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Archivium Operum piarum (Foundation Opera Pia)
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Archivium Operum piarum (Foundation Opera Pia)

  • HR-DADU-50
  • Fonds
  • 14th century -19th century

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).

Foundation Opera Pia