Things to do in Damascus
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Khan As'ad Pasha
Just beyond the hammam is the grand entrance to Khan As'ad Pasha, arguably the finest and most ambitious piece of architecture in the Old City - a cathedral among khans. Built in 1752 under the patronage of As'ad Pasha al-Azem, it encompasses a vast space achieved through a beautiful arrangement of eight small domes around a larger circular aperture, allowing light to stream in above a circular pool. The domes are supported on four colossal grey-and-white piers that splay into elegant arches.
Beyond the khan, the souq intersects with Straight St.
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Leila's Restaurant & Terrace
This al fresco rooftop restaurant overlooking Umayyad Mosque has the most magical setting in Damascus, especially for sunset drinks - the fresh mint lemonade is thirst-quenching - or later for dinner when the city lights twinkle. The menu features delicious Arabic mezze - try the eggplant kibbeh (cracked-wheat croquettes) - and succulent grills. Alcohol is served, but it's not on the menu - ask the waiter what is available.
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Chapel of Ananias
In the far northeast corner of the Christian quarter, the Chapel of Ananias is housed in the cellar that was reputedly the house of Ananias, an early Christian disciple. To find the chapel, take Sharia Hanania, the last street on the left before Bab ash-Sharqi; it's at the far north end in a crypt below the house.
Sharia Hanania is a lovely little street that's home to souvenir and antique shops, restaurants and bars.
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Beit Jabri
Popular with locals and tourists alike, this casual café in the lovely courtyard of a splendid old Damascene house serves up Syrian standards like mezze and kebabs, alongside international dishes such as 'beef stricanof'. Locals mainly come for the sheesha and coffee, but the fresh juices are delicious.
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Army Museum
The Army Museum has a fascinating collection of military hardware from the Bronze Age to the near present. Exhibits range from flint arrowheads to a pile of the twisted remains of planes shot down in the 1973 war with Israel.
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Bekdach
A purveyor of scrumptious ice creams made with sahlab (like semolina powder). The generous servings of creamy ice cream are topped with crushed pistachio nuts. A souq shopping must.
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Nabeel Fouad Salka
At the entrance to Souq al-Hamidiyya, Nabeel Fouad Salka sells high-quality ouds, along with mother-of-pearl decorated drums and other instruments.
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National Museum
The most important of Syria's museums is the National Museum, and you'll get more out of Syria's archaeological sites if you take in the museum before and after your visits to the sites.
Purchase your ticket at the gate then stroll through the shady sculpture garden, best appreciated after seeing the museum proper.
Enter through the main gate of Qasr al-Heir al-Gharbi, a desert palace west of Palmyra dating from AD 688, the time of the Umayyad caliph Hisham. The gate was transported to Damascus stone by stone and reconstructed as part of the museum façade.
Within the museum, the exhibits are presented thematically and grouped into preclassical, classical and Islamic sectio…
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Umayyad Mosque
One of Islam's most important buildings (its first great mosque), the magnificent Umayyad Mosque is Syria's most important religious structure. Its architectural and decorative splendour ranks with Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, while in sanctity it's second only to the holy mosques of Mecca and Medina. It possesses a history unequalled by all three. The northern part of the mosque is an expansive, open Courtyard with a white limestone floor, flanked on three sides by a two-storey arched arcade. The fourth side is the façade of the prayer hall, dominated by a central section covered with enchanting, shimmering, golden mosaics.
Worship on this site dates back 3000 years to…
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Azem Palace
The Azem Palace was built in 1749 by the governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azem. It's fashioned in typical Damascene style of striped stonework, achieved by alternating layers of black basalt and limestone. The rooms of the modest palace are magnificent, decorated with inlaid tile work and the most exquisite painted ceilings.
Azem Palace comprises a complex of splendid buildings, courtyards and gardens that were built between 1749 and 1752 as a private residence for the governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azem. It remained the Azem residence until the beginning of the 20th century, when the family moved outside the Old City and the house was sold to the French to beco…
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Sayyida Zeinab Mosque
The splendid Iranian-built Sayyida Zeinab Mosque on the site of the burial place of Sayyida Zeinab, granddaughter of Mohammed, is about 10km south of the city centre, in a neighbourhood that is popular with Iranian pilgrims and is now home to most of the city's Iraqi refugees. Stylistically, the mosque is similar to that of Sayyida Ruqqaya in the Old City, with a glistening gold onion-shaped dome, intricately decorated blue tiles covering its façade and two freestanding minarets.
