Souq al-Hokedun (Khan al-Quds)

A two-storey khan in Jdeydeh, right beside the Armenian Cathedral of the Forty Martyrs. Hokedun is Armenian for house of the spirit; in Arabic the building is Khan al-Quds, the Jerusalem khan. The name states the work it did: Armenian pilgrims bound for Jerusalem gathered here before setting out. Inside, it is now largely a souq selling ready-made clothes.

The pilgrim road and 1624

The building belonged to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and in the 17th century an Armenian merchant from New Julfa endowed it. In 1624, as the Armenian population of the city and the number of pilgrims passing through both rose, the Armenian prelacy began to build a quarter of the same name next to the church. Part of the answer to why Jdeydeh grew is in this khan: the quarter spread not only around the church but around the road that led to it.

The old part and the new

It did not go up in one campaign. The old part dates to the end of the 15th century and the start of the 16th century, and the new part was added in the 17th century. The khan is small and has two floors. Measuring it against the great commercial khans of the Al-Madina souq would miss the point, because its business was housing people rather than storing goods.

Getting there

It stands outside the walls, in the Jdeydeh quarter. There are two entrances, one from al-Tellel and the other from Bawwabat al-Qasab. If you are going to the Cathedral of the Forty Martyrs the khan is effectively next door, and one stop covers both. Do not look for a sign; ask for the courtyard behind the clothing shops.

What most people miss

Look above the shopfronts. The ground floor is covered end to end with ready-made clothes, and the architecture of the khan — the row of rooms upstairs, the arcade facing the courtyard — sits above eye level. Use both entrances, too: walking into the same courtyard from two different streets shows in one go how the building is tied into the quarter.