The Al-Tawrizi Mosque

A Mamluk mosque on the western edge of Damascus, in the Qabr Atika quarter outside the walls. It appears on no itinerary. Yet for anyone who cares about the city’s fifteenth century buildings it holds one of the richest interiors in Damascus. Walls are tiled to waist height, a timber ceiling covers the prayer hall, painted ajami woodwork covers the court, and the founder’s tomb stands beside it under a muqarnas dome.

Getting there

Along the Ras al-Shuwayka and Bab Srija line, south-west of Marjeh Square. About fifteen minutes on foot south-west from the Sinan Pasha Mosque. The lanes are narrow and turn often, so asking for the minaret, which stands apart from the mosque, works better than asking for the mosque.

How long it takes

Half an hour. The mosque is small but there is a great deal of surface to read, and the tile panels and the mihrab take most of that time.

What to see

The north facade is ablaq, built in courses of black and white stone, and falls into two parts. The forward part carries the main entrance, an arched hood with muqarnas work and a decorated inscription band above it. The second part is plainer, with a doorway and a window under a cushion arch. Inscription bands run the length of the facade.

The court is roofed in painted ajami woodwork with a small basin at its centre, and inscription bands recording the mosque’s endowment run around the walls. The prayer hall has three aisles, and the arches dividing them rest on square piers of banded stone. The central aisle has a gabled timber roof; the side aisles are flat and slope towards the edges. The ablution area holds a square stone pool, and from it you pass to the washrooms and to the fisha, a summer prayer space with a small carved stone mihrab of its own.

The mosque was built for the Mamluk amir Ghars al-Din Khalil al-Tawrizi al-Dastari. Work began in 1420 and finished in 1421. The minaret was added in 1430 and, against the usual arrangement of the period, was built as a separate mass rather than attached to the mosque.

What most people miss

The founder’s tomb chamber. The dome above it is a pointed hemisphere resting on tiers of muqarnas, ringed by arched windows. Most people come into the prayer hall, turn towards the mihrab and never notice the tomb door. Look too at the minbar to the left of the mihrab with its marble columns: it is cut from polished stone, carries Quranic inscriptions along its sides, and a small stone dome covers the preacher’s seat.