Pontificio Collegio Armeno, Leopoli
Source: Polona / National Library of Poland / public domain
In June 1664, the Theatines Clemente Galano and Louis-Marie Pidou founded the Pontifical Armenian College in Lviv (Italian: Leopoli; German: Lemberg). The new institution formally opened in early 1665, though some courses had been offered already during the previous year. The college was established in the context of the Theatine missions in Armenia and Georgia, and sought to facilitate the reunion of the Armenian Catholic church with Roman Catholicism. As with the Theatine mission in Goa, the college in Lviv was directly dependent on the Propaganda Fide in Rome, rather than the usual organizational channels within the Theatine order.
The original location of the college in Lviv, near the church of Santa Croce (the Holy Cross), turned out to be less than desirable, reportedly plagued by an unhealthy site. Starting in 1727, the Theatines sought a better site, able to accommodate a larger building. The Propaganda Fide commissioned Nicola Salvi – the architect of the Trevi Fountain – with the task, and construction of the new building on higher ground at the edge of the city began in 1738. The college was completed in 1746, with alterations to Salvi’s plans supervised by Gaetano Chiaveri. The Theatines lost the college in 1785 due to the policies of Josephinism, and the building subsequently served as military barracks.
Today the building houses local offices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
* * *
Sources / Further Reading
“Austrian Military Barracks in Lviv – Part I,” Forgotten Galicia, 2 November 2019.
Cristiano Marchegiani, “Salvi, Nicola,” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 90 (2017).
Giovanni Scarabelli, “I Teatini a Leopoli,” Regnum Dei 59 (2003): 211-223.
Susan Klaiber 