The smallest and quietest of the Old City's four quarters, the Armenian Quarter occupies the southwestern corner inside the city walls and is the only quarter not organised around one of the three Abrahamic faiths. The Armenian community has been present in Jerusalem since at least the 4th century CE — some of the oldest Christian communities in the world — and the quarter today houses around 2,000 people, a seminary, a library with illuminated manuscripts, and the Cathedral of St James.
The Cathedral of St James, dating to the 12th century Crusader period, is open for a brief liturgy each afternoon and is among the most atmospheric churches in the city — incense, oil lamps, a congregation that has gathered here for centuries. The quarter's lanes are remarkably peaceful by Old City standards, with few tourist stalls. The Mardigian Museum tells the story of the Armenian people in Jerusalem and the genocide of 1915, which brought many Armenians to the city as refugees. Allow an hour here as a counterpoint to the intensity of the Jewish and Muslim Quarters nearby.