Hammam al-Qishani

One frame in Damascus shows a building changing trade, and this is it. Qishani means tiled; the bath took its name from the cladding on its walls. It no longer works as a bath, and the inside has become a small souq: perfume bottles, jewellery and bridal dresses under the dome. The sign still reads Souq al-Qishani, so the market took its name from the bath.

Getting there

It is on the east side of Souq al-Khayyatin, directly opposite the Khan al-Zafaranjiya. Khayyatin runs south into the Midhat Pasha Souq and north into Hamidiyah; enter from either end and follow the line. A little further along the same souq stands the Khan al-Harir.

From bath to market

The change came by partition rather than demolition. The cold and warm rooms were divided into shops, the dome stayed where it was, and the glass eyes set into it now light the stalls. If you don’t look up you will not know a bath was here. If you do, the plan is easy to read.

What is sold

Perfume and essences, jewellery, bridal and evening dresses, cloth. This is not a visitors’ stall: the buyer is a Damascene putting together a trousseau. Nothing carries a label and the price is arrived at by talking.

Don’t miss

The sign at the entrance. It carries the name of the market in both Arabic and Latin letters, and it puts the two lives of the building in the same place. If you want a photograph, take two steps inside and aim upwards; the light under the dome is at its clearest around midday.