Places
Search sacred sites, historic landmarks, schools, bookstores, and resting places across Syria.
19 places
al-Halbouni Street (Bookstore Row)
شارع الحلبوني (المكاتب)
A street of religious and academic publishing houses — Damascus's bookstore row.
Al-Hamidiyah Souq
Damascus's central souq runs six hundred metres from the citadel toward the Umayyad Mosque. Beneath its arched iron roof, stalls trade in textiles, sweets, and ice cream pressed with pistachio.
al-Malik al-Zahir Bathhouse
حمام الملك الظاهر
Medieval hammam named for al-Malik al-Zahir, still keeping the domed hot rooms of the Ayyubid bath tradition.
al-Nuri Bimaristan
البيمارستان النوري
Teaching hospital founded by Nur al-Din al-Zanki in 1154, among the great medieval bimaristans.
al-Qaymari Bimaristan
البيمارستان القيمري
Ayyubid hospital founded by the emir Sayf al-Din al-Qaymari around 1248 in al-Salihiyya; it treated patients free of charge into the 20th century.
Aleppo National Museum
متحف حلب الوطني
Aleppo's National Museum, home to the basalt temple façade of Tell Halaf and treasures of Ebla, Mari, and Ugarit.
Azm Palace
Built for governor As'ad Pasha al-Azm, the palace is a masterwork of Damascene craft — banded stone, painted wood, and cool courtyards. It now houses the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions.
Bab Touma
Named for Saint Thomas, the gate opens onto lanes of jasmine, courtyard houses, cafés, and churches — the liveliest corner of the old city after dark.
Church of Saint Ananias
Five metres below street level near Bab Sharqi, this ancient cellar chapel is venerated as the house of Ananias, where Saul of Tarsus regained his sight and was baptised.
Citadel of Aleppo
قلعة حلب
The Citadel of Aleppo — a fortified palace-city on a glacis-clad mound dominating the skyline; largely the work of al-Zahir Ghazi (c. 1200) and one of the oldest and greatest castles on earth.
Citadel of Damascus
قلعة دمشق
The Citadel of Damascus, an Ayyubid fortress rebuilt by al-Adil (1203–16) at the old city's northwest corner — unusual among citadels for standing on flat ground.
Citadel of Hama
قلعة حماة
Tell rising above the Orontes bearing the layered remains of Hama's ancient citadel — occupied from the Neolithic through the Ottoman age.
Khan As'ad Pasha
The largest caravanserai in the Old City covers 2,500 square metres along Al-Buzuriyah Souq. Light falls from nine domes into a single monumental hall of grey-and-white stone.
Mausoleum of Salah al-Din
قبر صلاح الدين الأيوبي
In a small garden against the north wall of the Umayyad Mosque stands the red-domed mausoleum of Salah al-Din, built three years after his death in Damascus in 1193.
Mount Qasioun
Qasioun rises directly behind the city, threaded with hillside neighbourhoods. From its overlooks the whole of Damascus spreads below, oldest quarters first, glowing at sunset.
National Museum of Damascus
المتحف الوطني
Syria's largest museum gathers tablets from Mari and Ugarit, the painted synagogue of Dura-Europos, and the carved facade of Qasr al-Heir, reassembled as its entrance.
Norias of Hama (Waterwheels)
نواعير حماة
The great wooden waterwheels of Hama, turning on the Orontes since the Middle Ages to lift water into stone aqueducts; seventeen survive, groaning day and night.
Straight Street
The old east–west spine of Roman Damascus crosses the walled city from Bab al-Jabiyah to Bab Sharqi, past souqs, workshops, and a surviving triumphal arch.
Umayyad Mosque
الجامع الأموي
One of the oldest and largest mosques in the world, raised on a site of worship stretching back three millennia. Its marble courtyard and shimmering mosaics remain the centre of religious and cultural life in Damascus.