Gate sights in Damascus
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A
Bab al-Farag
Until the 20th century there were 13 gates in the city walls, all closed at sunset, and there were inner gates dividing the Christian, Jewish and Islamic quarters. These inner gates are now gone, as are several of the main city gates.
Most impressive of those remaining are the northern Bab al-Farag ; Bab al-Faradis (Gate of Paradise), with a short stretch of market enclosed within its vaulting; Bab as-Salaama (Gate of Peace), the best-preserved of the gates and a beautiful example of Ayyubid military architecture; and, in the south, Bab as-Saghir (Little Gate).
reviewed
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B
Bab as-Saghir
Until the 20th century there were 13 gates in the city walls, all closed at sunset, and there were inner gates dividing the Christian, Jewish and Islamic quarters. These inner gates are now gone, as are several of the main city gates.
Most impressive of those remaining are the northern Bab al-Farag (Gate of Joy); Bab al-Faradis (Gate of Paradise), with a short stretch of market enclosed within its vaulting; Bab as-Salaama (Gate of Peace), the best-preserved of the gates and a beautiful example of Ayyubid military architecture; and, in the south, Bab as-Saghir.
reviewed
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C
Bab as-Salaama
Until the 20th century there were 13 gates in the city walls, all closed at sunset, and there were inner gates dividing the Christian, Jewish and Islamic quarters. These inner gates are now gone, as are several of the main city gates.
Most impressive of those remaining are the northern Bab al-Farag (Gate of Joy); Bab al-Faradis (Gate of Paradise), with a short stretch of market enclosed within its vaulting; Bab as-Salaama, the best-preserved of the gates and a beautiful example of Ayyubid military architecture; and, in the south, Bab as-Saghir (Little Gate).
reviewed
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D
Bab al-Faradis
Until the 20th century there were 13 gates in the city walls, all closed at sunset, and there were inner gates dividing the Christian, Jewish and Islamic quarters. These inner gates are now gone, as are several of the main city gates.
Most impressive of those remaining are the northern Bab al-Farag (Gate of Joy); Bab al-Faradis, with a short stretch of market enclosed within its vaulting; Bab as-Salaama (Gate of Peace), the best-preserved of the gates and a beautiful example of Ayyubid military architecture; and, in the south, Bab as-Saghir (Little Gate).
reviewed
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E
Western Temple Gate
At its eastern end, Souq al-Hamidiyya re-emerges back into glaring sunlight at the spot where the Western Temple Gate of the 3rd-century Roman Temple of Jupiter once stood. The outer walls of the Umayyad Mosque, directly ahead, mark the position of the temple itself, but here, on ground now occupied by stalls selling Qurans and religious paraphernalia, was the propylaeum (the monumental gateway to the temple complex).
What remains today are several enormous Corinthian columns carrying fragments of a decorated lintel.
reviewed
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F
Bab ash-Sharqi
First erected by the Romans, the Old City walls have been flattened and rebuilt several times over the 2000 or so years since. What stands today dates largely from the 13th century. They are pierced by a number of gates (the Arabic for gate is bab, plural abwab), only one of which, the restored Bab ash-Sharqi, dates from Roman times.
reviewed
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Old City Walls
First erected by the Romans, the Old City walls have been flattened and rebuilt several times over the 2000 or so years since. What stands today dates largely from the 13th century. They are pierced by a number of gates (the Arabic for gate is bab, plural abwab), only one of which, the restored Bab ash-Sharqi dates from Roman times.
reviewed
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G
Eastern Temple Gate
From the Sayyida Ruqayya mosque, follow the lane that runs due east, and turn right (south) at the T-junction leading to a crossroad marked by the half-buried remains of the Eastern Temple Gate. The gate served as the eastern entrance to the compound of the Roman Temple of Jupiter, the site now occupied by Umayyad Mosque.
reviewed
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H
Bab Touma
For most of their length, the Old City Walls are obscured by later constructions. It's not possible to do a circuit of the walls, nor get up on the ramparts. However, there is a fine short walk between Bab as-Salaama and Bab Touma along the outside of the walls by a channel of the Barada River.
reviewed
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Bab al-Nafura
Beside the coffeehouses, a broad flight of stairs carries Sharia al-Qaimariyya up to the eastern wall of Umayyad Mosque, shaped by elements of what was originally part of the main Roman-era monumental entrance to the inner courts of the temple - now the mosque's Bab al-Nafura.
reviewed
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I
Bab Kisan
The Old City gate, Bab Kisan, purportedly marks the spot where the disciples lowered St Paul out of a window in a basket one night, so that he could flee from the Jews, having angered them after preaching in the synagogues.
reviewed
