DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0434
DAMASCUS.
397
where many ways meet, not far from the extreme west end of the street called Straight, the
western section of which is the Suk el 'Attarin, where drugs and spices and scents are sold.
The most striking object in view is a tall and exceedingly beautiful minaret, covered with
highly-glazed green and blue tiles, glistening in the sunlight; the stone balustrade -of the
gallery which encircles it is carved into delicate tracery. It belongs to the great mosque built
by Sinan Pasha, Governor of Damascus, a.d. 1581, sixty-seven years after Syria had become a
Turkish province, and it is named after him, Jami'a es Sinaniyeh. The bazaar and college
above described also owe their origin to him, and bear his name. In the court of this mosque
there are several ancient marble columns. This mosque stands in what is called the Street
of the Green Mosque. The view on steel, " A Street in Damascus," represents a portion
of it, including a well-stocked grocer's shop, a cafe with an open window looking towards the
Anti-Lebanon, characteristic groups of people, and a fine plane-tree. After passing along this
street we pursue our way northwards, and presently enter a broad road planted with plane-
trees, where the large Monastery of the Dancing or Whirling Dervishes is situated. This
pleasant promenade, called the Derwishiyeh, leads direct to the south-west corner of the
citadel, which towers grandly above all the surrounding buildings (see page 400). The date of
its original erection is exceedingly doubtful. It is sometimes called the Castle of Saladin.
The Sultan Bibars (a.d. 1260—1277), whose mausoleum has been described, is said to have
almost rebuilt it; and for Melek el 'Ashra af (1291) the same honour has been claimed. The
building is eight hundred and forty feet from north to south, and six hundred feet from east to
west. It occupies the north-west angle of the ancient boundary of the city, and is surrounded
by a deep moat nearly twenty feet wide, partly overgrown with reeds. All the published
plans which I have seen of this fortress, in guide-books and elsewhere, represent it as a perfect
quadrangle, but this is far from being correct. The length of the west wall is about one-third
less than that of the east wall, and the south wall slightly slopes towards it ; but the north
wall, which is at right-angles with the east wall for about two-thirds of its length, bends
abruptly to meet the western wall. My authority for this, in addition to my own observation,
is a very large unpublished map of Damascus, with plans of its principal buildings, made by
the local military authorities about fifteen years ago. It was lent to me by H.E. Dervish
Pasha, the Military Governor-General, and at my request he kindly gave me permission to
make a tracing of it. (I was at the time residing with my brother, Mr. E. T. Rogers, who
was then H.B.M. Consul at Damascus, and to that circumstance I owe the many privileges I
enjoyed.) The foundations of the citadel are evidently very ancient, and date from a time long
anterior to Muslim rule. The lofty walls, which are built of rusticated stones with marginal
drafts, are strengthened, and at the same time embellished, by twelve boldly projecting
towers placed at nearly equal distances from each other all round the building ; they are not,
however, uniform in size. Two of the towers are shown on page 400, and from these some idea
of the citadel as a whole may be formed. (Compare this illustration with the representations
of the citadel of Jerusalem on pages 5 and 105.) Projecting from the highest story of each
397
where many ways meet, not far from the extreme west end of the street called Straight, the
western section of which is the Suk el 'Attarin, where drugs and spices and scents are sold.
The most striking object in view is a tall and exceedingly beautiful minaret, covered with
highly-glazed green and blue tiles, glistening in the sunlight; the stone balustrade -of the
gallery which encircles it is carved into delicate tracery. It belongs to the great mosque built
by Sinan Pasha, Governor of Damascus, a.d. 1581, sixty-seven years after Syria had become a
Turkish province, and it is named after him, Jami'a es Sinaniyeh. The bazaar and college
above described also owe their origin to him, and bear his name. In the court of this mosque
there are several ancient marble columns. This mosque stands in what is called the Street
of the Green Mosque. The view on steel, " A Street in Damascus," represents a portion
of it, including a well-stocked grocer's shop, a cafe with an open window looking towards the
Anti-Lebanon, characteristic groups of people, and a fine plane-tree. After passing along this
street we pursue our way northwards, and presently enter a broad road planted with plane-
trees, where the large Monastery of the Dancing or Whirling Dervishes is situated. This
pleasant promenade, called the Derwishiyeh, leads direct to the south-west corner of the
citadel, which towers grandly above all the surrounding buildings (see page 400). The date of
its original erection is exceedingly doubtful. It is sometimes called the Castle of Saladin.
The Sultan Bibars (a.d. 1260—1277), whose mausoleum has been described, is said to have
almost rebuilt it; and for Melek el 'Ashra af (1291) the same honour has been claimed. The
building is eight hundred and forty feet from north to south, and six hundred feet from east to
west. It occupies the north-west angle of the ancient boundary of the city, and is surrounded
by a deep moat nearly twenty feet wide, partly overgrown with reeds. All the published
plans which I have seen of this fortress, in guide-books and elsewhere, represent it as a perfect
quadrangle, but this is far from being correct. The length of the west wall is about one-third
less than that of the east wall, and the south wall slightly slopes towards it ; but the north
wall, which is at right-angles with the east wall for about two-thirds of its length, bends
abruptly to meet the western wall. My authority for this, in addition to my own observation,
is a very large unpublished map of Damascus, with plans of its principal buildings, made by
the local military authorities about fifteen years ago. It was lent to me by H.E. Dervish
Pasha, the Military Governor-General, and at my request he kindly gave me permission to
make a tracing of it. (I was at the time residing with my brother, Mr. E. T. Rogers, who
was then H.B.M. Consul at Damascus, and to that circumstance I owe the many privileges I
enjoyed.) The foundations of the citadel are evidently very ancient, and date from a time long
anterior to Muslim rule. The lofty walls, which are built of rusticated stones with marginal
drafts, are strengthened, and at the same time embellished, by twelve boldly projecting
towers placed at nearly equal distances from each other all round the building ; they are not,
however, uniform in size. Two of the towers are shown on page 400, and from these some idea
of the citadel as a whole may be formed. (Compare this illustration with the representations
of the citadel of Jerusalem on pages 5 and 105.) Projecting from the highest story of each