Martyrs’ Church, Aleppo

One of the three Armenian Evangelical churches in Aleppo, in the Sulaymaniyah quarter. Its Armenian name is Nahadagats, meaning Martyrs, and it commemorates those killed in the Armenian genocide. The congregation was founded in 1931 and the present building opened on 14 March 1965. The interior is plain on purpose: no icons, no iconostasis.

Getting there

It is 200 metres south of the Armenian Catholic Holy Trinity Church and 400 metres east of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Mother of God. You can walk here from Aziziyah. The street is narrow. You recognise the church not by a bell tower but by the tall round-arched windows running down its side.

Where the congregation came from

Its roots are in Aintab, now Gaziantep in Turkey. The link is not incidental; it explains the name. An Armenian Evangelical church was founded there in 1865 and split in two as it grew. In 1921 most of the Armenians who left Aintab reached Aleppo, and in the early years they attended the newly built Immanuel Church. In 1930, 33 families from Aintab decided to form a congregation of their own. The church was founded a year later, in 1931. Its first pastor was Hagop Chakmakjian, and services were held in an old courtyard in Jdeydeh, beside the Saliba church quarter. The congregation later moved to a rented building on Sulaymaniyah street, known as the Armenian Red Cross building. Land was bought in 1960 and the building opened five years later.

What to see

The plan is rectangular, the roof is gabled, and tall round-arched windows run along both side walls. Inside there are wooden pews, a pulpit at the front and a single cross on the wall behind it. Like the other Protestant churches in Syria it keeps clear of ornament, and that is exactly where it parts from the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches.

What most people miss

Aleppo’s three Armenian Evangelical churches — Bethel, Immanuel and Martyrs’ — are within walking distance of one another and are best seen together. The congregation has been shrinking through emigration for decades. The one hour the church is certainly open is the Sunday service; on weekdays you have to knock.