Fonds HR-DADU-50 - Archivium Operum piarum (Foundation Opera Pia)

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-50

Title

Archivium Operum piarum (Foundation Opera Pia)

Date(s)

  • 14th century -19th century (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

193 volumes; 46.5 linear metres; textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Archival history

The Foundation Opera pia was a group of various multipurpose foundations. It is not known when the Foundation was established, but it is certain that the oldest foundation was founded by Nale Chersa Sergius in 1348. The revenues of the Foundation Opera Pia were mainly generated by renting, giving loans, and collecting interest on capital invested in foreign banks. The activities of the Foundation Opera Pia were overseen by state treasurers, the so-called Treasurers of the Cathedral. With an annual income of approximately 80,000 Dubrovnik ducats, this Foundation was a very important institution in the time of the Republic. Its humanitarian and charitable activities were made evident in the redemption of Ragusans from slavery, in payment of dowries for poor girls and in addressing other needs of the poor and the sick, such as those with physical disabilities. The Foundation also financed various needs of the state administration. For example, the data shows that, at the time of the danger of the plague in the 18th century, the Foundation assigned 20% of its annual income to cover the expenses for protection from the plague. The Foundation Opera pia is still functioning today.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The fonds has been linked to the archive since its inception. In 1945, the archival material of the fonds was handed over to the State Archives in Dubrovnik.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds consists of treasury journal and accounting books of the Foundation from the 14th to the 19th centuries. These documents contain data on calculations of income from principal invested in foreign banks; calculations of income from renting residential premises, business premises and land. They also contain books of expenditures and income and accounting books of individual foundations that were an integral part of the Foundation Opera pia. The fonds also contains books with official letters written by the state treasurers and legal representatives of the Cathedral to Dubrovnik consular and diplomatic representatives, agents and confidants in Italian and Ottoman cities and in Vienna (Copia lettere dei Signori Tesorieri e Procuratori di Santa Maria Maggiore). Primarily, the topics of these letters were financial investments in Italian and Viennese banks, or investments in the Venetian mint and companies in charge of customs leasing, or in charge of the purchase of expensive Italian fabrics and fragrant oils intended for diplomatic gifts to Ottoman dignitaries; financial transactions for the settlement of the tribute to the Ottoman sultan; and for slave redemption.


The fonds does not contain a large amount of data on Jews, but the data in the fonds primarily relate to the private and business lives of the Dubrovnik Jews, as well as to their cooperation with the authorities of the Republic. Part of the data can be found in the income books of the foundation, in which the revenue from renting apartments, business premises and land is stated. References to Jews can also be found in the books of maritime affairs (18th and 19th centuries). The books contain references to Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Costantini, Janni, Levi Mandolfo, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Tolentino, Valenzin (vols. 25, 58, 36, 111, 118, 119, 125, 134, 135). In these documents the Jewish community appears as a debtor for business premises (1811-1812) (vol. 135, index, letter S). Two volumes are particularly important for the research of business affairs of the Jewish population in Dubrovnik: vol 125 (Conti Marittimi del 1789; Arboracci, Divisioni e Rimese), which lists the co-owners of Dubrovnik ships and their co-ownership shares in the period from 1789 to 1794, and vol. 134 (Libro di Negotio del 1781) in which Salvator Levi Mandolfo and Benedict Volterra are repeatedly mentioned as traders in leather, wool, and rice (e.g., vol. 134, f. 29). One part of the data that provides the information about the Jews, which speaks of their cooperation with the state authorities, is found in the books that contain letters of the treasurers of the Cathedral to the agents and confidants of the Republic in Ancona. There are references to Jews in the 18th century, mostly to Aaron and Moshe, who were the sons of an eminent Dubrovnik merchant Raphael Coen. Reference is also made to Raphael's grandson Felix. Aaron, Moshe, and Felix lived in Ancona and performed various jobs for the Opera Pia Foundation (e.g., vol. 40, August 30, 1790).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

The fonds is fully accessible to researchers in accordance with the Ordinance on the work in the reading room of the State Archives in Dubrovnik and the Law on Archival Materials and Archives NN 61/18 (Pravilnik o radu u čitaonici Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku and Zakon o arhivskom gradivu i arhivima NN 61/18).

Conditions governing reproduction

Taking photographs and scanning are allowed, for a fee.

Language of material

  • Italian
  • Latin

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Paper, parchment. The archival material is well preserved.

Finding aids

Građa za generalni katalog Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku, box 18, folder 6. Registar zadužbina Blagog djela u Dubrovniku, 1931. Alfabeto de testamenti de speciali persone scripte in libro de signori thesorieri de santa Maria scripti per me Antonio de Marco in M.D. XI. Adi XII. luio indictione XIV. (HR-DADU-12.1, vol. 93).

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

State Archives in Dubrovnik

Existence and location of copies

The fonds has been completely transferred to microfilms, but the microfilms are not available to the users of archives.

Related units of description

Testamenta et legata Notariae (HR-DADU-12), Officiales rationum (HR-DADU-35), Thesaurarii Sanctae Mariae Maioris (HR-DADU-39), Cassa comunis (HR-DADU-40)

Related descriptions

Publication note

Konstantin Vojnović, »Državni rizničari Republike Dubrovačke.« Rad JAZU 127 (1896): 1-101. Bogdan Krizman, »Memoire Bara Bettere austrijskom generalu T. Milutinoviću o dubrovačkoj republici iz 1815. godine.« (résumé: Memoire de Baro Bettera adressé au general austrichien T. Milutinović, sur la Republique de Raguse et datant de 1815) Anali Historijskog instituta u Dubrovniku 1 (1952): 423-464. Vinicije B. Lupis, »O djelatnosti dubrovačkoga zakladnog zavoda Opera pia (Blaga djela) i Javne dobrotvornosti.« Povijesni zbornik: godišnjak za kulturu i povijesno naslijeđe 2/3 (2008): 47-72. Nella Lonza, »For the salvation of the souls, for the welfare of the state: Ragusan Treasurers and perpetual trusts for pious purposes from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 25-41. Danko Zelić, »Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547): The Book of the Treasurers' rents (1428-1547); Perpetual legacies providing funding for pious purposes.«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 69-95. Danko Zelić, »Knjiga rizničarskih najmova: Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547).«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 97-300.

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Old reference code

Fonds of the Dubrovnik Republic and the territory of the former Republic under the French Administration, series 56

Access points

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Descriptions of fonds, series and sub-series are made according to the ISAD (G) standard (general international standard archival description)

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

2021

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description prepared by Vesna Miović (Fonds, Series, Subseries) Croatia [The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA)] Translation to English by Zrinka Friganović Sain

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