The Manjak Mosque

A mosque in Midan, in the middle of Souq al-Jazmatiya, at the Jisr al-Fajl crossing. This is the line along which pilgrim caravans left Damascus for Daraa and the south, and the long market street of Midan is that road itself. The mosque rises above the rows of shops as a block banded in black and white stone.

Who built it

The founder was the Mamluk amir Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Manjak. The elder of the family, Manjak the Great, was deputy governor of Damascus, and the Manjakiya madrasa and the Manjak bath house both carry his name. Sources disagree on the year of building: some give 815 of the Hijri calendar, around 1412, while others say 1370 or 1400. Naming a single year without reading the inscription would be wrong. The first prayer hall was small; it was pulled down and rebuilt larger under Sultan Barsbay, and further comprehensive work followed in the Ottoman period and in the 20th century.

What to see

The facade. Courses of black and white stone run unbroken along the whole wall, a row of pointed-arch windows sits on the upper floor, and a stone inscription tablet is set at the corner. The ground floor is shops: the mosque sits above the souq rather than beside it. The dome and the minaret repeat the same banding.

What most people miss

The top of the minaret. The shaft is banded black and white and carries three bulbous finials — an ending you will not see on another minaret in Damascus. It is invisible from inside the market; cross to the corner opposite the mosque and look at the roofline.

How long it takes

Twenty minutes. The mosque is still in use and Quran classes are held here. The stonework surviving from the Mamluk period is mostly on the east and north walls, so give those a separate look. The restorations took away much of the original fabric, and it is better to arrive knowing that.