A mosque walk in Aleppo: from Farafra to the Khusruwiyah

This walk draws an arc around the citadel and shows four centuries of building in order: first a quarter, then a Mamluk mosque, then an Ottoman khan and an Ottoman mosque. At the last stop there is no building at all — the complex Mimar Sinan drew for Aleppo is now a plot of ground. The walking comes to 1700 metres, and nowhere between two stops does it pass a kilometre.

The route

Start in Farafra. The quarter lies northwest of the citadel, one street away from the souqs and quiet with it; the lanes are paved in stone and two metres wide. From here walk west; the Mahmandar Mosque is about 100 metres on; look up as soon as you are in the courtyard, because the fluted shaft of the minaret and the zigzag band around it read from there. Then go southwest, down into the eastern wing of the souq: Khan al-Wazir is 800 metres on and carries no sign, so when you see a huge arched entrance opening onto the street you are in the right place. From the khan go down to the south end of the souq and keep going southeast; the front of the Adiliyah Mosque comes up 500 metres on. The last leg is short: 300 metres east, to the southwestern arc of the citadel ring road.

Timing

Be in Farafra at 09:00. The lanes of the quarter fall entirely into shade after midday, and the texture of the stone walls only reads in the morning. Come to the Mahmandar early, while the courtyard is empty. Reach Khan al-Wazir around 10:30: the interlocking black basalt and white limestone of the portal drops into its own shadow in the afternoon, so shoot the front from the far pavement in the morning. Enter the Adiliyah towards noon; the tile panels above the windows on the north front give their colour in side light. Leave the Khusruwiyah for last, because there the order matters more than the hour — after four buildings, the absence of the fifth reads differently.

Take care

This side of the old city is under repair and which lane is open changes from week to week; do not insist on a closed street, go round by the parallel one. The Madina Souq was badly damaged in the fire of 2012 and work continues inside Khan al-Wazir — ask the shopkeepers before you go in. The Adiliyah was partly destroyed between 2014 and 2015 and the courtyard is not open every day. The Khusruwiyah Mosque is not standing: Khusruw Pasha had it built in 1546 and it was blown up in 2014. You come here to read a gap in the skyline, not a building. Three of the stops are working mosques: shoulders and knees covered, shoes at the door, and wait out prayer times.