Aleppo’s courtyards on foot: from Jalloum to the citadel square

Four stops in the old city of Aleppo and 1200 metres in all. This walk is not about facades; what these buildings have to say sits inside, in the middle of a courtyard. You start at the pool of a Mamluk hospital and stand in a courtyard that changed use four times in eight hundred years. Then you look up at Byzantine capitals in the madrasa facing the Great Mosque, and finish at a striped bathhouse front at the west end of the citadel square. The lanes are narrow and shaded and the distance is short. The only hard part is whether the doors are open.

The route

Start at the Bimaristan Arghun, in Jalloum, on the lane running north from Bab Qinnasrin. Out of the door, turn north: Al-Shibani is only 130 metres on, on the side lane that comes up into the Nahhasin souk. Carry on north from Al-Shibani and through the souk: Halawiye is 260 metres away, directly opposite the west door of the Great Mosque. The last leg is the longest and the only open stretch: 810 metres east from the madrasa to the citadel square, ten minutes. At the west end of the square you are looking for the front banded in black and yellow.

Timing

Be at the door of the Bimaristan at 09:00. The courtyard takes its light from the east at that hour and the octagon of the pool reads without shadow; forty-five minutes is enough. At 10:00 you are at Al-Shibani — the exhibition halls are quiet before noon and you can get close to the models. Move to Halawiye at 11:00. The capitals stand in the west row, in low light; towards midday the light coming down from the courtyard strikes them from the side, and only then does the carving separate. At 12:00 walk east and reach the bathhouse while the square is still empty. If you want the citadel in the afternoon, its entrance is right there.

Take care

None of the four stops keeps the same hours every day. The doors of the Bimaristan and Halawiye vary from day to day, the Shibani programme depends on the exhibition, and whether the bathhouse is working is uncertain — ask about all four before setting out and drop whichever is closed. Jalloum and the streets around it were on the front line between 2012 and 2016; repairs are still going on, some passages can be blocked, and signage is missing. There is rubble and broken paving in places, so shoes with grip make it easier. In the mosque and the madrasa cover shoulders and knees, and women need a headscarf. Entrance fees change, so carry cash.