The Al-Salam Mosque, Homs

A neighbourhood mosque in Qarabis, a quarter of Homs. It was finished in 1980, which makes it one of the newer buildings in a city of old ones. The minaret, though, carries on the local habit with stone: courses of black alternating with white. The name appears in two forms, al-Salam Mosque and Dar al-Salam Mosque.

Who built it, and when

The architect was Shawki Tawokkol. Building finished in 1980. Part of the work was carried by volunteers from the quarter, who lived a street or two away. The Muslim community of Qarabis still runs the mosque — no ministry, no museum board, just the neighbourhood.

What to see

The plan is a square. A rectangular courtyard with an arcade around it comes before the entrance, and the door faces Khalaf al-Ahmar Street: you go street, courtyard, prayer hall. The minaret beside the mosque has three tiers, and its shaft is built in bands of black and white stone. That banding is called ablaq, a signature of Mamluk building in Syria and Egypt, repeated here in 1980.

Getting there, and the state of it now

The mosque is reported to have been damaged in the fighting during the civil war. How much damage, and how far repairs have got, is not something we could confirm in any source, so this page gives no figure. It is within walking distance of the old city. It is not a signposted visitor site. Ask in the quarter before you go: whether the door is open, and which lane you approach from, can change from one month to the next.

What most people miss

Look closely at the courses of the minaret. It takes a minute. The same black-and-white alternation is on the portal of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in the old city. See both in one day and you have the old and the new of the same stone language, side by side.