Khan al-Qadi

It stands in the Bab Qinnasrin quarter, directly opposite the Bimaristan Arghun. It was built in 1450 — 854 AH — and counts among the oldest khans still standing in Aleppo. The founder was the city’s qadi, Kamal al-Din; the sources disagree on his nisba, some giving al-Misri and some al-Maarri. The building does not carry his name. It carries the name of his office.

Getting there

Come into the city at Bab Qinnasrin and walk towards the bimaristan; the khan is on the opposite side. From the Al-Madina souq you head southwest, down towards the gate. This quarter sits away from the noise of the market, and the lanes are empty and shaded.

What to see

The stone stair rising out of the courtyard. The upper floor held the dormitories: the merchant slept up there and his goods stayed below. Part of the courtyard is covered by a dome, so this is not simply an open rectangle. The scale inside is modest. Khan al-Qadi was never a display piece like Khan al-Wazir; it was a working lodging house.

Who stayed here

Merchants from Diyarbakir and Mosul above all. Aleppo’s trade with the northeast came through those two cities, and a caravan lodged in whichever khan lay nearest the road it had arrived on. Later the building served as a cotton store. Most souq khans went the same way: first lodging, then storage.

What most people miss

The waqf inscription. A quarter of the khan’s shops were endowed to the Hakimiyya madrasa, and the inscription records the annual rent they produced. In Aleppo the answer to where a madrasa got its money is often written on a stone like this one: the shop in the market paid for the student and the teacher. Most visitors look at the courtyard and leave without reading it.