Al-Jalloum: an Old Quarter of Aleppo

Al-Jalloum is one of the oldest quarters of Aleppo’s old city, a broad stretch running from south of the souq to the walls. It comes in two parts, Lesser Jalloum and Greater Jalloum. Besides its mosques, madrasas and public fountains, it once held the workshops where Aleppo’s printed handkerchiefs were made. Many buildings with their own pages on this site stand in al-Jalloum; this page brings them together.

Where its edges are

According to the old histories of Aleppo, the quarter is bounded on the south by the moat and the Bab Qinnasrin quarter, and on the west by the stretch of moat called the Malta gate. Its northern edge runs from al-Aqaba to Khan Abrak, also known as Khan al-Qassabiyya, then to the old cotton market, the Great Mosque and the goldsmiths’ market. On the east are Khan Khayir Bek, the Darb and Farrayin markets and the Al-Adiliyah Mosque. Lesser Jalloum is the part along the wall; it is also called al-barraniyya, the outer Jalloum, and Greater Jalloum al-jawwaniyya, the inner. One story holds that the name is a corruption of “Sallum”.

What is in Lesser Jalloum

The heart of the quarter is the Abu Yahya al-Kawakibi Mosque. It is an old mosque: Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Kawakibi enlarged it and held Sufi gatherings there, and when he died he was buried inside, with a dome over his grave paid for by Sibay al-Jarkasi. Next to the children’s schoolroom on the left of the entrance is a fountain built by Hibatullah bint Hasan Efendi. East of the mosque, up a few steps, is the Kawakibi Madrasa, and to the west the fountain of Zuhayr Agha.

The quarter also had two print workshops, where Aleppo handkerchiefs were stamped with wooden blocks. One stood east of the Kawakibi Madrasa and had been one of the Kawakibi family’s houses; the other was in the part called al-Burj.

The rest of the quarter

The official district is larger: the Saffahiyya, Khan al-Wazir and Al-Madina Souq neighbourhoods also belong to al-Jalloum. The Al-Ahmadiyya Madrasa, opened in 1724 on the plan of a Sufi lodge, lies within it. The Al-Saffahiyah Mosque, the Al-Bahramiyah Mosque, the Halawiyya Madrasa, the Muqaddamiyya Madrasa, the Bimaristan Arghun and Khan al-Wazir, all with their own pages on this site, are counted in al-Jalloum too.

Who lived here

The quarter’s old families include the Kawakibis, the Taha family known as the Chalabis, the Sayyaf family known as Beit al-Jazzar, and the Rukbis, among Aleppo’s wealthy merchants. Ahmad ibn Mas’ud al-Kawakibi, father of the reformist writer Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, the singer Sabri Moudallal and the historian Khayr al-Din al-Asadi were all born in al-Jalloum.

How to walk it

Entering at Bab Qinnasrin and walking north towards the souq takes you through the whole quarter. Allow ninety minutes if you go into the buildings. The site’s “Aleppo’s courtyards on foot” route also starts in al-Jalloum.

Do not miss

The steps up to the Kawakibi Madrasa. The madrasa sits just east of the mosque, a few steps above the street; visitors who look at the mosque and turn back leave without seeing it.

Where things stand

Al-Jalloum is a lived-in quarter: map edits from 2022 and 2023 show a working police station and a settled street pattern. On the souq side, repairs have gone on section by section since the 2012 fire. The state of individual buildings is on their own pages; we found no dated damage report for the quarter as a whole.