Khan al-Jumruk in Damascus

Turn off the Al-Hamidiyah Souq into a side lane and a narrow roofed passage begins. Khan al-Jumruk is not like the other khans of Damascus: instead of a square courtyard it runs as one long arm that turns a right angle, from Dakhlat al-Sulaymaniyah towards the silk souq. Its name means customs, because for part of the nineteenth century the customs house sat here.

Getting there

It is one of the lanes opening north from the eastern half of the Al-Hamidiyah Souq. A blue sign at the entrance reads “Souq al-Gumruk” in two scripts; when you see it you are in the right arm. Khan As’ad Pasha and the Midhat Pasha Souq are a few minutes away.

What to see

The khan went up under the Ottoman governor Murad Pasha; sources put the date between 1596 and 1608. Inside, 53 large and 8 small storerooms are counted. The roof was carried on 9 domes to begin with and after two major rebuildings 6 are left; the windows in their drums still drop light into the passage. The arches are laid in ablaq, courses of dark and pale stone alternating.

How long it takes

Fifteen or twenty minutes. This is not a monument with a ticket desk but a working market: the storerooms are now cloth, bridalwear and haberdashery shops. Early in the morning, as the shutters go up, the passage is empty; by the afternoon it is packed.

Don’t miss

Look up. Above the shop signboards the vault and dome surfaces were never plastered, so the scorched colour of the stone, the ablaq courses and the small windows in the dome drums are all still there. Most people walk through watching the window displays.