O FUNDACJI

The Foundation of Culture and Heritage of Polish Armenians was established by a decree of the Ordinary of the Armenian Catholic Church in Poland, His Eminence Cardinal Józef Glemp, Primate of Poland, on April 7, 2006. Presently, the role of Ordinary and founder is fulfilled by His Excellency Archbishop Adrian Galbas.

The guiding principle of the Foundation is the recognition that Armenians have always been, and continue to be, an integral part of Poland’s history and culture.

The Foundation’s focus lies in Armenian-related artifacts connected to Polish Armenians: printed works, manuscripts, photographs, liturgical vestments, vessels, paintings, furnishings, and memorabilia. These items are conserved, cataloged, digitized, and collected, either received as deposits or accepted as gifts.

The Foundation has developed extensive educational, research, conservation, and promotional activities. Its establishment was driven by the urgent need to care for neglected collections from the former nine Armenian Catholic parishes in the Eastern Borderlands, as well as scattered family archives.

To make these collections accessible, the Virtual Archive of Polish Armenians (WAPO) was created. Through the courtesy of the Head Office of State Archives, the Foundation utilizes the Integrated Archival Information System (ZoSIA) and the website szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl, where it publishes curated inventories and digital copies of archival materials.

Since December 2022, the Foundation has maintained a permanent exhibition titled The Treasury of Polish Armenians, open to visitors at our headquarters at 12 Świętojerska Street in Warsaw. Thematic temporary exhibitions dedicated to the history of Polish Armenians are also organized there.

Key Achievements of the Foundation:

1. Permanent Exhibition: The Treasury of Polish Armenians, opened in December 2022 at 12 Świętojerska Street, Warsaw.

2. Publications:

• • Armenian Warsaw
  • Armenian Poland
  • Women with Crosiers: Portraits of the Abbesses of the Armenian Benedictine Convent in Lviv: History, Contexts, Conservation (in collaboration with the Center for Research on Armenian Culture in Poland)
  • Armenian Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz: An Outstanding Polish Priest, Preacher, and Statesman (with a CD of original recordings)
  • Stepan Lisicjan: From Armenia’s Past
  • Derenik Demirczian: Vardanids (Volumes I and II)
  • Polish Armenians: Culture and Heritage (in cooperation with the “Lehahayer” Library)
  • Polish Armenians in Descriptions and Images
  • Marcin Ł. Majewski: Hungarians, Scots, and Armenians
  • Zbigniew Manugiewicz and Jerzy Tustanowski: At the Foot of Ovid: The Rise and Fall of the Kuty Community on the Cheremosh River
  • A map titled Armenians in the Lands of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 16th to 18th Centuries
  • 16 editions of calendars
  • Volumes from the series Monuments of Polish Armenian History, funded under the Ministry of Education and Science’s “National Program for the Development of Humanities” (2017–2024, project no. 22H 16 0433 84):
    • Records of the Armenian Ecclesiastical Court in Lviv, 1564–1608, in the Armenian-Kipchak Language, edited by Prof. Edward Tryjarski
    • Jasagh of the Armenian Community in Lviv, 1598–1638, in the Armenian-Kipchak Language, edited by Krzysztof Stopka
    • Register of the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv, 1635–1732, edited by Krzysztof Stopka (Kipchak section) and Marcin Łukasz Majewski (Polish and Latin sections)
    • Symeon Lehacy: Travel Notes, translated from Armenian and edited by Hripsime Mamikonyan

3. Quarterly Journal: Awedis, published since 2007.

4. Exhibitions:

• • The Great Forgotten: Armenian Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz (1864–1938) – Outstanding Polish Priest and Statesman
  • With a View of Ararat: The Fate of Armenians in Poland (with the House of History Meetings)
  • Women with Crosiers (with the Warsaw Archdiocesan Museum)
  • Jędrzejowicze and Jędrzejewicze – Merchants, Patriots, Landowners

5. Conservation:

• Liturgical vestments (the Foundation holds a unique collection)
• paintings (of the Armenian Benedictine abbesses of Lvov)
• handwritten books and early printed works
• old photographs
• artifacts at the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv, including the “Golgotha” Chapel and the St. Christopher Column

6. Preservation of Cultural Heritage:

• • Memorial sites (e.g., the Teodorowicz plaque)
  • A virtual Powązki Cemetery with locations of graves of Warsaw Armenians and their descendants (Armenian Old Powązki)
  • Indexing of burials of Polish Armenians and related families at Lviv’s Lychakiv Cemetery
  • A genealogical tree of Polish Armenians and their descendants
  • Indexing of Armenian vital records from the Foundation’s archive and other repositories
  • An amateur choir

7. Online Portals:

• • Virtual World of Polish Armenians (ormianie.pl)
  • Virtual Archive of Polish Armenians (archiwum.ormianie.pl)
  • Wiki.Ormianie with biographies of Polish Armenians (wiki.ormianie.pl)
  • A portal with articles on the history and culture of Polish Armenians (skarbnica.ormianie.pl)
  • The website of the Awedis journal (awedis.ormianie.pl)

8. Cultural and Historical Initiatives: Participation in events such as the Night of Museums, community gatherings, the Kresy Culture Festival, Armenians Return to Piotrków, and annual commemorations of the Armenian Genocide.

The Foundation collaborates with numerous organizations and institutions in Poland and worldwide.

Our activities rely entirely on the work of volunteers, with no paid staff.

The Foundation’s ongoing operations are funded by a statutory grant from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland.