The centre for his organization, aimed in particular at establishing cultural relations between East and West, was strategically located. As Pirenne 31 observes, the city of Venice had been drawn into the political sphere of Byzantine, and had become enchanted by its glory from across the sea; in other words, had fallen under the influence of Byzantine. As we have already noted, the unique features and original culture of Armenia have often been attributed to its being, in several different aspects, a mixture of Eastern and Western cultures, a balanced union of these two great families. The city of Venice shared a similar privilege, being located between the two civilizations; and even now, Venice is known as "The Peaceful Republic".
Venice, through the Mkhitarists, came to play a vital role in the development of Armenian culture and the resurrection of the spiritual life of the Armenian nation. The city's importance is comparable to that of Ragusa (a small republic under the rule of Venice) in the renaissance of Serbia.
The Mkhitarists started, apart from the institution which they had founded in the city of Venice and which still exists, branch in the city of Trieste, on a piece of land which they had been given to by Queen Maria Theresa. Emperor Joseph II showed a special liking for this institution and gave it full privileges. In the year 1807, the Mkhitarists, who had met the anger of Mormont, were forced to leave Trieste and search asylum in Vienna. In this city, Emperor Franz II, whose wife had a Mkhitarist priest as her father confessor, gave them the old monastery which belonged to the Capucines. 36
These two institutes left a lasting impression on Armenian cultural life and its renaissance. According to Georges Brandes, these two institutions were equivalent to Armenian universities, being centres for studies, research and writing. 37 Their collected libraries of handwritten books were remarkable. From 1816 onwards the administration of the city of Venice founded an academy and accepted all the academics who had been working on studies of the Armenian language and history, regardless of their religion.
The Mkhitarist, even during the time of Mkhitar himself, published several useful works, the majority of which were about linguistics and grammar. Under Mkhitar's successors, especially during the time of Akontz Kövers (Kövers was from a noble family in Transylvania and led the Mkhitarist between 1800 and 1824), the Mkhitarist printed several famous works. In addition, they published the majority of the grammar books of western languages for Armenian students, collections for language instruction, and translations of the classic and the modern masterpieces. These constituted the foundation of teaching material in Armenian schools for most of the 19th century. 39
In addition to these publications, the Mkhitarist produced works including dictionaries, encyclopaedias, literary, historical, geographical, archaeological, and linguistic. Amongst these are the History of Armenia, written by Father Michel Tchamtchian; the Geography of Armenia, written by Lucas Injijian; historical research conducted by priest Leonce Alishan, who dedicated his book to the description of the different provinces of Armenia; a great Armenian dictionary in two volumes which was written under the supervision of Father Avkarian and published in Venice; and finally, the works of Father Dashian in Vienna.
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