The Qastal al-Harami Mosque

About one kilometre north of the citadel, in the middle of the Qastal al-Harami quarter that takes its name from the building. The emir Bardbak had it built in 865/1461, and the second name of the mosque, the Bardbak Mosque, comes from him. A qastal is what Aleppo calls the public fountain of a quarter, and here the fountain is part of the building itself: tomb, fountain, minaret and mihrab sit together in one structure.

Getting there

It is 1100 metres north of the citadel square. Bab al-Hadid lies 800 metres to the south-east and Jdayde 600 metres to the south-west. The three do not fit into one walk; the mosque is a separate stop inside its own quarter.

How long it takes

Twenty minutes, the mihrab included. The lane is narrow, and in the morning the vegetable carts come right up to the wall.

What to see

Four things stand out. The octagonal minaret is what you see first from the street, plain in the shaft with a small cap on top. Beside the entrance stands the qastal, the stone fountain that supplied the quarter. Inside opens the tomb chamber of the founder. The mihrab is the part most often cited: it is counted among the best in Aleppo.

Do not miss

The qastal itself. In Aleppo these fountains were built not only to draw water but to define a quarter, and this quarter takes its name straight from the one at the door. The same Bardbak paid for the qastal beside the Sharaf Mosque in Jdayde in 1491, so two buildings carry the trace of one patron across the city.

Where things stand

The dome and part of the structure were damaged during the war, and the damage was recorded in photographs. We have no dated record of how far the repairs have gone; ask in the quarter about the door.