Souq al-Khoja

The only souq in Damascus working in leather. Jackets, bags, belts, shoes; the busiest weeks of the year come as winter sets in and before the religious holidays. The souq you walk today stands on Thawra Street in the Sarouja quarter — but the story starts at the moat of the citadel.

Getting there

Walk north-west out of the walled city towards Thawra Street; the souq sits at the edge of the Souq Sarouja quarter. It takes about twenty minutes on foot, and telling a taxi driver the name of the quarter is enough.

What is sold

Leather, and everything made from it. The layout was copied from Hamidiyah: workshops on the upper floor, shops below. Most of what you see was stitched one storey above your head, and if you want to watch the stitching you only have to ask.

Why the souq moved

The first souq went up in 1895, during the first term of the Ottoman governor Husayn Kazim Pasha. The reason was sanitation rather than beauty. Rubbish was being tipped into the citadel moat, so a market was built along the west wall, parallel to Sanjakdar street. It was renewed in 1905 and covered with a pyramid-shaped iron roof against fire. Later the west wall of the citadel was to be uncovered, and the old souq came down. About 500 metres north, in 1985, the present souq was built in the same style.

How long it takes

Half an hour. One line, two rows of shops. Trying on a leather jacket changes the arithmetic.

Don’t miss

The old souq also sold beadwork bags and prayer beads made by prisoners held in the citadel; that bench is gone from the new one. What stayed is the smell — raw hide, dye and glue. You notice the difference at the door with your nose, not your eyes.