Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
813 Places
Khan al-Nuri in al-Qutayfah
A late 12th-century caravanserai credited to Nur al-Din Zengi at the east end of al-Qutayfah: 58 by 35 metres, a paved court, two long iwans and loophole walls.
Damascus · Zengid (attributed)
Khan Dannun, a Mamluk Caravanserai on the Hajj Road
A basalt Mamluk caravanserai finished in 1376 south of Damascus, the pilgrim caravan’s stop after al-Kiswah. Its current state is unconfirmed; ask locally.
Damascus · Mamluk
The Khabur River
The largest perennial tributary of the Euphrates in Syria, from the springs of Ras al-Ayn to al-Busayra, with the Jazira’s great tells from Tell Halaf to Tell Brak.
Hasakah · Natural; settlement along its banks from the Lower Palaeolithic to today
The Euphrates in Syria
West Asia’s longest river runs 710 km through Syria: the Sajur, Balikh and Khabur, three dams, and the towns and ruins on its banks from Jarabulus to Abu Kamal.
Deir ez-Zor · Natural; settlement along its banks from the Neolithic to today
Euphrates Lake (Lake Assad)
Euphrates Lake, once Lake Assad, is Syria’s largest lake, behind the Tabqa Dam: how it formed, which ancient mounds it drowned, and where to see its shore.
Raqqa · Modern — dam 1968-1973, lake since 1974
Emir Abdelkader’s Summer Palace in Dummar
The two-storey summer house Emir Abdelkader built on the Barada during his Damascus exile; one source says he died here in 1883. Restored 2008; ask about access.
Damascus · Ottoman
The Al-Hamidi Mosque in Deir ez-Zor
One of the oldest mosques in Deir ez-Zor, where Eid ceremonies are held: yellow limestone, rebuilt in 1936 with one minaret, and domes lightened with clay jars.
Deir ez-Zor · Late Ottoman · rebuilt in 1936
The Naqshbandi Takiyas of Deir ez-Zor
Two Naqshbandi Sufi lodges 300 metres apart on Takaya Street, built in 1885 and 1906: marble columns, domes, and a long record of feeding the city in Ramadan.
Deir ez-Zor · Late Ottoman
The Old Souqs of Deir ez-Zor (al-Souq al-Muqabbi)
Seven covered markets laid out in 1865 by craftsmen from Urfa, selling spices, sickles and tent rope. Largely destroyed in 2012; ask on site which parts reopened.
Deir ez-Zor · Late Ottoman
Al-Furat Secondary School, Deir ez-Zor
The oldest school in eastern Syria opened in 1910 as the Maktab Sultani. Its listed building in the Rushdiyya quarter is still a school, seen from the street.
Deir ez-Zor · A late Ottoman foundation; extended in 1920-1924 and 1940
The Museum of Popular Traditions in Deir ez-Zor
Clothes, tools and silver jewellery of the Euphrates valley in 19 rooms of a 1930 government house. Not the archaeology museum; check that it is open before going.
Deir ez-Zor · Building 1930 · museum founded 1957
The Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor
A church, museum and archive built where the 1915 deportation convoys ended, consecrated in 1991 and blown up in 2014. What it held and what is known of it today.
Deir ez-Zor · 1989-1990 · destroyed in 2014
