Jisr al-Shughur, the Bridge Town on the Orontes

A town on the Orontes, on the eastern edge of the Ghab plain, 170 metres above sea level. Latakia is 75 kilometres away and Aleppo 104, and the road between them runs through the middle of town. The first half of the name, jisr, means bridge. The stone bridge the Romans built over the Orontes was taken into a Mamluk structure in the 15th century, and it is still one of the town’s two bridges over the river.

What to look for on the bridge

The bridge has been repaired many times, with Mamluk masonry laid over Roman stone. The piers are V-shaped, to split the current. In a 1714 engraving by the Dutch traveller Cornelis de Bruyn, the bridge is drawn with its arches and the town behind it.

How the town began

In antiquity it was Seleucobelus, or Seleucia ad Belum; the Romans called it Niaccuba. The present town, though, was founded early in the 17th century on the caravan road between Aleppo and the coast, around a khan — a merchants’ inn built around a courtyard — a mosque and a bath house. Travellers of the time describe it as a new place. The caravanserai in the old centre was built in 1660-1675 and repaired in 1826-1827.

For most of the 18th century the town was run by the Kurdish agha Muhammad ibn Rustum and his sons, first as kaymakam, or deputy governor, and later as managers of the religious endowment of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. European sources of the same century spell the name Choug, Shogle or Shoggle. In December 1920 Ibrahim Hananu took the town from the French.

What to see in the old quarter

The oldest quarter is Hayy al-Qalaa. Its large courtyard houses date from the second half of the 19th century, and the quarter is a protected area where demolition and alteration are banned. Heading north on the road to Hammam al-Sheikh Issa, you reach a charitable drinking fountain from the early 20th century. Its inscription is a Quranic verse: “And their Lord gave them a pure drink.”

Getting there

The Aleppo–Latakia road runs through the town, so it is reached directly from either direction. Roads and checkpoints change; check the current situation before you set out.

How long it takes

An hour and a half for the bridge, the old centre and Hayy al-Qalaa.

What is nearby

Ancient Qarqur is 7 kilometres south. The castles of Shughr and Bakas stand on the Orontes to the north-west, and Bourzey Castle is 25 kilometres south.

Don’t miss

The piers, seen from the riverbank. Crossing the bridge, it looks like an ordinary road bridge; the V-shaped piers only show from below.