The Armenians

The Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century, when Armenian monks settled in the city after Armenia adopted Christianity [2][3]. It is considered the oldest living Armenian diaspora community [2]. A patriarchate took root in the early medieval period, and the community’s numbers in Jerusalem more than doubled when survivors arrived during World War I [1]. Within the Old City’s Armenian Quarter, the community has kept a distinct cultural and spiritual identity [1][2].

The Armenian Genocide was the mass deportation and killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Its conventional starting point is the night of April 24–25, 1915, when Armenian community leaders and intellectuals were arrested in Constantinople [4]. A deportation law followed on May 27, and Armenians from across the empire were driven toward the Syrian desert [4]. Estimates of the dead reach 1.5 million [5]. Survivors scattered across the world and shaped the modern Armenian diaspora.

NILI, a Jewish spy network working for the British in the Ottoman period, gathered testimony about the atrocities [6][7]. In November 1916, its leader Aaron Aaronsohn sent the British a memorandum titled “Pro Armenia” [6][7]. A month earlier, he had written that he feared Jews might suffer a similar fate [6]. NILI members saw the process as one that could also reach their own people [8].

The Armenian case also left its mark on Jewish memory of the Holocaust. The Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin coined the word “genocide” in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, and he later named the Armenians when he explained how he came to the subject [9]. Franz Werfel’s 1933 novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh told the story of Armenian resistance in 1915 [10]. It circulated in Jewish ghettos during World War II, and resistance members in Bialystok spoke of their own “Musa Dagh” [10][11].

On June 28, 2026, the Israeli government unanimously approved a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide; a planned Knesset vote was later postponed [31][12][13]. In Yerevan, the “To Live and Not Forget” memorial, opened in 2006, honors the victims of both the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust [14][15].

The Armenian Quarter covers nearly one-sixth of Jerusalem’s Old City [1]. Estimates of its population range from about 1,000 to 2,000 people, and community life centers on the Patriarchate and St. James Cathedral [2][16]. Smaller communities live in Jaffa, Haifa, and Ramla [16]. After the Soviet Union collapsed, more than 1,500 Armenians from the former Soviet republic arrived with their Jewish spouses [16].

The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Armenian Christians in Israel

UNESCO’s 2003 Convention describes living heritage through five domains [17]. For Armenian Christians in Israel, this heritage is carried by the Church, by families, and by workshops, and much of it grew from the survivors who arrived after 1915. UNESCO has inscribed Armenian traditions submitted by Armenia, including the duduk, khachkar cross-stones, and Armenian letter art [18][19].

Oral Traditions and Expressions

Language is central to this heritage. Old City families known as kaghakatsi, or “townspeople”, speak an Armenian variety that researchers are documenting and usually group with Western Armenian [20]. The Patriarchate also keeps written memory alive. Its St. Toros library, established in 1897, holds about 4,000 manuscripts, and the Gulbenkian Library preserves Armenian books and newspapers [21][23][24].

Performing Arts

Sacred music stands at the heart of community life. During the Christmas services in the Holy Land, the Armenian Church sings its own hymns and follows a liturgy drawn from books used only for that feast [25]. The Armenian dance and music traditions listed by UNESCO belong to Armenia’s own inventory [19]. Their practice in Israel deserves dedicated documentation.

Social Practices, Rituals, and Festive Events

The religious calendar gives the community its rhythm. The Armenian Church in the Holy Land keeps Christmas on January 18 and 19, later than other Christian communities, and the Patriarch leads a procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem [26]. Food carries memory as well. Dishes served in the Armenian Quarter include lahmajoun, spiced basturma, and soujouk sausages [27].

Knowledge Concerning Nature and the Universe

This domain is less documented. The clearest example is the practical knowledge of ceramic artists, who brought clay know-how, kiln work, and glazing techniques from Kütahya [28]. Their workshops still fire and glaze pieces by hand [28].

Traditional Craftsmanship

Armenian ceramics are the community’s best-known craft in Israel. Families from Kütahya, including the Ohannessians, Balians, and Karakashians, came to Jerusalem around 1919, in connection with plans to restore the tiles of the Dome of the Rock [28][29]. Those plans fell through for lack of funds, but the families stayed and created a Jerusalem style that blends Kütahya tradition with local elements [28]. Printing and photography left their mark too. Armenians opened Jerusalem’s first printing press in 1833, and Garabed Krikorian ran the city’s first commercial photography workshop from 1885 [21].

Transmission Today

The Sts. Tarkmanchatz School and the Patriarchate’s seminary pass on language and faith to new generations [22]. The Edward and Helen Mardigian Armenian Museum reopened at the end of 2022 after nearly a decade of renovation, with manuscripts from as early as the 10th century [22]. Family workshops continue as well: the Karakashians now host ceramics workshops, and Neshan Balian Jr. leads the Balian studio [29][30].