St. James Cathedral Church

The heavy, studded wooden door of St. James Cathedral is often the only part of the fortress-like complex visible from the narrow street. Behind that barrier lies a twelfth-century sanctuary where, according to tradition, the head of Saint James the Apostle is buried. The interior glows with thousands of flickering oil lamps and walls covered in delicate blue tiles from Kutahya. Silence defines the space, broken only by the rhythmic, daily chanting of the Armenian monks who have maintained this site for centuries.