The Banqusa Mosque, Aleppo

Not inside the walls but just outside them. Banqusa is a suburb that grew northeast of Bab al-Hadid with its own souq, its khans and its craft streets, and the mosque sits at the centre of that fabric. The two are usually named together.

Where Banqusa is

Aleppo spilled out of its walls in two directions: Jdayde to the northwest, Banqusa to the northeast. Jdayde is remembered as the quarter of merchants and of the Christian communities; Banqusa grew along the crafts and the livestock market. Both read differently from the walled city — wider lanes, plainer courtyards.

Getting there

Leave by Bab al-Hadid and walk northeast; the street takes you straight through the local souq. About twenty-five minutes from the Citadel esplanade.

How long it takes

Twenty minutes for the building. Since you are here, walk the quarter’s souq as well; that is where the mosque gets its meaning.

What to see

Mamluk style runs through most of the architecture. The minaret is stone, its shaft plain and unbroken, with an open gallery above it carried on slender columns. On the street front a pointed arch frames the entrance, with lamps hung under it.

Don’t miss

The point where the shaft of the minaret turns into the gallery. The lower shaft is bare stone; the gallery stage is open and light. That contrast repeats across the Mamluk minarets of Aleppo, and here it is the clearest detail on the building.

How it stands now

The quarter took its share of the fighting in 2012-2016. The damage to the building is assessed in its own section of the Aleppo Heritage Catalogue, the record kept by the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin. The photograph on this page was taken in 2010, before the war; check the present state on the ground.