Souq al-Asruniyeh

One of the few souqs in Damascus still open to the sky. It sits on the short run between the citadel and the Umayyad Mosque, and it has done the same job for about 150 years: kitchenware, copper pots, glass jugs, water pipes. Walk one lane north out of the crowd in the Al-Hamidiyah Souq and the stalls fill with copper.

Getting there

Four things box the souq in: the Al-Hamidiyah Souq to the south, Kallaseh Street and Souq al-Manakhliya to the north, the citadel to the west, Bab al-Barid and the Umayyad Mosque to the east. The easiest way in is the western end of Hamidiyah — keep the east wall of the citadel on your right and walk north.

What is sold

A souq that stayed in one trade. Pots, trays, coffee pots, copper and glass vessels, water pipes and the parts that go with them. Most souqs in the city now sell to visitors; this one still sells to the Damascene buying a pan for the kitchen. Prices are settled by haggling and you will not see a label on the stall.

How long it takes

Half an hour. The line is short and you walk it without turning off. An hour if you stop at a coppersmith’s bench.

Where the name comes from

Two accounts circulate, and both are told in Damascus. The first ties the name to the historian Ibn Abi Asrun: a building in the souq carried his name and was later turned into a madrasa, a religious school. The second is closer to the household — women of Damascus finished the day’s work and came out to shop at asr, the mid-afternoon hour.

Don’t miss

Look up. The other souqs of Damascus were closed over with zinc sheet or stone vaulting; this one never was, so the light drops straight onto the stalls and the copper shifts colour through the day. This is also remembered as the place where the first stock exchange in Damascus began. Nothing marks it. The story stayed with the traders.