The Armenian Quarter occupies the southwest corner of the Old City. It covers one-sixth of the
area contained inside the ancient walls. It is believed that between 35 and 25
B.C., the Jewish King, Herod built a
fortress and his palace along the western wall of the Quarter which at that time
was called The Upper City ( Zion) since it was ( and now is ) relatively on
higher ground than the other Quarters. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70, the area was occupied
by the Tenth Roman ( Fretensis) Legion and became a government center. In the
beginning of the twentieth century this western-most section of the Quarter was
used as a cow pasture and to this day it is called as such.
Some Christian historians believed the site of the Armenian
Quarter is also the Biblical Mount Zion, a name currently used for the area- a
parcel of land highly coveted by other nations and religions. A short time after
the destruction of Jerusalem, a small number of Jewish Christians returned to
the few houses that remained standing in the Upper City. (At the time almost all
Christians were of Jewish origin). Since Christians were not legally recognized
at the time, they were driven out by future Roman emperors. There is no
historical evidence that Christians lived in the Upper City during the second
and third centuries; instead, they congregated outside the city.
One of the gates of the Old City along the southern end of the
Armenian Quarter is currently called Zion Gate. It opens to
a street outside the wall, currently called Hativat Ezyioni (Zion Street). This
street runs between the southern wall of the city and the Armenian cemetery
adjacent to St. Savior Armenian Convent and the Biblical House of Caiaphas .
Over the last three centuries this large cemetery has been the burial place of
many distinguished Patriarchs of Jerusalem as well as the resting place of
members of the community and many pilgrims who met their reward while visiting
the Holy Places. The inscriptions on the old tombstones tell many poignant
stories of the nature of the people interred there. The centerpiece of the
cemetery is a monument erected in memory of the fallen heros of the Armenian
Legion in 1917. It also serves as a reminder of the Armenian victims of the
Turkish genocide in 1915.
The Armenian Quarter is a complex of several historical sites
around which Armenians congregated over the last millennium to form a
homogeneous entity housing a self-sustained community with its churches,
schools, public and social institutions, residences and historical monuments.
The compound consists of the St. James Armenian Convent and the adjacent
residential neighborhood located toward the center of the Old City.
The Armenian Quarter is reached through the Armenian Orthodox
Patriarchate Road, a narrow, one-way street extending through the center of the
Quarter and ending at Zion Gate in the south. The main gate of St. James Convent
opens to this road which starts just below Jaffa Gate at the western wall of the
Old City. Just to the south of and adjacent to Jaffa Gate a wide portion of the
wall was demolished in 1896 to make way for vehicular access. It is one of two
major vehicular entrances into the Old City. The other is located at the
southeast corner of the
Old City to provide vehicular access to buses bringing in
Jewish devotees to the "Western
Wall" (Previously known as the "Wailing Wall") located at the base of
the Haram El-Sharif
[Temple Mount]. Immediately after capturing the Old City in the 1967 war, the Israeli government demolished a
portion of the city wall at the southeast corner as well as a row of ancient
Arab houses opposite the Western wall to make room for a large square and
appropriate parking .
The Armenian Quarter is believed to have its beginning in the
fourth century A.D., when a small group of monks and pilgrims settled in the
area in order to be near the Upper Room, a building on Mount Zion traditionally
considered the gathering place of the early Christians. The current St. James
Cathedral is believed to be on this site. The Armenian Quarter began to take
shape just prior to the Crusader period (1099-1187 A.D.) when Armenians settled
in appreciable numbers in the vicinity of St. James Cathedral ("The Jewel of
Churches") which historically is proven to exist at the time. The current
configuration of the cathedral comes to us as a result of renovations made
during the Crusader period. Some
current sanctuaries in the area are believed to pre-date the Crusaders. The ages
of some of the buildings date from different periods thereafter.
By the middle of the fifteenth century the Armenian Quarter is
frequently mentioned to be of existence. It developed to its current size during
the reign of the Ottoman Turks in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Unlike other Quarters in the Old City, the Armenian Quarter is well preserved.
The St. James Convent is a complex of several churches with open spaces and
gardens covered with a variety of greenery. The Patriarchate building next door
is an impressive structure consisting of the Patriarch’s residence, gold
embossed throne room and several offices. Behind its main gate, the convent
contains priest’s quarters, a library building, a museum, printing press,
elementary and high schools and residences, youth and social clubs and
residential shelters for the poor and employees of the Patriarchate. Currently
the Theological Seminary is located outside the convent across the street from
the main gate.
The residential section adjoining the convent is accessed
through narrow cobblestone alleys and walkways carrying Armenian names (i.e.
Ararat Street) similar to those in the other quarters except that these alleys
are not as crowded and are well maintained. A guarded gate connects this area to
the St. Archangels Church at the south end, which is provided to the faithful as
a parish church where weddings, funeral services and baptisms are performed.
During the 1948
Arab/Israeli war some members of the community took refuge within the walls
of the St. James Convent. Many others left the country for the safety of
countries around the world (Soviet Armenia, the U.S., South America, Europe,
Australia etc.).Thus some of the residences were forced to remain vacant
becoming victims of vandalism. The greatest damage was inflicted on the entire
Quarter during the 1967 war between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan.
Having been caught in the middle, the entire Quarter was the
victim of bomb damage . The buildings housing the priests and the seminarians
were damaged by mortar shells lobbed by both combatants and had to be completely
evacuated. The major part of the residential section was evacuated. Some were
illegally appropriated by Jewish squatters. To this day the Patriarchate is
attempting to throw them out to no avail. Some have been given long term leases
since officially, most of the residences belong to and are currently maintained
by the Patriarchate. The Armenian Quarter is still on the maps; but its future
seems to be bleak. The fact that it is adjacent to the Jewish Quarter in the
east does not help much. It is feared that the Armenian Quarter is in danger of
shrinking in the coming years.
