Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
813 Places
Qanawat, Damascus
The quarter that carries the water history of Damascus in its name: qanawat means canals. Tekkiye, the Hejaz station and the National Museum all sit here.
Damascus · Roman name, late Ottoman fabric
The Latin Monastery: where the 1860 massacre reached in Damascus
The Franciscan monastery two hundred metres south of Bab Touma. It remembers the 11 people killed here in 1860, and the graves lie beside the side altar.
Damascus · Ottoman — on this site for centuries
The Grand Serail of Damascus
The Grand Serail on the south side of Marjeh Square opened in 1900 as the governor’s seat. King Faysal and the French Mandate both ruled Damascus from it.
Damascus · Late Ottoman
The Palace of Justice, Damascus
Across from the Al-Hamidiyah Souq stands the building that has housed whoever ran Damascus since 1554: Ottoman governors, French commissioners, now courts.
Damascus · Ottoman — French Mandate — Republic
The Al-Safarjalani Mosque
An Ottoman mosque beside Maktab Anbar in Damascus. Its banded stone minaret is the one thing to stop for at this end of Straight Street, and entry is free.
Damascus · Ottoman
Qasr al-Nasaan, Damascus
The courtyard house near Bab Sharqi was built in 1607 and the Nasaan family still lives in it. Visits are possible; ask at the door about hours and fee.
Damascus · Ottoman
The Al-Muradiyya Madrasa
A madrasa in Souq Saruja founded by a Naqshbandi sheikh from Samarkand. They called it the Azhar of Damascus; 260 manuscripts survive of its old library.
Damascus · Ottoman
Muhajreen Palace, Damascus
Built on the slope of Qasioun between 1902 and 1905 for an Ottoman governor. Cemal Pasha, King Faysal and Syria’s first president each lived here in turn.
Damascus · Late Ottoman
Muhajreen, Damascus
The quarter on the western foot of Mount Qasioun, settled by refugees from Crete. The name says so, and the first presidential palace stands here too.
Damascus · Late Ottoman
The Mawlawiyya Tekke and Mosque
The Mawlawiyya tekke and mosque on An-Nasr Street, between the Hijaz Station and the citadel. The plaque at the door says one thing: built in Ottoman times.
Damascus · Ottoman
The Manjak Mosque
A Mamluk mosque on the market street of Midan in Damascus, on the road the pilgrim caravans took south. Its banded front runs above the rows of shops.
Damascus · Mamluk, with Ottoman and 20th-century restorations
The Menarsha Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus
A three-aisled synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Damascus. It was bombed in 1949 and has been closed to worship since; a plaque inside names the 12 who died.
Damascus · Ottoman — second half of the 19th century