Khan al-Harir (Damascus)

A khan — a merchants’ inn built around a courtyard — inside the silk souq southwest of the Umayyad Mosque. Darwish Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, built it between 979 and 982 of the Islamic calendar, that is between 1571 and 1574; the same man paid for the Darwish Pasha Mosque nearby. It still works, and most of the cells around the court sell cloth and textiles.

Getting there

Walk the Al-Hamidiyah Souq towards the Umayyad Mosque; the silk souq branches off southwest of it. The khan sits inside that branch and its door carries no sign, so look for the tall arch between the shopfronts. Khan al-Jumruk is a few minutes away.

What to see

The building covers about 2500 square metres. Arabic sources count 27 shops on the outside and 19 within, with a pool at the centre. The front is laid in the black and white ablaq stone of Damascus. The upper floor once carried an arcade of 44 arches under a run of domes, and 52 vaulted rooms behind it; most of that roof has gone, the arches and the vaults stayed.

How long it takes

20 minutes is enough. This is not a museum but a working piece of the souq, and a visit means crossing the court and looking up into the vaulted galleries.

Don’t miss

Look where the vaults meet. The arches run into one another on a single course of stone, and the bond reads through the whitewash. Then there is the name: the souq stopped selling silk, the khan kept the word.