Bab al-Maqam

The southern mouth of the walled city. It takes its name from the shrine to the south: the road out of it ran to the maqam attributed to the Prophet Abraham, south of the city. The gate was known as Bab Nafis and as al-Bab al-Qibli, the southern gate, as well.

Getting there

Walk south from the Aleppo Citadel along Bab al-Maqam Street, about 850 metres. The gate stands over the street as a single arch flanked by thick masses of stone. The Al-Tawashi Mosque is some 300 metres north-east.

What to see

A pointed arch with a round inscription medallion on its left. The building took its present form when az-Zahir Ghazi rebuilt it, and was completed under his son al-Aziz Muhammad. Older layers run back to the Mirdasids and to Nur al-Din’s renewal.

Don’t miss

The plan is unlike most medieval Syrian gates: there is no bent passage and no narrow throat. Yasser Tabbaa reads this as a ceremonial rather than a military function; the gate was raised not as a defensive point but as an arch opening onto the pilgrimage road south.

Around it

The Bab al-Maqam quarter is one of the few in Aleppo that keeps its old fabric: narrow winding lanes, very few new buildings. West of the gate stand the mosque and shrine of the Forty, and in the eastern tower there is a small mosque and a tekke.