Hammam al-Nahhasin, Aleppo

One of the oldest and largest bathhouses in Aleppo, set right inside the Al-Madina souq. The name comes from the coppersmiths: Khan al-Nahhasin, the coppersmiths’ caravanserai, stands next door. The bath worked as an extension of the market — traders leaving the stalls and travellers arriving off the road both came through this door.

Getting there

South of the Great Mosque, among the covered lanes of the souq. Take the first branch of the market running south from the mosque; the entrance is at street level and the sign is small, so it is easy to walk past.

Who built it

The first building went up in the 12th century on the order of Aisha, daughter of Saladin. It was reworked several times under the Mamluks and the Ottomans, and most of the walls standing today are Ottoman work.

What to see

The bath is laid out in three parts. The outer part is the largest: a carved wooden ceiling, a marble floor and a pool in the middle, where bathers sit before and after washing. The middle part is given over to scrubbing and massage. The inner part holds the warm and hot rooms. There is a completely separate women’s section called Hammam as-Sitt.

How it stands now

The building was damaged in the fighting of 2012-2016. The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums began a full restoration in 2021, construction finished in January 2022, and the hammam reopened that November — not as a museum, but to do its original job.

Don’t miss

The ceiling of the outer room. Most visitors look at the pool and the marble and walk on; the real craftsmanship is overhead, in the geometry of the wooden panelling.