Half a day in Aleppo: the Armenian churches from Aziziyah to Midan

The Armenian community of Aleppo is spread across four separate quarters, and this walk joins them on a single line: from Aziziyah to Jdeideh, then on to Sulaymaniyah and Midan, 2600 metres, four stops. Three are churches; the fourth is an Ottoman waqf founded in 1652. There is a 1750 metre stretch in the middle. It can be walked, but it takes twenty minutes, and some people take a taxi over that part. That is why the day is mixed: both ends on foot, the middle as you prefer.

The route

Start in Aziziyah. The Emmanuel Church stands north of Abbara Square, inside the street fabric, and you know it by its dark brown stone and wooden gable roof. The building was finished in 1923, and the congregation has been in Aleppo since 1852. From there walk 510 metres east to Jdeideh Square. The Waqf of Ibshir Mustafa Pasha lies in the lanes along the north edge of the square; come out of the door of Beit Achiqbash, follow the lane, and you are already inside it. The next stretch is 1750 metres northeast, into the Sulaymaniyah quarter. You recognise Martyrs’ Church not by a bell tower but by the tall round-arched windows on its side wall. The last stop is 300 metres north, in Midan: the Holy Trinity shows from the street by its round body and pink roof.

Timing

Be in Aziziyah at 09:30. All three churches are working parish churches, and outside service times the door depends on finding a caretaker; that is easier in the morning. Come on a Sunday and you will meet a service — which may be worth it, but not for looking around inside. Enter Ibshir Pasha before noon: the stone front of the coffee-house hall, with its latticed windows, gains depth in morning light. Do not time the middle stretch for the midday heat; in summer those 1750 metres have no shade. Leave Midan for last, because the school in the courtyard empties in the afternoon and you get the round body of the church without a crowd.

Take care

Two of the churches are Protestant and plain by intention: no icons, no iconostasis. Read the building rather than look for ornament. Do not photograph during a service, and ask at the door. The stretch between Jdeideh and Sulaymaniyah runs along main streets with heavy traffic, so use the crossings. The waqf complex was damaged in the war, repairs continue, and which part is open varies. This route holds more than two churches opened in 1965: a history of settlement that runs from 1852 to today. Be ready to ask, because the community likes to tell it.