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. 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.
