«Հայ մշակույթի պատկերազարդ հանրագիտարանը Ուկրաինայում» - Իրինա ԳԱՅՈՒԿ

Irina Gayuk's article is devoted to the presentation of fragments of the "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Armenian Culture in Ukraine" — a trilingual (Ukrainian-Russian-English) publication reconstructing the history of the formation of Armenian cultural heritage in Lviv and Galicia from the 14th to the 19th century.

Introduction and Methodology

The author explains the concept of the encyclopedia through historical context: political upheavals, wars, and internal turmoil in Ukraine, as well as the notable assimilation of Armenians with Ukrainians and Poles, led to the loss of a significant part of the monuments of the ancient Armenian diaspora. At the beginning of the 20th century, this problem gave rise to the idea of collecting and preserving surviving evidence of Armenian culture, which became a response to attempts to erase the memory of Armenian roots.

Key Point: The Creation of the Armenian Museum in Lviv

Special attention is given to the figure of Bogdan Janusz — a historian, ethnographer, and Armenologist, initiator of the founding of the Archdiocesan Union of Armenians and the journal "Poslaniec sw. Grzegorza." The institutional history of the museum is traced:

the resolution of the II Congress of Polish Restorers and Museum Workers (1927) on the establishment of an Armenian Museum at the Lviv Metropolitan Curia;
the renewed approval of the idea by the V Congress of Delegates of the Union of Museum Workers of Poland (1930);
the organization of an exhibition of achievements of Armenian culture (1932), which became the actual beginning of the museum, although it never received official state status.

Crafts and Economic Life of the Armenians of Lviv

A significant part of the article is devoted to the economic and guild history of the Lviv Armenians, who dominated a number of crafts:

weapon-making and jewelry, silk weaving, carpet-making, gold and silver embroidery;
leather production (morocco leather, cordovan, chamois);
Levantine trade, diplomacy, and translation work.

Separately examined is the position of Armenian craftsmen under guild restrictions ("as schismatics"), their work as non-guild craftsmen-"partacze" on jurydykas and folwarks, as well as the gradual expansion of their rights after the Union of 1651.

Pharmacy and Science

The author covers in detail the activities of Armenian pharmacists (Abrahamowicz, Aksentowicz, Torosiewicz, and others), emphasizing the broad scope of their work — from the preparation of medicines to perfumery and culinary arts. Special attention is given to the figure of Teodor Torosiewicz — a chemist and discoverer of the mineral waters of Truskavets, whose findings were applied in quality control of alcoholic products in Lviv.

Church History

The final section examines the evolution of the Armenian Catholic church union of 1630, changes in the property and social status of the Armenian clergy, the emergence of the jurydyka of the Armenian metropolitan, and the administrative reforms of Archbishop Vardan Hunanian, which strengthened the institutional structure of the Armenian Church in Ukraine.

Conclusion

The key conclusion of the article is that Lviv remained, for centuries, the main center of Armenian cultural, economic, and church life in Ukraine, which predetermined the preservation here of the largest number of monuments of Armenian heritage in the country and led to the emergence, precisely in Lviv, of the first museum of achievements of the Armenian diaspora's culture.