On leaving the Azem Palace, turn left straight into the spice market. On the left, in the second half of the souk,
is Khan Ass'aad Pasha, one of the most remarkable Damascene caravanserais. It was built in 1752 and belongs to
the type of establishments with covered yard (here with eight small cupolas on the sides and a larger and higher
one, no longer existing, supported by four marble pillars).
When you reach Souk Midhat Pasha, you will have the choice between returning directly to the modern city by turning
right or going to the left and discovering more of the old walled city. Midhat Pasha is the souk where Damascenes
shop for bed and mattress articles, cotton articles, in particular the Keffieh headgear, oil, detergents and soap,
seeds, brass or marquetry articles, and where tourists may look for antiques. It follows the track of the old Roman
decumanus, i.e. one of two main streets (with the cardo) of any normally constituted Roman city. The decumanus
was always oriented east-west and crossed the cardo, a north-south oriented street, in about the middle. The street
you are following is the Via Recta, the street called straight mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, in the story
in which Saul of Tarsos (Saint Paul), blinded by God's revelation on the road to Damascus, was sent by Christ to
this city. In the house of Judas, he met Ananias, a Christian of Damascus, who put his hands on him so he might
receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts, IX, 1-18). About 500 meters from the Khan Ass'ad Pasha,
you will reach a Roman monumental arch discovered in 1947 at 4.60 meters below the level of the existing street.
This arch, which spanned the decumanus, has been raised and restored by the Syrian Directorate General of Antiques.
The Eastern gate, or Bab Sharqi, ends the street called Straight, about 500m further. It is an old Roman gate,
preserved by the Byzantines and the Arabs, of course many times restored, in particular at the end of the 12th
century, under Sultan Noureddin's reign, and a little later by the Ayoubids (1207).
Having stepped into the Christian quarter, there is no doubt you will want to see the tower where according to
tradition, Saint Paul was lowered down the wall in a basket so that he could escape the men of the
ethnic arch of
King Aretas who wanted to arrest him (II Corinthians, XI, 33). For this you must cross the gate and turn to the
right, and walk about 400m. to the small modern Chapel marking the place of this escape. In this quarter there
also exists the house of Ananias, containing a small underground chapel near the wall (coming back through Bab
Sharqi, you cross it and take a narrow street to the right), in the quarter of Bab Touma. The gate, bearing the
same name (or also called the Saint Thomas gate), dates back to the end of the 13th century.
Going back to the old city, exactly opposite to Bab Sharqi you will go near the crowded quarter of Midan which
developed during the Ottoman epoch. But at least you will notice, on your left, at the far end of Souk Midhat Pasha,
the Sinaniyah mosque, built in 1586-1591 by the great Vizir Sinan Pasha, a governor of Damascus. Its green-glazed
minaret, like a rocket on its launching pad, betrays Ottoman aesthetics like the mosque of Derwish Pasha, erected
in 1574. You will see it, with its enameled ceramic tiles, about a hundred meters before reaching the point where
you started at the entrance of Souk Hamidiyeh. |
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