Az erzsébetvárosi örmény könyvtár
Armenian Church Library in Dumbrăveni (Erzsébetváros, Elisabethopolis)

Summary/Abstract: Inaccessible to the public, a most valuable early modern Armenian church library can be found in Dumbrăveni (Elisabethopolis), Transylvania, a city populated by Armenians. Though worthwhile monographs and papers have been published about the place, only scattered information has so far been available regarding the existence of this library. After an overview of the city’s history, the present study discusses certain events in the life of the city and their bearing on the privileges in early modernity, as well as problems of ecclesiastical history. After their settlement in Transylvania, the Armenians united with the Catholic Church; consequently, Armenian-rite Roman Catholic churches and parish confraternities were established in Elisabethopolis as well. The library, located in the Armenian Catholic parish church, contains primarily the inheritance of the Armenian parsons and local intellectuals: a rich collection of volumes in Armenian, Italian, Latin, Hungarian, and German. The Armenian literature served first and foremost the purposes of the Catholic mission and church liturgy, incorporating books from Rome, Constantinople, Venice, Trieste, and Vienna. In addition to the Armenian dictionaries and lexicons, what deserves mention is the collection of Armenian missals, Bibles, and hymnaries (šaraknoc‘), as well as the works of Clemens Galanus and Jacobus Villotte. Of the manuscripts, only a portion is currently kept at Elisabethopolis; some were transferred to the Lucian Blaga University Library in Cluj, some to the Apostolic Library of the Vatican.

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