Women will have to don a cloak, available at the entrance, before entering, and men should wear trousers and a long-sleeved shirt. The main entrances to the sanctuary are on the northern and sou…
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Takiyya as-Süleimaniyya
Lying immediately east of the National Museum, Takiyya as-Süleimaniyya was built over six years, beginning in 1554, to a design by the Ottoman Empire's most brilliant architect, Sinan. A favourite of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, Sinan would later create the splendid Süleymaniye Mosque that dominates Istanbul's skyline.
The Takiyya (an Ottoman term for a Sufi hostel) is a more modest affair than the Istanbul mosque, blending local Syrian styles (the alternating Mamluk-era black-and-white banding and honeycomb-style stonework over the main entrance) with typically Turkish features (the high central dome and pencil-shaped minarets). It has two parts: the mosque to the…
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Souq al-Hamidiyya
Just to the south of the citadel, Souq al-Hamidiyya is the long, covered market that leads into the heart of the Old City. A cross between a Parisian passage, a department store and a Middle Eastern bazaar, its main thoroughfare is lined with clothes emporiums and handicrafts shops, while its narrow side streets are crowded with stalls selling everything from cheap shoes to kids' toys.
A vault of corrugated-iron roofing blocks all but a few torch-beam-like shafts of sunlight, admitted through bullet holes punctured by the machine-gun fire of French planes during the nationalist rebellion of 1925.
Although the street dates back to Roman times, its present form is a product …
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Souq Saroujah
A charming, laid-back neighbourhood of narrow alleys lined with small shops and punctuated by medieval tombs and mosques, Souq Saroujah is a fascinating place for a stroll.
In medieval times the areas immediately outside of the city walls were developed as burial places for the dead; you can still see this today, with large areas of cemeteries lying to the south of the old cities of both Damascus and Aleppo. Occasionally, however, the needs of the living would overwhelm those of the dead. Such was the case with the area now known as Souq Saroujah. During the Ayyubid era the fields just north of the Barada River became a favoured location for the tombs and mausoleums of no…
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Al-Merjeh
Writing in 1875, Isabel Burton, wife of the British consul, describes the 'green' Al-Merjeh as looking like a 'village common'. By the end of the 19th century it was the hub of Damascus, a small park where the city's best hotels were, and a terminus for trams. Damascus was the first city in the Ottoman Empire to possess electric trams, with six lines converging here, and the power supplied by a waterfall on the Barada River. Another century on and the trams were gone.
Al-Merjeh is now a traffic island with a tiny patch of grass at the centre. It's also known as Saahat ash-Shohada or Martyrs' Sq. The martyrs referred to were victims of the French bombardments in 1925. The …
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Mausoleum of Saladin
In the small archaeological garden that lies along the north wall of the Umayyad Mosque are a few columns dating back to the original Roman Temple of Jupiter, and a small white building topped by a rust-red dome, which is the Mausoleum of Saladin. The famed, chivalrous adversary of the Western Crusaders died in Damascus in 1193, and the original mausoleum was erected on this site that same year.
It was restored with funds made available by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany during his visit to Damascus in 1898.
For a man who was famed for his austerity, the mausoleum is a fittingly modest affair. Inside are two cenotaphs - the walnut-wood one on the right, richly decorated with …
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Tishreen (October) War Panorama
Created with the help of the North Koreans, Tishreen (October) War Panorama a memorial to the 1973 war with Israel is quite extraordinary. The tour takes in paintings of various historical battles, a film, the moving panoramic painting, a 3D mural and diorama depicting the Israeli devastation of the town, and a room filled with portraits of former president Hafez al-Assad.
You'll gain a great insight into the battle over the Golan Heights and the fighting in and around the town of Quneitra, which isn't otherwise possible; it's definitely worth seeing if you're planning a visit to Quneitra.
The panorama is located about 2km northeast of the centre, on the road to the Harast…
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Maktab Anbar
Unseen behind the high walls within the Old City are hundreds of delightful houses built around courtyards and featuring their own elaborate decoration. Unfortunately, many of these treasures are in a sad state of disrepair, but a loop off Straight St takes in several examples, all of which have benefited from renovation.
