The Forty Martyrs Cathedral, Aleppo

It stands in the Jdeideh courtyard where four churches back onto one another. The Forty Martyrs is among the oldest churches in the Armenian diaspora still holding services — its value is not only its age but its unbroken use.

Who built it, and when

The church is first named in writing in 1476. The present building was finished in 1491, replacing a small chapel in the old Armenian cemetery of Jdeideh. It is named for the Forty Martyrs who died near Sebastia. At first it seated only about a hundred; it was enlarged in 1499-1500 and a prelacy building was added in the yard. It was reworked once more in 1616.

Getting there

Walk west from Sahat al-Hatab; the church courtyard of Jdeideh is a few minutes away. It is in the same quarter as Beit Achiqbash and Beit Ghazaleh, all within walking distance of each other.

What to see

The church is a three-nave basilica with no dome — a long plan rather than the central dome usual in Armenian churches. The upper storey was added in 1874 and the baptismal font in 1888. The bell tower went up in 1912, paid for by Rizkallah Tahhan, an Aleppine who had settled in Brazil. That was late — the church had gone four centuries without a bell. It became the most cited piece of baroque architecture in the city. In one corner of the yard stands the Zarehian Treasury: the old Church of the Holy Mother of God, turned into a museum in 1991.

Don’t miss

The Last Judgement icon. The church holds more than thirty icons, most of them from the 17th and 18th centuries; the best known is the Last Judgement, painted in 1703 by the priest Nehmatallah Hovsep. It is counted as the masterpiece of the Aleppine school of icon painting. Most of the icons were restored between 1993 and 1996.

How it stands now

On 28 April 2015 part of the church compound was destroyed in an explosion; the church itself and the bell tower came through it. Repairs were announced in July 2017, took two years, and were completed on 31 March 2019, when the church was reconsecrated.