The Old City of Damascus   The Old City The Bazaars The Mosque The Museum Excursions Restaurants By Night Go to the entrance of Souk Hamidiyeh. A straight-lined street will lead you to the entrance of the Omayyad Mosque by crossing the most animated sector of the souks, albeit not the most interesting. This covered straight-line street was reconstructed in the late 19th century. Such checkerboard planning will be found in the nearby Hariqa quarter which was reconstructed following its destruction by fire during the uprising in 1925-1926. On the left, the Souk Hamidiyeh runs along the Damascus citadel (where some renovation works were done recently) rebuilt many times on the site of a Roman fortress of which some remains still exist inside the enclosed wall. In its present state, it dates back mostly to the early 13th century. Souk Hamidiyeh, a favourite hunting ground of tourists visiting the old city, is a place where you will gently be accosted by shop keepers to buy their wares. You will find there beautiful exhibitions of silken textiles, damascened of course, chiseled brass works, tinted crystal jars, or displays of exotic wood and scents of cardamom which evoke dreams of times when there was a race for spices on the oriental seas and in the Arabian deserts. A popular clientele of peasants and workers crowd these places, guided by hearsay or by instinct towards places of good business when it comes to looking for clothes, shoes, or for fabric needed to make a nice, inexpensive dress. Between this secular world and the sacred world of the Omayyad Mosque, a Roman arch of triumph is the transition. It is in fact the monumental entrance to a sanctuary which, as of the time of the Aramean kingdom, was dedicated to the Syrian god of storms, Hadad, which the Romans identified as Jupiter Damascenes. From heathen temple to Christian basilica to mosque, all blends into the magnificent monument you are about to visit.   Previous - Next
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