Al-Zahiriyya Madrasa

On the lane north of the Umayyad Mosque, facing the Adiliyya Madrasa across the street. It was raised at the end of the thirteenth century by the son of the Mamluk sultan Baybars, as his tomb. In later centuries it served as a madrasa and then as the Zahiriyya Library, which held the largest manuscript collection in Damascus.

Getting there

Two minutes from the northern gate of the Umayyad Mosque. The door sits low against the lane and is easy to walk past.

How long it takes

Half an hour. What there is to see is one room, and that room deserves to be lingered in.

What is there

Above eye level, a mosaic band on a gold ground runs around the walls of the burial chamber: trees, rivers and buildings. If you have seen the mosaics in the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque the language will be familiar; five hundred years apart, it is the same tradition carried on. The muqarnas portal and the inlaid coloured stone at the entrance are also in place.

What most people miss

Look at how the mosaic band turns the corners. The craftsman did not cut the landscape where the wall turns; the composition carries round unbroken.