
Religion
Armenian Apostolic · Armenian Catholic Evangelical · Brotherhood
Languages and dialects
Armenian: Eastern · Western
Persecution
Genocide · Hamidian massacres Adana massacre · Anti-Armenianism Hidden Armenians
v t

Armenians have been present in what is now Romania and Moldova for over a millennium, and have been an important presence as traders since the 14th century. Numbering only in the thousands in modern times, they were culturally suppressed in the Communist era, but have undergone a cultural revival since the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

History[]

The distribution of Armenians in Romania (2002 census)

Danubian Principalities[]

The earliest traces of Armenians in what was later Moldavia are dated by 967 (recorded presence in Cetatea Albă). Early Armenian Diasporas stemmed in the fall of the Bagratuni rule and other disasters, including the Mongol invasion. In 1572–1574, Ioan Vodă cel Cumplit was Hospodar (Prince) of Moldavia, grandson of Stephen the Great, son of Bogdan III and his Armenian concubine Serpega.

Armenian expatriates were awarded tax exemptions at different times in the Danubian Principalities' history. Encouraged to settle as early as the 14th century, they became a familiar presence in towns, usually as the main entrepreneurs of the community – for this, in early modern Botoșani and several other places, Armenians as a guild were awarded political representation and degrees of self-rule. A considerable number of noble families in the Principalities were of Armenian descent.

In Bucharest, an Armenian presence was first recorded in the second half of the 14th century – most likely, immigrants from the Ottoman-ruled Balkans, as well as from the area around Kamianets-Podilskyi and towns in Moldavia; throughout the 19th century, a large part of Armenian Bucharesters had arrived from Rousse, in present-day Bulgaria. The Gregorian Armenians were given the right to build a church around 1638 – it was rebuilt and expanded in 1685, but was damaged by the Russian attack during the 1768–1774 war with the Ottomans.

Citizenship was bestowed on the community only with the decision taken by the international protectorate over the two countries (instituted after the Crimean War and the ensuing Treaty of Paris) to extend civil rights to all religious minorities.

Transylvania[]

Armenians of Transylvania (1850)

Armenians were present from early on in Transylvania, clearly attested in a document issued by Hungarian King Ladislaus IV the Cuman (late 13th century). Here, they were even allowed to found their own trading towns, the most notable one being Gherla, called Armenopolis/Armenierstadt or Hayakaghak (Հայաքաղաք). The second important Armenian town in Transylvania is Dumbrăveni (Elisabethstadt).

Despite their increasing autonomy, the townspeople's adherence to the Roman Catholic Church was nonetheless demanded (a conversion begun through the efforts of a Botoșani-born prelate, Oxendius Vărzărescu), and further submitted to forced integration by the Habsburg monarchy since the 18th century. The Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania is nowadays centered on Gherla, and is placed under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Roman-Catholic Church archbishops of Alba Iulia.

Most Armenians from Transylvania were magyarized in the last half of the 19th century.

Romania[]

After the Armenian genocide of 1915, Romania was the first state to officially provide political asylum to refugees from the area.

In 1940 about 40,000 Armenians lived in Romania. Under communist rule, Armenians started to leave the country, and Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime eventually closed all Armenian schools.

Religion[]

There is thr Zamca Armenian Apostolic Monastery in Mânăstirea Zamca, Suceava.

• 

  Armenian Church in Bucharest

• 

  Armenian Catholic cathedral in Gherla

• 

  Zamca Monastery in Suceava

• 

  Armenian Church in Iași

Notable Romanians of Armenian descent[]

Romanians of Armenian descent have been very active in Romanian political, cultural, academic and social life. Most worthy of mention would be Vazgen I, Catholicos of Armenia, and Iacob Zadig, a general in the Romanian Army during World War I.

• 

  John III the Terrible

• 

  Manuc Bei

• 

  Gheorghe Asachi

• 

  Garabet Ibrăileanu

• 

  Vazgen I

• 

  Varujan Vosganian

• 

  Vasile G. Morțun - journalist, politician, and art collector

• 

  Virgil Madgearu, politician, prominent member and main theorist of the Peasants' Party

See also[]

• Armenian diaspora in Europe
• Armenian-Romanian relations
• Gherla

References[]

• Armenians in Romania at the Central European University site (retrieved on 28 November 2005)
• (in Romanian) Armenii ("The Armenians"), on Divers online bulletin of ethnic minorities in Romania (retrieved on 28 November 2005)
• Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient și Occident. Țările române la începutul epocii moderne ("Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian lands from at the beginning of the modern era"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995, p. 178
• Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the earliest times to our day"), Ed. Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966, p. 98, 270-271
• Nicolae Iorga, Choses d’art arméniennes en Roumanie ("Artworks of Armenians in Romania"), 1935
• Kornél, Nagy (2011). "The Catholicization of Transylvanian Armenians (1685-1715): Integrative or Disintegrative Model?". Integrating Minorities: Traditional Communities and Modernization. Cluj-Napoca: Editura ISPMN. pp. 33–56. ISBN 9786069274491.

External links[]

• (in Romanian) Ararat online
• List of Armenian Churches in Romania
• (in Romanian) Marius Vasileanu, "Biserica Armeană" ("The Armenian Church"), in Adevărul