On the facade of Saint Gregory the Illuminator we can see two 19th century plaques, one in Armenian and one in Latin, bearing the history of the temple and of its restorations.
Skipping the Armenian for obvious reasons, even the epigraphic Latin is well beyond my scarce interpretive skills. An old friend from high school, Silvestro Raffone, was able to accomplish the task with the decisive help of a colleague of his, Isella Piquè. Thanks to both of them for going beyond the literal translation, an effort which I am now trying to summarize in English:The temple, consecrated to the Eternal God in honor of Saint Gregory Martyr, Apostle Savior and Patriarch of Armenia, built in 1701 with considerable investment of money and effort by the Armenians of Livorno under Cosimo III Grand Duke of Tuscany, is now lying in direpair.
The congregation, under the auspices of Leopoldo II Grand Duke of Tuscany, while Gregorio Alessandri was prefect, restored and embellished the church with the help of the architect Olinto Paradossi, who completed the works in 1844. This should be passed on to posterity.
See also: Half a Church - Saint Gregory the Illuminator - Faith and Charity
14 comments:
Love them both!
Thank you for the interpretation...very kind of you to do that for us who don't speak Armenian or Latin!
Thank you, VP.
I suppose a lot of us took high school Latin or learned the Latin responses in Church but sure couldn't have translated the whole sign. Thanks to you friend---now we know. MB
The power and importance of the written word, and thanks to the translators, the ones who care about it.
For some reason I would have thought your Latin was perfect. I wonder if a third plaque in Italian should be put up.
Thank you and to your coleague for enabling us to understand!
Fascinating!
My sister studied Latin , but in my school time it hadn't. I think it's a pity, I would like to know more, it's very interesting!
Léia
And so you have passed it on...well done.
I love those Armenian letters, so mysterious and beautiful!
Interessante...capisco abbastanza l'inglese, però qualche parola in italiano potresti metterla? Buon fine settimana, Arianna
@ Arianna - La traduzione originale è stata fatta in italiano e la puoi leggere integralmente se vai su 'Versione italiana', in fondo al post. Ormai è più di un anno che il blog viene pubblicato in parallelo nella nostra lingua. Ho anche cercato di ritradurre in italiano alcuni dei post più vecchi di interesse generale.
This is great but makes me think the little latin I've studied was worthless, I hardly remember it except the 'rosa rosae rosas rosarum...' thing! :-)
I also don't remember Latin I used to learn at school - shame!
Thanks to your friends for translation:)
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