The Armenian quarter

So we had a guided tour of the Armenian quarter Friday, which is pretty cool for a number of reasons. First, it was a tour by an Armenian scholar (that is, a scholar who has studied extensively the history of Armenians, not an Armenian himself). Second, while the Armenian quarter isn’t entirely closed to outsiders, you really have to know someone to get inside. Since the Armenian museum is closed for renovation, this is one of the few ways to get to a first-hand look at the Jerusalem Armenian community.

We started off outside the Cathedral of St. James.

A Fresco above the main door of St. James Cathedral.

So we waited around for the guy who had the key. We waited a bit more, then a bit more. Finally, we decided we’d get on with the tour. The Armenian Quarter is rather small. There’s a large courtyard, with buildings all around. We did get a chance to duck inside a monastery (briefly) where this statue was in the courtyard.

An Armenian Cross. Notice the flourish at the bottom, which is supposed to be vines and life, suggesting the life given by the cross.

We also got a chance to see the Armenian library, the largest private library in the state of Israel. It was really cool to see books in Armenian, a language radically different from any other I’ve seen. In another monastery (that is in the process of being converted for residential use) we saw an olive tree that is sacred to the local Armenian community as the place where Christ was scourged. It is quite old, regardless of whether this story is accurate.

We also saw the Church of the Holy Archangels, in which photos are not allowed. I attended vespers at the Church of St. James later that afternoon with a few other students. It is an extremely beautiful Cathedral; the service was also very beautiful. Both churches are quite old, dating to around the Crusader period. Unfortunately, photos are allowed of neither, and I am a bit too respectful to take them in spite of the rules.

One interesting thing about the vespers service is that it was nearly entirely sung, but not in the way westerners think of song. There is something in Eastern church-culture (and maybe this exists in America too) that emphasizes singing to an extreme. Instead of reading from scripture, scripture is frequently (if not usually) sung. It’s also not terribly musical, in my opinion. But it is an interesting bit of what is local to churches here that really stands out to someone who has always thought of reading and singing as two quite separate domains.