PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ms. Gloria Caudill, Administrator
Tel: (734) 763-0622
Email: gcaudill@umich.edu

International Conference on Armenian-Ukrainian Relations
Held in L’viv, Ukraine
Co-sponsored by the Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan

The international conference on Armenian-Ukrainian
relations, sponsored jointly by the Armenian Studies Program at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the Peter Jacyk Centre for
Ukrainian Historical Research of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian
Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada; the Ukrainian Catholic
University in L’viv; and the Institute of Ukrainian Archeography of
the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, L’viv Branch, was held in L’viv,
Ukraine, from 28 to 31 May, 2008. The conference was made possible
with academic planning and contribution as well as financial support
by the sponsoring organizations.
Twenty papers were read by scholars from Armenia, Canada,
Germany, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine on various aspects of
Armenian-Ukrainian relations over the past five hundred years. The
papers covered such aspects
as the administrative structure and privileges of Armenian communities
in Ukraine, social realities, cultural influences, church and
religion, identity and literature, and art and architecture. Many of
the papers were based on archival materials or took a fresh look at
the field, at once reflecting an on-going lively interest, and one of
the major goals of the conference: to shed new light on the
Armenian-Ukrainian relations.
Originally conceived by Kevork B. Bardakjian of the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Frank Sysyn of the Peter Jacyk
Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research, both of whom chaired
sessions and acted as discussants, the conference was an important
step towards realizing one of the fundamental and long-standing
elements of the mission of the Armenian Studies Program at Michigan to
act as a catalyst for promoting and fostering Armenian Studies in
various parts of the world. It is hoped that the precedent set in
L’viv will evolve into a pattern of periodically held conferences.
The papers will be posted on the websites of both the Armenian
Studies Program and the other sponsoring organizations at the same time as
plans are developed to publish the proceedings as a volume in English.