Al-Jisr Al-Abyad Mosque

A small Ayyubid building on Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Street, in the Salihiyya quarter that climbs the lower slope of Mount Qasioun. It was founded as a madrasa in 1214, became the neighbourhood mosque over the centuries, and now carries the name of the district around it: al-Jisr al-Abyad, the White Bridge.

Getting there

Any route up to Salihiyya drops you at al-Jisr al-Abyad square. The mosque sits at the edge of it, right on the street; the dome is visible from the pavement, so you are not looking for a sign. The cluster of madrasas, mosques and tombs that makes Salihiyya worth a morning starts 700 metres north of here.

Who built it

The founder was the wife of the Ayyubid emir al-Mu’azzam Isa. The building was finished in 610 AH, 1214 in the common era, and the sources call it the Maridaniyya Madrasa. The teaching function faded. The building turned into a neighbourhood mosque and still works as one.

What to see

Three things identify it from the street. The rose-coloured dome resting on a drum of dressed stone; the arched, iron-grilled windows that ring the drum; the fan-shaped carved hoods set between them. The minaret is square, plastered white, and its muezzin’s gallery is timber with a roof over it — the type you see on ordinary mosques all over Damascus.

Don’t miss

The fan hoods on the drum. From the far pavement they all fall into one frame; from the foot of the wall the angle closes and you see none of them. Look at the row of shops leaning against the east wall too: the building does not stand apart from the street, it stands inside it.