Featured places
Mosques, caravanserais, souks, museums — and why they are worth the walk.
4 Places
Tadef and the Synagogue of Ezra, near Al-Bab
Tadef, just south-east of Al-Bab, was where Aleppo’s Jews went on pilgrimage to Ezra: a synagogue with 14th-century Hebrew inscriptions, a spring and an old souq.
Aleppo · Medieval (inscriptions) — pilgrimage site until the 1930s
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
The Elfrange Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus
The synagogue in the Jewish quarter of old Damascus. Named after Sephardi arrivals, it is the last synagogue in Syria still used for worship; entry by permission.
Damascus · Ottoman — second half of the 19th century
The Central Synagogue of Aleppo
The synagogue that held the Aleppo Codex for 500 years. Burned in 1947 and rebuilt in 1992, it was damaged again in the war and is closed while repairs go on.
Aleppo · Late antique — Ottoman
