In the four-fold division of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Christian and the Armenian Quarters are contiguous but independent. This situation corresponds to the ancientness and the importance of the Armenian presence. Jerusalem has indeed remained a myth for Armenians since the 4th century, when Christianity was proclaimed a national religion. The relations of the Armenians with the Holy City have never ceased. Jerusalem was a home to the seat of an Armenian Patriarchate and the cultural activity was intense: inscriptions, sculptures, mosaics, pieces of goldsmithery, superb manuscripts decorated with miniatures which are among the masterpieces of Armenian art. Today, Jerusalem is the most important repository of Armenian culture outside Armenia. The aim of his new book is to present the relations between Armenia and Jerusalem in their historical and artistic context. The abundance of maps and genealogical charts makes it easy to read. The iconography plays a fundamental role, the text being essentially treated as captions for images, let them be reproductions of miniatures, monuments, works of art, or manuscript pages of historians and travellers.

Claude Armen Mutafian is the son of parents who were survivors of the 1915 Genocide. His father is the well-known painter Zareh Mutafian. He taught for more than 40 years in various Universities: Paris, Princeton, N.J., Havana, Mexico, and Yerevan. His passion has always been History and he has written about the Genocide and Karabagh, but his main field of interest remains the Medieval period, in particular Cilician Armenia and its relations with the Crusaders and the Mongols. “Cilicia at the Crossroad of Empires” was published in 1988, and the “Historical Atlas of Armenia” in 2001.