Monuments of Syria أوابد سورية
A Window on Syria's Past by Ross Burns
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This curious temple, one of the rare remains from the period of transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages, lies on a tell situated on the west bank of the Afrin River, not far north of the Church of St Simeon. Its discovery has provided important clues on the development of religious structures at the […]
This bridge is difficult to reach, lying at the far northeastern corner of Syria, right on the short stretch of the Tigris River shared with Iraq. Caution is needed in approaching the site. The first bridge on this spot may have been a Roman structure, forming the connection between the frontier districts of the Empire […]
These views of the great medieval Citadel, constructed during the Zengid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, show how the city has grown to enfold what was once its protective strongpoint. The sight of the Citadel rearing above the densely packed urban spread has long stimulated European travellers’ fascination with the city whose heritage encompasses a greater […]
Those who have fantasized for many years over the castles of the Crusaders need to prepare themselves for a different experience at the Citadel of Aleppo. Fortification techniques were developed on a unique plan in the Islamic world at the time of the Crusades. We see may examples in Syria of these ideas with a […]
plan Aleppo Great Mosque Jan 2016 The Great Mosque within the walled city of Aleppo is unjustly given second billing after the Great Mosque of the Umayyads in Damascus. While it lacks the richness of the associations with early Islam and the Roman predecessor on the Damascus site, the Aleppo Great Mosque has its own […]
Only a short walk around the perimeter of the Great Mosque in Aleppo takes the visitor through many eras of the city’s history including a Byzantine-era synagogue converted to a mosque in the Islamic Middle Ages, two important khans (caravanserais) of the early Ottoman period and a twelfth century Zengid palace. For a full description, […]
This itinerary described on pages 43 to 44 of Monuments of Syria (third edition, I B Tauris, London, 2009) takes the visitor through some of the busiest suqs of the old city with diversions to an interesting variety of religious establishments of the Ayyubid and Mamluk eras. The itinerary ends at the city’s western […]
