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Back To: Cities
Damascus
Damascus is the capital of
Syria and its most populous city with 2 million inhabitants.
It is the seat of government of Damascus province which includes the
districts of Dumar, Zabadani, Qatifa and Nabak. It is the
commercial, industrial,
 cultural,
agricultural center of the governorate.
Damascus lies in southwestern Syria northeast of Jebal al Sheikh on
a large plateau about 80km inland. Surrounding the city is the
Ghouta, a green oasis watered by the Barada River. The Ghouta is
diminishing as housing and industry in the city expand. Overlooking
Damascus on the north is Jebal Qasioun.
Damascus is considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited
cities. Some claim the name means “quick” (damshaq), because it was
built quickly. Others claim it is named after Damashq bin Qani bin
Malik bin Arfashakhd bin Sam bin Nouh, a descendant of Noah, or that
it was named after one of its founders whose name was Dimashq. Some
say that the fist wall built after the Flood is the wall of Damascus
and Harran.
The Arameans in 940BC established the first canal irrigation system
which is still the basis of the water system in the old city.
Damaascus fell to the generals of Alexander the Great in 323BC; in
64BC it was occupied by the Romans. The eastern gate of the old city
remains from Roman times.
The Apostle Paul received his vision on
the road to Damascus according to the
New Testament. In 636AD the city was captured by the Arabs
who made it the capital of the Umayyad dynasty. In the Abbasid
period beginning in 750AD Damascus was ruled from Baghdad and it was
a destination for poets who were compensated for poems in praise of
the caliphs. It fell to a succession of Muslim dynasties: the
Tulunids (under the rule of Ahmad bin Tulun of Egypt), the Akhshids,
the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks. In 1499 AD Tamerlane invaded and
burned down the city. In 1516 it was occupied by the Ottomans then
liberated by the Egyptians in 1832 under the leadership of Ibrahim
bin Mohamed Ali Pasha.
Damascus has two airports: the old airport in Mezze west of the
city; the new airport about 30km southeast of the city. On the road
to the airport is a conference center, a women’s military academy, a
cinema city and an opera house. Other large facilities are t he
presidential palace, and the Assad Library. The city has several
large hotels. Damascus hosts an annual regionally important trade
fair, and an annual International Flower Fair.
Damascus has a thriving industrial sector where chemicals, plastics,
metals are produced. There is leather and shoe manufacturing, sweets
and canned goods factories. Textiles are manufactured from local
cotton.
Souk al- Hamidieh, souk Midhat Pasha
and souk al-Buzurieh are some of the covered souks in the city. Each
souk specialized in a type of merchandise: brocade, handicrafts,
mosaics, damascene wood furniture with mother of pearl inlay, copper
and brass, silver, gold, and spices. Immediately adjacent to Souk al
Hamidieh is the Umayyad mosque. The souk is named after the Sultan
Adbel Hamid who built it over a
hundred years go.
The
Umayyad Mosque, also called the Great Mosque, is one of the
largest mosques in the world. Built on the site of an Assyrian
sanctuary and a series of other religious buildings, it was begun by
al Walid bin abd el Malik in 709 AD and took nine years to complete.
 The
ruins of Hanania Church are in the city in a stone cavern. Hanania
is said to have converted the Apostle Paul to Christianity.
Damascus National Museum on Shoukry al-Quwatly Street is the
region’s richest in antiquities. The treasures include clay tablets
from Ras Shamra/Ugarit (1400BC), from the Bronze age, Greek pottery
and Roman artifacts, Byzantine mosaics and Islamic objects (14th
century medical works manuscript).
Azem Palace was built in the mid 18th century as a residence for
Asaad Pasha Azem, the Ottoman governor. Water from the Barada was
diverted for the palace’s gardens. Today it is a cultural history
museum with each room depicting a typical damascene tradition.
The old city of Damascus on the south bank of the Barada, which is
enclosed by walls, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in
1979 based on the following criteria:
1) it represents a masterpiece of human creative genius;
2) it exhibits an important interchange
of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of
the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental
arts, town-planning or landscape design;
3) it bears a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural
tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has
disappeared;
4) it is an outstanding example of a
type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or
landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human
history;
5) it is directly or tangibly
associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with
beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal
significance.
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/20
photo source:
http://www.zeledi.com/public/Photography/SyriaWinter03/Damascus/
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