Jerusalem's ancient Armenian community experienced a major increase in numbers as survivors of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the government of the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915 found refuge in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter. The industry is believed to have been started by refugees from Kütahya, a city in western Anatolia noted for its Iznik pottery.[1] The tiles decorate many of the city's most notable buildings, including the Rockefeller Museum, American Colony Hotel, and the House of the President of Israel.[1]
David Ohannessian (1884–1953), who had established a pottery in Kütahya in 1907, is credited with establishing the Armenian ceramic craft industry in Jerusalem.[2] In 1911 Ohannessian was commissioned with installing Kütahya tile in the Yorkshire home of Mark Sykes.[2] In 1919 Ohannessian and his family fled the Armenian genocide, finding temporary refuge in Aleppo; they moved to Jerusalem when Sykes suggested that they might be able to replicate the broken and missing tiles on the Dome of the Rock, a building then in a decayed and neglected condition.[1][2] Although the commission for the Dome of the Rock did not come through, the Ohannession pottery in Jerusalem succeeded, as did the Karakashian the painters and Balian the potters that Ohannessian brought with him from Kuttahya to help him with the project in 1919.[1][2] After about 60 years new Armenian artists started to have their own studios.
In 2019 the Israel Museum mounted a special exhibition of Jerusalem pottery in its Rockefeller Museum branch location.[3][4]
Lower quality, mass-produced imitations of Armenian pottery produced in Arab cities and in China are popular with tourists, undercutting the carefully crafted, traditional pottery.[1] A form of Palestinian Arab ceramics similar in style is known as Hebron pottery.[2]
^ abcde"Jerusalem of Clay". Tablet Magazine. 14 August 2017.
^ abcde"Celebrating Centenary of the Introduction of Jerusalem Armenian Ceramics". Armenian. 3 September 2019.
^"A Tantalizing Tour of Jerusalem's Magical Armenian Tiles". Haaretz. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
^"A Glimpse of Paradise; 100 Years of Jerusalem Armenian Ceramics in the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum". Israel Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
and 23 Related for: Armenian ceramics in Jerusalem information
Jerusalem's ancient Armenian community experienced a major increase in numbers as survivors of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the government of...
result in the loss of Armenian control over 25% of the Armenian Quarter. In 1986, it was estimated that 1,500 Armenians lived in the city of Jerusalem. According...
and the Pro-Jerusalem Society invited David Ohannessian, a master Armenian ceramicist from Ottoman Kütahya and a survivor of the Armenian Genocide who...
IL037.03 (ArmenianCeramicsinJerusalem – Marie Balian 'Tree of Life')". www.wnsstamps.post. Retrieved 2018-10-31. "Fabulous mural by Armenian artist Marie...
"Armenian Inscriptions of the Church of Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem. Part 1. The Chapel of John the Evangelist and Its Inscriptions". VEM (inArmenian)...
view, in keeping with Eastern Orthodox tradition. The tomb of the priest who founded the church can be seen along the north wall. Armenianceramicsin Jerusalem...
exhibition of ArmenianceramicsinJerusalem. Inside what was to have been the rear courtyard of the museum stood (until it died after nearly 300 years in 1998)...
Israel Museum, Jerusalem) Of stone and schizophrenia, Haaretz Haaretz, 18 December 1925 Nurit Canaan-Kedar, ArmenianCeramicsinJerusalem (Yad Yitzhak...
Old City of Jerusalem expanded further onto the so-called Western Hill. This 773-meter-high prominence, which comprises the modern Armenian and Jewish...
Jerusalem syndrome is a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of religiously-themed ideas or experiences that are triggered by a visit to the...
The Jerusalem Cinematheque is a cinematheque and film archive inJerusalem. The Jerusalem Cinematheque was founded in 1973 by Lia van Leer. It was originally...
ceremony that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem on Great Saturday, the day before Orthodox Easter. During the ceremony...
Arabic: متحف إسرائيل) is an art and archaeological museum inJerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution...
from Jerusalem's walled city. Starting at the Damascus Gate, it is the ancient road north. American Colony Hotel ArmenianCeramics of Jerusalem-The Balian...
the Mount of Olives is the oldest and most important Jewish cemetery inJerusalem. The Mount of Olives has been a traditional Hebrew/Jewish burial location...
of Tolerance Jerusalem (MTJ; Hebrew: מוזיאון הסובלנות ירושלים) is a museum, convention center and entertainment venue in downtown Jerusalem. The museum's...
as Jerusalem Mall (Hebrew: קניון ירושלים, Kanyon Yerushalayim), is an indoor shopping mall in the southwestern neighbourhood of Malha, Jerusalem. The...
Zoo inJerusalem (Hebrew: גן החיות התנ"כי בירושלים על שם משפחת טיש, Arabic: حديقة الحيوان الكتابية في أورشليم القدس), popularly known as the Jerusalem Biblical...
ceramics, and construction materials. Before the second intifada, Palestine had a strong industrial base inJerusalem and Gaza. Barriers erected in the...
National Library inJerusalem was the brainchild of Joseph Chazanovitz [he] (1844–1919). His idea was creating a "home for all works in all languages and...
Armenian art is the unique form of art developed over the last five millennia in which the Armenian people lived on the Armenian Highland. Armenian architecture...
Museum in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Aleppo Codex, among others. The building was constructed in 1965...
Jerusalem Khan Theatre (תיאטרון החאן – Teat'ron HaKhan, lit. "The Caravanserai Theatre") is a repertory theatre based inJerusalem. The theatre is located...