Address: Balat Orphanage is dedicated to the history of a place of care that played a pivotal role for Istanbul's Armenian community over the course of nearly two centuries: the Khorenyan School and Orphanage in the neighbourhood of Balat, which closed its gates in the late 1970s.

As they trace the Khorenyan's social and cultural memory, co-authors Tigran Amiryan (Early Career Fellow at EXC 2020 in 2025) and Arsen Abrahamyan reflect on the distinctive position of Armenian educational institutions in the Ottoman Empire and later in the Republic of Turkey. In exploring the intertwined processes of forgetting and remembrance, they draw on oral history and spatial analysis, but also offer intriguing insights into a veritable treasure trove of archival material that documents community life before, during and after the Armenian Genocide.

Complementing editions in Eastern and Western Armenian (both Cultural & Social Narratives Laboratory – CSN Lab, 2026), this ninth instalment of the Cluster's con·stel·la·tions series constitutes a thoroughly revised exploration of the Khorenyan's past for English-speaking readers.

Catch a first look on our Instagram!

On March 21, 2026, there will be a book launching event organised as part of the Leipzig Book Fair by Kunstraum D21 and CSN Lab in collaboration with EXC 2020.

     

Tigran Amiryan and Arsen Abrahamyan. Address: Balat Orphanage. Tracing the Multiple Pasts of an Armenian School in Istanbul. con·stel·la·tions 09. Hamburg: Textem Verlag, 2026. dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-50949 (Open Access)