The Yalbugha Mosque at Marjeh Square

On the north side of Marjeh Square stands a mosque with a marble front and a metal dome. It opened for prayer on 27 October 2014. But there had been a mosque here since 1264: a Mamluk building put up outside the Damascus wall, on the bank of the Barada. That building was pulled down in 1974, and the present mosque was raised on the same ground and given the same name.

Getting there

Marjeh is the modern centre of Damascus. Ten minutes on foot from the western mouth of the Al-Hamidiyah Souq brings you into the square; the mosque is on the north side and its minaret picks it out from a distance. Souq Saruja lies just north.

What to see

The building is new but it follows Damascene habit. The front is banded in pale marble, the door and window arches are pointed, the dome is metal and the minaret carries a single balcony. A stone panel above the main door gives the name of the mosque. The terrace facing the square is full of pigeons, and that is what the mosque looks like on an ordinary day.

What happened to the old mosque

The Mamluk building is dated to 1264. Some sources tie it instead to Sayf al-Din Yalbugha al-Yahyawi, governor of Damascus, and to 1346; the mosque carries his name. It was repaired several times over the centuries, and the last major repair we know of was ordered in 1756 by As’ad Pasha al-Azm, which the Damascene barber Al-Budayri noted in his diary. During the years of Egyptian rule the building was used as a biscuit factory. In 1974 it was demolished for the redevelopment of the square.

What most people miss

The Telegraph Monument in the middle of the square is fifty paces from the mosque, and the two fit in one frame: a cast-iron column of 1907 against a marble front of 2014. Then look at the stone panel over the door; the spelling of the name was carried over from the building that came down.