The Al-Maydani Mosque

A small Mamluk mosque in the old city fabric between the citadel and Jdayde, in the Almaji quarter. The name comes from its founder, the emir Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Halabi, known in Aleppo as Ibn al-Maydani. The part most often cited is the minaret, because it is the piece shown alongside the one at the Mahmandar Mosque whenever the octagonal minaret type of Aleppo is described.

Getting there

On one of the lanes running from the citadel square up towards Jdayde. The mosque does not face a square; it stands inside the tight lane fabric and is found by asking rather than by any sign. Its coordinates could not be confirmed, so this page carries no map.

How long it takes

Fifteen minutes. Most of what there is to see is outside: the minaret and the entrance front.

What to see

The octagonal minaret. What stands today was rebuilt in the 16th century by Ibn Qanbar, so the body is Mamluk and the present assembly of the minaret is Ottoman. Inside is the tomb of Shaykh Abdullah.

Do not miss

Setting this minaret beside the one at the Mahmandar Mosque. The two describe the octagonal type of Aleppo together, and both are within walking distance of the citadel. Seeing one and skipping the other leaves the type half told.

Where things stand

There is one dated record of the building before the war: a photograph of the minaret taken by Jean-Claude David in 1994, held in the Syrian Heritage Archive in Berlin. We found no verified condition report for the years since; ask in the quarter about the door.