The Mosque and Mausoleum of Amir Tanbak

On the Midan street, one mass under two domes. Beneath the southern dome is the prayer hall, beneath the northern one the tomb. The building went up in 1394 for Tanbak al-Hasani, governor of Damascus; he held office between 1392 and 1400, so he had his grave made while still in post.

Three names, one building

Looking for this place you meet three different names. Locally it is called Jami al-Tinabiyya and Jami Jasbak; the open maps record it as the Tinabiyya, and the photographic archives file it as the Mosque of Jasbak. All three are the same building. In the sources that describe its neighbours the full name survives: the mosque and mausoleum of Amir Tanbak.

What to see

The facade was restored not long ago, and it is now the tidiest historic front on the street. The stone runs in alternating dark and pale courses, and a crenellated white string course cuts across the whole width near the top. Over the door sits a deep muqarnas niche in dark red stone, with a panel of interlaced geometric carving just below it. Four coloured medallions run along the facade, two on each side of the door.

Both domes take their light from arched windows in the drums, and from the pavement you see the pair at once. A slim minaret rises on the line of the door, its balcony open and its cap copper.

Don’t miss

The tomb under the northern dome. Mosque and mausoleum share one facade but are two separate rooms; in Mamluk Damascus an emir’s mosque and his grave were often joined into a single mass like this. From outside you cannot tell them apart, and the division only starts once you are through the door.

How long it takes

20 minutes. The Khanqiyya Madrasa stands just to the north, within walking distance, and the two fall side by side on the Midan street. Midan was the line along which the pilgrim caravan left Damascus, and the buildings on the street were set out beside that road. Tanbak is one of the few in that row whose date and founder are both known.