The Aziziyah Quarter

Aziziyah is where Aleppo steps out of the old urban fabric into a different plan altogether. The streets are not narrow and turning but wide and straight; the facades are not blank walls but rows of windows. The quarter lies west of the city centre, at the junction between Baghdad station, the Sulaymaniyah quarter and the large public park.

How the quarter began

Building started in 1868, making Aziziyah one of the first quarters laid out beyond the walls of Aleppo. Before that the ground was known as the field of the gallows, a name that fell out of use once the quarter existed. Where the name Aziziyah came from is disputed: one account points to the Ottoman sultan Abdulaziz, another to an architect of the Aziza family who worked here. Part of the land belonged to the endowments of the Great Mosque of Aleppo and the Halawiyya madrasa. By the end of the 19th century most residents were Christian families, and that is still the case.

Getting there

Twenty-five minutes west of the Aleppo citadel on foot, five by taxi. Coming down southwest from Jdayde takes ten minutes to the northern end of the quarter. The public park marks its western edge.

What to see

The oldest building in the quarter is the present Aziziyah police station. Work began in 1899 and it opened in 1900: when the quarter was new this was the edge of the city and security after dark was thin, which is why the station was built. Stone inscriptions on its wall record the date, one of them in Ottoman Turkish. The quarter also holds the Latin Church and the Syriac Catholic Church. The rest is late Ottoman and mandate-era apartment blocks: stone facades, iron balconies, tall windows. And the width of the streets, which is the real difference for anyone arriving from the old city.

How long it takes

An hour. The quarter offers no list of buildings to go inside; walking the streets and reading the facades is the visit, and the park is next door when you are done.

What most people miss

The inscription on the police station. From the street it looks like an ordinary official building, yet it is the first structure of the quarter, and the date on its stone reads alongside the founding date of the quarter itself.