The Church of the Armenian Mekhitarists, Trieste

The church is a religious building belonging to the Mekhitarist Order of the Armenian Catholic Church.

The Mekhitarist congregation was founded by Abbot Mekhitarus of Sebaste on the island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni in the Venetian lagoon.

The first Mekhitarist community in Trieste arrived in Trieste in the 18th century, encouraged by the free port of Trieste. In 1775, they obtained Habsburg citizenship granted by Maria Theresa of Austria. The Armenians then purchased the Casa Ricci in the Contrada dei Santi Martiri to make it their monastery, as well as a seminary with an adjoining polyglot printing press and a small chapel called the Church of Santa Lucia degli Armeni.

During the Napoleonic era, the Armenians were persecuted, and in 1810, the Mekhitarist friars were expelled to Vienna and expropriated of all their property. In 1846, the Armenians obtained imperial permission to return to Trieste and began building a church for the Mekhitarist Congregation of Vienna, at the request of Archbishop Iacopo Bosagi and with the contribution of the Armenian merchant Gregorio Ananian.

The church was designed in 1859 by architect Giuseppe Bernardi and built on land owned by the Giustinelli family. Construction began in March of the same year, and the blessing was celebrated on May 1, 1859, with the consecration to Our Lady of Grace. Shortly thereafter, the Mekhitarists also opened a boarding school on the so-called Armenian Hill.

In November 1894, the Gorizia musician Julius Kugy donated his organ, built in Vienna by the Rieger brothers, to the church.

The church’s altars once housed an altarpiece donated by Pope Pius IX, depicting Saint Lucy by the Nazarene painter Friedrich Overbeck, and an altarpiece of Saint John of Nepomuk donated by Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg. Both pieces have since been lost.

The church, school, and boarding school are currently unusable and closed, and in a state of severe neglect and decay.

Group: Religious Structure

Type: Church

Century: 19th century

Geography: Trieste, Italia

Latitude: 45.64594380472489, Longitude: 13.766793746030169

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