The role of Armenian architects has been interpreted in two separate traditions in the past. Within the biographical tradition of Armenian history-writing, authors such as Teotik, Çark, Pamukciyan and Tu?lac? have encouraged an image of Armenian genius figures such as the Balyan Family, who had a very high status within Ottoman society and were responsible for magnificent works of architecture in a ‘westernized’ style, but whose accounts give few details concerning their interaction with local Ottoman culture and with their European education. The second tradition is that which has been created using Ottoman documentation and which posits that these architects were in fact ‘kalfas’, who were not trained in the science of architecture. These ‘kalfa’ are even blamed for the demise of the “unique beauty” of Ottoman architecture. New evidence shows how Armenian architects such as Serkis and Nig?os Balyan- but also further examples such as Léon Nafilian- were indeed trained in Paris - as the Armenian sources had cited, and envisioned themselves as genuine participants in the revivalist movement that was taking Europe by storm. They were not simply copying European styles but were politically and socially engaged individuals who believed they were creating a unique ‘Ottoman Renaissance’ to suit their empire.