Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
813 Places
The Emmanuel Armenian Evangelical Church
An Armenian Protestant church in the Aziziyah quarter: the congregation dates from 1852, the building from 1923. Shelled in 2016, repaired, reopened in 2018.
Aleppo · 20th century
The Ghouta
The oasis wrapping Damascus to the east and south: orchards fed by the Barada, apricot and walnut country, and the belt most changed by war and sprawl.
Damascus
Al-Firdaws Madrasa, Aleppo
The Ayyubid madrasa southwest of Bab al-Maqam, built in 1235 by Dayfa Khatun. Eleven domes, a marble mosaic mihrab and a long inscription around the court.
Aleppo · Ayyubid (the dynasty founded by Saladin)
Fafertin, the Oldest Dated Church in Syria
An inscription fixes this church at 372. All that stands today is the apse, but the monogram on the keystone of its triumphal arch is still in its place.
Aleppo · Byzantine
The Cave of Blood on Mount Qasioun
The cave and shrine on the slope of Qasioun above Damascus. Its two names, the prayer room of forty mihrabs, the view from the terrace, and the stair from Muhajirin.
Damascus · A shrine of popular devotion
The October War Panorama
The round museum at the northern entrance to Damascus opened in 1998. Its rotating-platform canvas, the carved panels at the door, and its state after 2024.
Damascus · Contemporary — 1998
Abu Qubays Castle
An Assassin castle on the eastern slope of the coastal range, above the Ghab plain. The Crusaders called it Bokabeis; today it is a ruin among the trees.
Hama · Byzantine — Ayyubid
Deir Turmanin, the Facade That Went Missing
Built around 480, its twin-towered front was the most copied face in the Dead Cities. A single fragment of it is left today, standing in an olive grove.
Idlib · Byzantine
The Monastery of Mar Yakub
A 6th-century monastery on bare ground outside Qara. Its four-storey tower watched the caravan road, and the crypt still holds the relic of its martyr.
Nebek · Byzantine foundation — great church 10th century, Ayyubid arches
Saint George’s Monastery (Deir Mar Georges)
A Greek Orthodox monastery in the Valley of the Christians, a few kilometres north of Krak des Chevaliers. Three churches, two of them below the courtyard.
Homs · Byzantine — Ottoman
Monastery of Saint Elian, al-Qaryatayn
A Syriac monastery on the caravan road between Damascus and Palmyra, its foundations 1500 years old. Destroyed in 2015, its church has been rebuilt since 2022.
Homs · Byzantine — Ottoman
The Byzantine Church at Deir al-Salib
A church of the 5th or 6th century standing among fig trees near Masyaf. Its cross-shaped font is still in place, the site is open and there is nothing to pay.
Hama · Byzantine
