Origins In the early 4th century Armenia, under king
Tiridates III, became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion. A large number of Armenian monks are recorded to have settled in Jerusalem as early as the 4th century, Armenian churches were constructed during that period, including the St. James Monastery. The latter was last expanded in the mid-12th century. Many members of the Armenian community in Jerusalem spoke Arabic, in addition to Armenian. In 1538, the current
walls of Jerusalem were completed on the orders of Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent. These walls, along with the internal walls built by the Armenians, determined the outline of the quarter. In the 1562–63 record, only 189 Armenians were counted, whereas 640 were counted by the Ottomans in 1690, an increase of 239%. According to the chronicler Simeon Lehatsi only some twelve Armenian families lived in Jerusalem in 1615–16. A seminary was opened in 1857. In 1883, 102 Armenian families (8%) constituted the third largest Christian community in the Old City after the Greek Orthodox and Catholic (Latin) communities. Besides these residents, in the same year, 46 Armenian priests and monks and 55 servicemen lived within the St. James Monastery. According to the 1905 Ottoman census in the Old City, the Armenian Quarter had a population of 382, of which Armenians (121) comprised less than one-third (31.7%). Jews (127) made up 33.2%, other Christians (94) 24.6% and Muslims (40) 10.5%. The Jews, who numbered a little more than the Armenians, inhabited the eastern part of the Armenian Quarter, which in the second half of the nineteenth century, became the western part of the Jewish Quarter.
World War I, British, and Jordanian periods Prior to World War I, there were some 2,000–3,000 Armenians in
Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem, which was
captured by the British in 1917. From 1915 and onward, thousands of
Armenian genocide survivors from
Cilicia (
Adana Vilayet) found refuge, and settled in the quarter, increasing its population. In 1925, around 15,000 Armenians are believed to have lived in all of Palestine, with the majority in Jerusalem. During the
British Mandate period, the number of Armenians is estimated to have reached up to 20,000. However, the
1931 British census showed only 3,524 Armenians in all of Palestine. In 1947, around 1,500 Armenians from Palestine repatriated to
Soviet Armenia as part of the Soviet government's efforts to boost Armenia's population by a large-scale repatriation of ethnic Armenians, mostly from the Middle East. This marked the beginning of the long-term decline of the Armenian community of Jerusalem. During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, Armenian Quarter housed Armenian refugees from all over Palestine. An Armenian civil guard, armed with "
makeshift weapons", was formed to defend the quarter from the
Haganah shelling of the Old City. More than forty Armenians were killed in the fighting.
Israeli period Jerusalem's Old City came under Israeli control in the aftermath of the
Six-Day War in 1967. However, the Armenian patriarchate is the
de facto administrator of the quarter and acts as a "mini-
welfare state" for the Armenian residents. During the Jordanian rule of eastern Jerusalem (1948–67), no Jews were allowed to live in the Old City. Since the start of Israeli rule of the Old City in 1967, the Jewish Quarter has expanded by some 40% and by 2000, 71 (12%) or 81 (14%) of the 581 properties in the Armenian Quarter were owned by Jews. According to Armenian researcher Tamar Boyadjian, because Armenians are considered Palestinians for all legal purposes they have difficulty obtaining travel and marriage documents. The area is used as a car park and for group dinners. Father Baret Yeretzian, director of the Patriarchate's real estate department, who confirmed the deal, told him that the land was leased for 98 years and Rubenstein plans to build a luxurious hotel on the property. The Armenian Patriarchate said the deal, approved by the Holy Synod, was signed with "a corporate from the United Arab Emirates" and was expected to receive a net income of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the leading body of the Armenian Church, said the situation had disrupted the "internal solidarity and unity" within the Patriarchate and "reduce[d its] reputation." Catholicos
Karekin II urged Patriarch
Nourhan Manougian to "reflect on the concerns through proper interpretation, and to restore solidarity in the Brotherhood." Ramzi Khoury, head of the Palestinian Higher Presidential Committee for Churches Affairs in Palestine, called the land transactions in the Armenian Quarter a violation of international law as Palestinians consider the area an "integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories." Armenia's Foreign Minister
Ararat Mirzoyan discussed the issue with his counterparts from Jordan (
Ayman Safadi), Palestine (
Riyad al-Maliki), and Israel (
Yair Lapid).
Surveyors started working at the site in 2023 and a sign was posted listing XANA Capital Group, a Dubai-registered Israeli firm. The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem released a statement on 1 November 2023 announcing the cancellation of the agreement to lease the property. Bulldozers arrived soon afterwards and began tearing up the carpark portion of the leased land. The validity of the contract is being challenged by the Armenian Church through the Israeli courts. ==Demographics==