Damascus

Damascus is the oldest capital still inhabited in the world. It was inhabited by the Amorites and the Canaanites.The Aramites established the kingdom of Aram in Damascus. Later the kingdom was invaded by the Pharaohs, the Assyrians, the Caldanians, the Persians, then by the Greeks, the Romans, and the Byzantines. The Arab Nabateans founded their kingdom in Damascus.

The Islamic Abbasids, Tolonians, Ikhshidis, Fatimids, Seleucids, Atabeghs, Ayyoubids and Memlouks ruled Damascus respectively. The city stood solid and united against the siege of the Franks who couldn’t conquer it, but the Mongols defeated it and killed thousands of its inhabitants to be obliged to leave it only after a few months. Damascus was occupied by the Ottomans in 1516 and again was liberated by the great Arab Revolution in 1918.

In 1920 it fell, once more, under the French mandate which lasted until 1946 when Syria became independent. Damascus had bred several philosophers and well known personalities who but on many parts of the world in general and in the Roman Empire in particular, like the architect Apollodor of left their finger prints not only on Syria Damascus who built the first bridge on the Danube river, the well known Trajan Column in Rome, and many other monuments. Damascus is rich with tourist destinations: natural, cultural and historical.

These monuments document Al Azem palace: Damascusß long history and attract the Arab as well as foreign visitors to Syria. Of these destinations: Natural Destinations Mt. Qassyoun: To the northwest of Damascus, overlooking the city, is Mount Qassyoun. The historian Ibn Toulon said that Qassyoun was, once, covered with groves of cedar and palm trees. Twelve thousand palm trees were cut by the Mongol commander Tamerlain when he besieged Damascus in 1400 AD. Along the peak of the mountain there are tens of cafeterias, coffee shops and restaurants, where people can enjoy a wonderful bird eye look at Damascus. At night, the mountain is even more distinctive – a curtain of orange and white specks of light, flecked here and there with the green lights of numerous mosques, dotting the hillside . -Al Rabwa: In the western entrance of Damascus .It is situated in a green gorge between two mountains where River Barada winds along into Damascus. Al Rabwa lived its golden age during the Fatimids era and the Nour al Din rule. Today, restaurants and cafes stand side by side along the gorge leaving not a span for any new construction and spreading the smell of hubble bubbles (narjilas) and barbecues through the thick groves of poplar trees lining along the Beirut road which crosses the gorge Historical Destinations.

 Damascus is famous for its wall and gates which were originally built by the Greeks and the Romans. These gates are: – The Eastern Gate (Bab Sharqi): Gate of St. Thomas (Bab Touma), Bab al Faradis (Bab al Amara ) , Bab al Jabieh, Bab al Saghir, Bab Kisan, Bab al Salam and Bab al Faraj .Each of these gateshas its own story and implications in thehistory of Damascus. Shrine of Sayeda Zainab Monuments in old Damascus inside the wall The Umayyad Mosque: the gem of the Arab Islamic architecture inside the old city. In the year 705 the Umayyad Caliph al Walid ordered a mosque to be built on the grounds of the church.

It took ten years of labour to be completed only in 714 AD. Ten thousand masons and handicraft artists of (ceramic, mosaic and wood crafts ) participated in building the unique monument. The mosque has four large gates. In the courtyard there is the dome of the treasury. In the prayer hall there is the shrine of John the Baptist, four mihrabs (niches) and a minbar. In the eastern part of the mosque there is the Mashhad (shrine) of the head of Imam Husein, son of Imam Ali, cousin of the prophet.

Haifa Mafalani