The Lazarian Institute in Moscow was one of the most famous educational centres in Tsarist Russia, established by the Persian born Armenian, Jean Lazarian. Jean Lazarian had made a large fortune through the cotton and yarn industry 91, and founded the Lazarian Institute in 1815, with a language school for Oriental languages, an Oriental academy and a printing house.
The Nersessian Priest School in Tbilisi was established in 1825 by the future Catholicos, Nerses Ashtaraktsi, and has educated countless Armenian teachers and priests. Russian senior schools in Tbilisi also trained their share of prominent Armenian personalities.
The academy in Etchmiadzin, founded in 1874 by Catholicos Gevork III, was the only higher educational institute in Armenia itself until the opening of the Yerevan University in 1920.
Unfortunately, the limitations set by the Tsarist regime on the Armenian schools, especially elementary schools, prevented them from developing and expanding.
Haxthausen, having praised the loyalty of the Armenians in Transcaucasia and stating their role as the core of development and progress in the region, describes his feelings towards this people thus: "If Russia wants to achieve its historical task, they should lay aside the idea of forcing all people to think like them and retaining them under their power. It is not through education of this manner that the Russians can induce the usefulness of the Armenians for Russia, but by teaching them about their own culture according to their national customs and habits." 93
Apart from educational centres, Armenian cultural institutions also existed, with the goal of teaching older Armenians to read and write. Sir Edwin Pears, in his memoirs, recorded memories from an Armenian Sunday school in Constantinople, describing the hammals (bearers) from the poor society classes who were learning how to read and write. This, he wrote, was the most exciting scene which he had witnessed during his journey.
As far as university studies were concerned, Armenians were forced to attend the Russian and European universities, since they had none of their own. In time, an important Armenian intellectual class emerged, consisting of doctors, agronomists, engineers, jurists and literary experts.
For Eastern Armenia, the German university in Dorpat (Tartu) in Estonia, founded by Tsar Alexander I, had an important role in the development of the Armenian intellect.
As Paul Rohrbach observes, this university, the pioneer of German knowledge in East Europe (the headmaster, Parrot, was descended from German colonists), had a decisive role in the realisation of the Armenian renaissance.
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