The Sanjakdar Mosque

Arghun Shah, the Mamluk viceroy in Damascus, built it in 1348 and was buried in one side of it. The name comes from the office of sanjakdar, the officer who carried the sultan’s standard; the street and quarter around it carry the same name. Few buildings in Damascus keep a Mamluk front as intact as this one.

Getting there

West of the Citadel, at the junction near the western entrance of the Hamidiyya souq. Leave the souq and walk north-west and you reach it in a few minutes; an underpass beneath the mosque leads back to the souq. Its dome and minaret are visible from anywhere on the junction.

What to see

The front is laid in courses of two-coloured stone. The hood of the portal is cut with deep muqarnas, and beside it sits a panel of interlaced geometric stonework. The minaret is of Mamluk type: an octagonal shaft divided by mouldings, with a balcony and a conical cap above. A single dome covers the prayer hall.

How it stands today

It works as a neighbourhood mosque, and everything around it is modern: apartment blocks, shops, heavy traffic. The building holds its ground in the middle of that like an island. The grave of Arghun Shah is inside, in a chamber of its own.

Don’t miss

The muqarnas over the door. Only a handful of Mamluk portal hoods survive in Damascus at this scale, and this is one of the few you can study from the pavement. Morning light deepens the shadows in the carving.