Present Situation
Since 1989, there has been an Armenian cultural and political revival in Romania. As of 2002, there were 1,780 Armenians, many of them from mixed families, and the number of native speakers of the Armenian language is 721. There is one Armenian church in Bucharest on what is called Strada Armenească ("Armenian Street"). The origin of the church is from the 17th century. But the wooden building burnt in a fire in 1781. The newer structure was built starting 1911 through the efforts of Armenian immigrants from the Ottoman Empire. The new church opened in 1915. The church is run by bishop Datev Hagopian. The Armenian community exists since almost a thousand years, and the Armenian Apostolic Diocese has a history of at least 600 years.
Also running is the Hagigadar Monastery established in 1512 with many visitors making it a tourist attraction. The community is celebrating the 500th anniversary of its establishment.
Besides the church is a two-storey cultural center with the first floor being a library of Armenian old and new books and the second floor, a museum. The library was established by literary figure Hagop Sirouni (real family name Jololian). The collection suffered after the Soviet authorities exiled him to Siberia in the 1940s and the collection was confiscated only to be returned to the Armenian community in 1987 after suffering serious losses.
The origin of the existing Armenian community is basically Western Armenian. But it suffered greatly with the establishment of communist regime, the emigration of many Armenian Romanians back to Soviet Armenia after the Second World War, the immigration waves to the West.
However the present community is being reinforced by Eastern Armenians immigrating from Armenia and other countries or by Armenian students coming to study in Romania.
The community presently publishes the periodicals Nor Ghiank (in Armenian), Ararat, and the state-sponsored Lăcaşuri de cult.
Read more about this topic: Armenians Of Romania
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