INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARMENIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS HELD IN LVOV
armradio.am
03.07.2008 11:55
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 Lvov; and
the Institute of Ukrainian Archeography of the Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences, Lvov Branch, was held in Lvov, 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 Lvov will evolve into
a pattern of periodically held conferences.