HOUSE OF ARMENIAN STUDENTS

In 1927, Armenian diplomat and philanthropist Boghos Nubar (1851-1930) donated three million francs to the Cité Internationale in order to create a house for Armenian students. After the Armenian Genocide perpetrated in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, many Armenian intellectuals and scholars were either wiped out or forced to flee. Nubar wanted to rebuild a new elite among his people; to that end, the House of Armenian Students, or Foundation Marie Nubar, opened its doors in 1930, six months after the death of its founder.

Leon Nafilyan, an architect who worked in Paris in the 1920s, designed this building with an eye to perpetuating the architectural traditions of Armenia, seen notably in the sculpted façade that recalls the style of religious buildings. The six elegant stories of this building are ornately decorated.

Following the Genocide of 1915, many of the surviving Armenians scattered to all corners of the world. After a mere two years of independence, the Republic of Armenia was conquered and occupied by Soviet forces in 1920. In 1927, Boghos Nubar asked L. Nafilyan to create a mini Armenia within the Cité Internationale. At nearly the same time, Alexandre Tamanian, a talented Armenian architect trained in Russia was working on new construction for the “mother city”, Erevan, which became the capital of Armenia. Until the nation regained its independence in 1991, the House of Armenian Students represented an important place where Armenians of the diaspora scattered around the world could come together with students from Soviet controlled Armenia, creating a mosaic from their broken nation. One of the first openings in the Iron Curtain was the meeting of these young Armenians at the Cité internationale.