Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
813 Places
The Waqf of Ibshir Mustafa Pasha
An Ottoman endowment complex in Jdeydeh, founded in 1652 by Ibshir Mustafa Pasha, then governor of Aleppo: a khan, a souk and a carved coffeehouse hall.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Ibn Arabi Mosque and Tomb
The mosque built around Ibn Arabi’s grave in Salihiyya: a courtyard raised by Sultan Selim in 1518, Ottoman and Mamluk tilework, and the tomb chamber downstairs.
Damascus · Ottoman (tomb: post-Ayyubid)
The Al-Salam Mosque, Homs
A neighbourhood mosque in Qarabis, finished in 1980. The entrance faces Khalaf al-Ahmar Street and the three-tier minaret is banded in black and white stone.
Homs · Modern (1980)
Al-Hariqa Quarter
The newest quarter inside the walls of Damascus. A square, a grid of streets and a wholesale market built over the Sidi Amoud district that burned in 1925.
Damascus · French mandate (the district itself is older)
The Hanabila Mosque
The first Ayyubid mosque in Damascus, in Salihiyya. Founded in 1201 by a family of scholars from Jerusalem and read as a small copy of the Umayyad Mosque.
Damascus · Ayyubid
Khan al-Shouneh
An Ottoman khan south-west of the citadel, a crafts market since 1989. Under one vault, 49 separate trades: weaving, copper, calligraphy, mosaic, glass.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Khan al-Jumruk
The largest khan in the Al-Madina souq, built in 1574. Its muqarnas portal, two floors of storerooms and courtyard mosque still serve the cloth trade.
Aleppo · Ottoman
Khan Jaqmaq
A Mamluk caravanserai buried inside the Midhat Pasha souq. Built in 1421 by the emir Sayf al-Din Jaqmaq, its two-storey court and domed gallery still stand.
Damascus · Mamluk — Ottoman rebuilding
The Citadel of Hama
The mound on the west bank of the Orontes is where Hama began. Of the fortress only stone facing and excavation trenches remain; the top is now a park.
Hama · Seleucid — Zengid — Ayyubid — Mamluk; pulled down in 1401
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption
The Syriac Catholic cathedral of Aleppo. Badly damaged in the war and reopened in 2018, with 700 square metres of wall painting redone in three months.
Aleppo · Contemporary; the community goes back to the 16th century
The Cathedral of Elijah the Prophet, Aleppo
Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox cathedral, consecrated in 2000, stands by the Quweiq in the Syriac quarter. Its two-tower front, the hidden dome, and when to go.
Aleppo · Late 20th century
The Old City of Aleppo
A walled core, a covered souq 13 km long and the quarters that grew outside the wall. On the UNESCO list since 1986. What the war took, and what is open now.
Aleppo · Ayyubid — Mamluk — Ottoman
