Armenian Quarter in the context of Zion Gate

Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, while Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognised internationally.

Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE) Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity. During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1538 the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. Today those walls define the Old City, which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Since 1860 Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2023 Jerusalem had a population of 1,028,366. In 2022 60% were Jews and almost 40% were Palestinians. In 2020 the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%) and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).

The Old City of Jerusalem (Hebrew: הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, romanized: Ha'ír Ha'atiká; Arabic: المدينة القديمة, romanized: al-Madīna al-Qadīma) is a 0.9-square-kilometre (0.35 sq mi) walled area in East Jerusalem.

In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, and the Jewish Quarter. A fifth area, the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa or Haram al-Sharif, is home to the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and was once the site of the Jewish Temple.

The Christian Quarter (Arabic: حارة النصارى, romanized: Ḥāraṫ al-Naṣārā; Hebrew: הרובע הנוצרי, romanized: Ha-Rova ha-Notsri) is one of the four quarters of the walled Old City of Jerusalem, the other three being the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. The Christian Quarter is situated in the northwestern corner of the Old City, extending from the New Gate in the north, along the western wall of the Old City as far as the Jaffa Gate, along the Jaffa Gate – Western Wall route in the south, bordering on the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, as far as the Damascus Gate in the east, where it borders on the Muslim Quarter.

The Christian quarter contains about 40 Christian holy places and one of the most important communities of Christianity in there and holy places for Christians in the world. First among them is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christianity's holiest place. Most of the residents of the Christian quarter remain Christians however their numbers have dwindled.

The Jewish Quarter (Hebrew: הרובע היהודי, romanized: HaRova HaYehudi; Arabic: حارة اليهود, romanized: Ḥāraṫ al-Yehūd) is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. The area lies in the southwestern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Street of the Chain in the north and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east. In the early 20th century the Jewish population of the quarter reached 19,000.

During the 1948 war, the Jewish Quarter fought the Arab Legion as part of the battle for Jerusalem, and the Hurva synagogue was blown up by Arab legionnaires. In May 1948, the Jewish Quarter surrendered; some Jews were taken captive, and the rest were evacuated. A crowd then systematically pillaged and razed the quarter.

The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered to be indigenous. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. The Armenian diaspora is one of the oldest and largest diasporas in the world, with the oldest community being the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.

The modern Armenian diaspora was largely formed as a result of World War I, when the genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire forced Armenians in Western Armenia to flee. Another wave of emigration from Eastern Armenia occurred in the 1990s amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Turkish-Azeri blockade of Armenia, and an energy crisis. The High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs established in 2019 is in charge of coordinating and developing Armenia's relations with the diaspora. The vast majority of ethnic Armenians worldwide do not live in the Republic of Armenia, and has led to repatriation campaigns.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also known as the Armenian Patriarchate of Saint James (Armenian: Առաքելական Աթոռ Սրբոց Յակովբեանց Յերուսաղեմ, Aṙak’yelakan At’voṙ Srboc’ Yakovbeanc’ Yerusaġem, lit. 'Apostolic See of Saint James in Jerusalem'), is located in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. The Armenian Apostolic Church is officially recognised under Israel's confessional system, for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce.

Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, previously the Grand Sacristan and the Patriarchal Vicar, became the 97th Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem on January 24, 2013. Manougian succeeded Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who died on October 12, 2012, after serving 22 years in the office. The patriarch, along with a synod of seven clergymen elected by the St. James Brotherhood, oversees the patriarchate's operations.

This article lists the gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The gates are visible on most old maps of Jerusalem over the last 1,500 years.

During different periods, the city walls followed different outlines and had a varying number of gates. During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291), Jerusalem had four gates, one on each side.

The Cathedral of Saint James (Armenian: Սրբոց Յակոբեանց Վանք Հայոց, Arabic: كاتدرائية القديس يعقوب للأرمن) is a 12th-century Armenian church in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, near the quarter's entry Zion Gate. The cathedral is dedicated to two of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus: James, son of Zebedee (James the Greater) and James the brother of Jesus (James the Just). It is located near the Church of the Holy Archangels.

It is the principal church of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, also known as the Armenian Patriarchate of Saint James.