Israel-@-MEA-20170621-(N262)–Art-in-Jerusalem-Armenian
Armenian Restaurant Painting
Just inside the Jaffa Gate and the walls of the Old City, is a delightful Armenian Restaurant. As you walk down the stairs to the eating area you will see wooden carvings, photos, plates and Ottoman-style lamps. This colourful painting is simply a delight for tourists and locals who come here to eat. The food has its own Armenian taste of popular Middle-Eastern dishes such as hummus, salads, kubbeh (meat pastries), pastirma (air dried beef slices) and sudjuk (dried spicy sausage) and many wonderful desserts.
What sets this restaurant apart from other restaurants in Jerusalem is its location. Situated a little inside the Jaffa Gate and within a 1000-year-old building that was once part of a Crusader cloister with its decor of artifacts. The tavern is as much a museum as an eating place, and provides an opportunity for tourists to learn some of the history and culture of these Armenian people.
Armenians have made Jerusalem their home ever since the mass conversion to Christianity around the 4th Century C.E. The community continues to reside in the south-western corner of the Old City, identified as the Armenian Quarter and is generally closed to tourists. There are approximately 1000 -1500 residents living in this area. The Armenian people have had a turbulent history under Turkish rule and in 1915, the Turkish Government expelled or forcibly removed them from the Ottoman Empire. By the early 1920’s deportations finally ended and it is estimated that approximately two million Armenians were massacred. History exposes so much of the suffering forced upon the Armenians to the point of genocide and yet, like the Jewish people, have found a home within this sacred city.
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