The Padus-Araxes Cultural Association, based in Venice, was founded as a non-profit cultural association in 1987 by H.G. Boghos Levon Zekiyan, Gabriella Uluhogian († 2016), Francesca Olivetti Manoukian and Chiara Hayganush Megighian.
The name of the Association refers to the Latin name of two rivers, the Po and the Araxes, symbolizing respectively Italy and Armenia. This name is meant to highlight the strong cultural and social connections between Armenians and Italians that have existed for centuries.
Mission
The main aim is to preserve and enhance Armenian language and culture, especially Western Armenian, by coordinating summer intensive language programs, international conferences, exhibitions, concerts, peer-reviewed publications, and regular workshops on Armenian studies in Italy. Among these cultural activities, the most important is the Intensive Summer Course of Armenian Language and Culture that since 1986 has been held in Venice, the cradle of the Armenian “Renaissance” in the 18th century.
From 1986 until 2015, the course was coordinated closely with the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and starting 2016 with the Centro Studium Marcianum. It takes place in August (three weeks of lessons) in the building of the Studium Generale Marcianum in Venice and offers language courses at four levels: beginners, elementary, intermediate and advanced. All courses are taught in Armenian except the Armenian History course which is taught in English in group lessons involving the first, second and third level of the course.
The course has played a fundamental role in the preparation of at least three generations of diasporic Armenians, who have found an environment of armenianity beyond the stereotypes of the common vulgate. Many of them have taken positions of responsibility within their own community and some of them have returned to Armenia. In addition, the course has recorded the participation of Armenians from Armenia, who have sought the habituation with the classical orthography and with Western Armenian literature, especially that of the contemporary diaspora. Moreover, the course attracts a new generation of European Armenian scholars who are interested in the practice of speaking Armenian. Many eminent scholars participated in our summer language program: Giusto Traina (University of Paris-Sorbonne), Valentina Calzolari (University of Geneva, President of the International Association for Armenian Studies/ Association Internationale des Etudes Arméniennes), Anna Sirinian (University of Bologna), Theo van Lint (University of Oxford), Andrea Schmidt (University of Louvain), Rachel Goshgarian (La Fayette University, New York), Aldo Ferrari (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice), Andrea Scala (University of Milan) and many others.
In recent years the summer course has also been attended by ethnic Turks or Kurds who came into contact with Armenian issues during their academic studies and began to study the Armenian language and culture.
Publications
The Association has published several monographs on topics related to the main fields of Armenian studies (philology, linguistics, philosophy, history, art & architecture, visual arts, politics). Out of the collection are the monographs “Hushamatean” and “Letteratura e Mitologia” (“Literature and Mythology”). The first is a volume edited by Salpi Kasbarian for the 20th anniversary of the Intensive Summer Course of Armenian Language in Venice (2005) and collects interviews with renowned scholars who have attended the course in past years and a large amount of material related to its previous editions. In the second publication, Marc Nichanian edited a collection of essays that were written by him and students who were part of his Armenian literature lessons during 1987, and which cover the literary works of Daniel Varujan, Hagop Oshagan, Kostan Zarian, and Yeghishe Charents.
Cultural activities
The association has promoted several cultural initiatives:
– the 5th International Symposium on Armenian Art (Milan, Vicenza, Venice, Bologna, Florence, 1988). The proceedings were published in 1992 (p. 862 + illustrations).
– the exhibition “Armeni in Italia” held in Venice and Padua between September 1990 and January 1991, organized by the Association Gaudium et Spes, under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic and sponsored, among others, by the Veneto Region.
-The interdisciplinary research program with the collaboration of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia on the Armenian presence in Italy from the Middle Ages to the present day. The result was published in the volume “Ad limina Italiae. Aè druns Italioy. In viaggio per l’Italia con mercanti e monaci armeni” (Padua, 1996).
– the conference “Armeni sulle strade d’Italia” held in Turin, Genoa and Livorno from 8 to 11 March 1997.
– three international conferences during the summer school, in 1990, 1995 and 2005 respectively, on issues concerning the use of the Armenian language in Armenia and in the diaspora and on related topics, in particular the situation of the Armenian diaspora, relations between Armenia and the diaspora, as well as other cultures and languages in the light of linguistic, anthropological and sociological issues. These conferences were extensively covered in the section above dedicated to the Summer Intensive Course.
– INTAS (International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) European Union research programme leading to an international conference on: “Tiflis nell’Ottocento: storia e cultura” in June 2003.
– The workshop “Society, Religion, Thought, and Sciences in Armenia”, carried out under the patronage of the AIEA (Association Internationale des Etudes Arméniennes) within the project “Armenian Studies 2004”.
– one-day meeting on Caucasian and Armenian studies (2007-2015) held at the Department of Asian and African Studies of the Mediterranean in Venice Ca’ Foscari in collaboration with ASIAC (Association for the Study in Italy of Central Asia and the Caucasus).
– Regular annual meetings of specialists in Armenian studies (since 1997) conducting their research in Italy. The proceedings of these meetings are collected in the annual magazine Rassegna degli Armenisti Italiani, available online and in hard copy.
– Establishment of an “Armenian” section of the association called “Padus-Araxes Armenistica”. This section aims to promote new cultural activities in the field of Armenian studies, especially in Italy, coordinating the activities of numerous specialists interested in Armenian studies and promoting research programs. This section also coordinates the publications of two editorial series: the first with a philological tendency (“Armeniaca Italica”, 4 volumes published) and the second with a historical and literary character (“Carte Armene”, 5 volumes published).
– Establishment of an “Armenian” section of the association called “Padus-Araxes Armenistica”. This section aims to promote new cultural activities in the field of Armenian studies, especially in Italy, coordinating the activities of numerous specialists interested in Armenian studies and promoting research programs. This section also coordinates the publications of two editorial series: the first with a philological tendency (“Armeniaca Italica”, 4 volumes published) and the second with a historical and literary nature (“Carte Armene”, 5 volumes published).
Financial resources
As for the financial resources for the Summer School, they are mainly covered by contributions of participants and by occasional or regular donations from the Fondazione Alex e Marie Manoogian (U.S.A.), Fondazione Stefano Serapian (Milan), Walter and Laurel Karabian (Los Angeles), Mariam Hiusisian Mendigian (Milano), Anahit Drezian Ter-Minasian (Parigi), Vazken e Vartuhi Pambakian (Milano), Garo Armen (New York), Vahé Gabrache (Ginevra), Fondazione Veneto Banca, Fondazione Silla Ghedina, Dikran Gülmezgil (Istanbul). These are our first benefactors. Later other benevolent people joined to help the Association. Their names are recorded on the page ” benefactors”. From the first year of the Course, the Calouste Gulbenkian foundation has provided concessions and, in recent years, has offered its support to the Course. Unfortunately, this support was interrupted in 2023 due to a principle of ‘alternation’ in sponsorship of cultural activities.