From Dahdah Palace, go west to Sharia al-Amin, turn right then left onto Straight St, then turn right for Maktab Anbar. Built in 1867 by a Jewish trader who, legend has it, travelled to India and returned with a hat full of diamonds, the extravagant palace was seized in 1890 when he couldn't pay his taxes, and was turned into a women's boarding school. T…
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Beit as-Sibai
Unseen behind the high walls within the Old City are hundreds of delightful houses built around courtyards and featuring their own elaborate decoration. Unfortunately, many of these treasures are in a sad state of disrepair, but a loop off Straight St takes in several examples, all of which have benefited from renovation.
Head south down Sharia Hassan Kharet and take the first left for Beit as-Sibai, built between 1769 and 1774, and beautifully restored. This splendid building is the sort of place you could imagine living in. In fact, for a time during the 1990s it served as the residence of the German ambassador. Now it's mostly used as a set for historical TV dramas and…
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Beit Nizam
Unseen behind the high walls within the Old City are hundreds of delightful houses built around courtyards and featuring their own elaborate decoration. Unfortunately, many of these treasures are in a sad state of disrepair, but a loop off Straight St takes in several examples, all of which have benefited from renovation.
Walk on past Beit as-Sibai and turn right at the T-junction for Beit Nizam, another breathtakingly beautiful 18th-century house, although in this case executed on a far grander scale. It has been organised around two large courtyards, the one to the rear coloured by orange trees and rose bushes. In the mid-19th century it served as the French consulate. …
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Dahdah Palace
Unseen behind the high walls within the Old City are hundreds of delightful houses built around courtyards and featuring their own elaborate decoration. Unfortunately, many of these treasures are in a sad state of disrepair, but a loop off Straight St takes in several examples, all of which have benefited from renovation.
A five-minute walk east through the back alleys brings you to Dahdah Palace, an 18th-century residence owned by the Dahdah family. Ring the bell for an informal guided tour by the charming Mrs Dahdah and her daughter (both of whom speak excellent English) of the graceful courtyard, fragrant with jasmine and lemon trees, the liwan (summer room), and the r…
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Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque
For centuries the mausoleum of Ruqayya bint al-Hussein ash-Shaheed bi-Kerbala (Ruqayya, the Daughter of the Martyr Hussein of Kerbala) was hidden among the clutter of tumbledown Damascene housing just to the north of Umayyad Mosque. In 1985 the Iranians (Ruqayya being a Shiite saint) began construction of the Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque around the mausoleum, designed very much in the modern Persian style.
While the portico, courtyard and main 'onion' dome are relatively restrained and quite beautiful, the interior of the prayer hall is a riot of mirror mosaics. Except during Friday prayers, non-Muslim visitors are welcome (modest dress is required and women must cover their he…
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Citadel
The Citadel anchors the northwest corner of the Old City, its imposing stone walls confronting the six lanes of traffic on Sharia ath-Thawra. Built by the Seljuks between 1076 and 1193, the citadel was further fortified by the Zangid ruler Sultan Nur al-Din and by the Ayyubid Sultan Saladin in the 12th century to resist Crusader attacks. Modifications were added by the Mamluks and Ottomans, and during the French mandate it became a prison, which it remained until 1985.
Concerts are held frequently in the citadel grounds, especially during the summer evenings, when you might see anything from a symphony orchestra to jazz bands. The Jazz Festival is held here in July.
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Historical Museum of Damascus
The Historical Museum of Damascus is in an attractive old house with eight richly decorated rooms off a central courtyard. A couple of rooms hold displays of photos and diagrams relating to old Damascus, and there is a superb large-scale model of the Old City, but it's the rooms themselves, decorated in typical Damascene fashion with inlaid marble, carved wood and painted ceilings, that are of greatest interest.
The museum is off Sharia ath-Thawra, where the flyover comes down north of Sharia Souq Saroujah, beside two tall modern buildings. It's on Ministry of the Interior property and visitors have to pass through a guarded gate to reach the arched entrance.
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Hejaz Train Station
A little south and west of Al-Merjeh, the grand Hejaz Train Station, completed in 1917, was the northern terminus of the Hejaz Railway, built to ferry pilgrims to Medina. Compared with the transport palaces of Europe the station is a provincial affair, but the interior has a beautiful decorated ceiling.
The actual platforms of the station are closed - a much-delayed project was to see the station expanded to include a high-rise hotel, shopping mall and underground railway - and all trains now leave from Khaddam station. There is a pleasant bar-café, a steam locomotive dating from 1908, and a public water fountain erected at the same time as the station.
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