Historian archaeologist J. Sauvaget once wrote:

"Of all the towns of Syria it is Aleppo that leaves the profoundest impression upon the visitor.

In order to reach one has to spend many hours crossing extremely monotonous red-earth uplands which stretch to the horizon, almost flat, treeless and without a trace of water. There is no sign of human presence apart of some sullen mud-domed villages and a few wandering flocks and herds. Occasionally slight undulation arouses hope in the traveler that he is about to see something new, but beyond it the plain stretches ahead monotonous and empty. Then, suddenly, Aleppo appears. Without any warning a slight rise reveals a wide valley, dusty green, in which lies a jumble of houses of the subtlest pastel colors with here and there a slender minaret and, dominating it all, the great mass of the Citadel. it is a striking sight with an austere grandeur of its own; the suddenness of its appearance makes it seem almost unreal. After such a tedious journey one is overjoyed to have reached Aleppo at last. Fortunately, and this is rare in the East, closer acquaintance confirms this delightful first impression...."

Although the lines were written more than fifty years ago, they still have a good element of truth. Maybe the most unique thing about entering Aleppo is the element of surprise.

Driving to Aleppo through the Damascus road coming from Homs, Hama and Idleb can be a little boring due to its monotonous landscape. The hill at the entrance of Aleppo hides the city completely. Once the driver starts to descend through the suburbs people will be certainly surprised by the romantic feeling of the city.

Aleppo, like Damascus, claims to the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, as all the local publication remind us. It is hard to decide which one is older. Maybe both are right!

A walk in Aleppo

The Damascus road ends in a wide esplanade leading up to the ramparts of the old city - the first houses rise above their towers. Beneath them are little shops and stalls. To the right are the bus station and a vast open market always thronged with people. To the left, behind the flowerbeds is the Tourist Information Office. Opposite, is a large, low simple building that houses a rich collection of the archaeological museum. It can by identified by some mythological animals on the lawns outside.

Between the Tourist Office and the museum lies the beginning of the Baron street, soon crossed by the al Kouwatly street. In this part of town, there are hotels, travel agencies, transport company office, as well as some restaurants and food shops and cool fruit juice bars decorated with garlands of oranges and multi-colored jars.

A left turn from the Baron street into the al Kouwatly street brings us to a wide esplanade recently planted out as public gardens, dominated by the Post Office and bordered on the north by a public park. The river Quweiq flows through it and it is famous for its floral displays. (It is dry today because Turkey stopped its flow years ago.

In the other direction the al Kouwatly street crosses the al Gassa- niyn street (sometimes called the Tilal street), on of the busiest streets in Aleppo. On the right, it widens to form a square, the Bab al Faraj, whose clock- tower has served at least as a landmark and from here, one can easily reach either the old city or the museum. The al Gassa-niyn to the left skirts the Jdeideh, "old houses" quarter, with its marvelously decorated courtyards. St. George's Cathedral stands behind a labyrinth of narrow streets on a tiny square where there are several antique shops.

There are many interesting routes through the old city to the Citadel.

The simplest, and with no means the least picturesque, begins by passing through the postern gate in the middle of the ramparts, known as the Bab Antakia, the Antioch Gate. This lead directly into the central axis through the souks; it is covered by vaulted roof for most of its 800 meters and brings us out as the foot of the mound on which the Citadel stands. Bab Antakia can be reached by going through an archway on the northwest corner of the ramparts and taking the first narrow street to the right. This leads up to the rampark walk, lined today with houses; there is a good view down onto the crowded esplanade.

Starting again from the north-west corner of the rampark, the wide al Moutanabi street leads to a square with a fountain: from there a wide street lined with large modern buildings takes us to the Great Mosque and the interesting buildings in its vicinity.

There is a circular road around the foot of the Citadel. To the south, wide avenues give access to some interesting madrassas and mosques on the way to Bab al Makkam, a working district where there are many warehouses. To the north of the Citadel the street al Kawakbi crosses the eastern end of the street al Kouwatly near the picturesque souk of the coppersmiths.

The southern ramparts, partly cleared of houses, lead to the impressive of all the fortified gates: Bab Qinnesrin. From here a long narrow street brings us back to the central part of the covered souks and to the Great Mosque. South of Bab Qinnesrin, half-hidden by an expanse of cemeteries, lies the beautiful madrassat al Fardos.

The outskirts to the north and east, expanding residential and industrial areas, have nothing to tempt the tourist. To the west some attractive suburbs are being built; from the hillsides they have a fine view of the old city.

This tour outline is only a suggestion. It is designed to offer a varied program for each day and to alleviate as far as possible the fact that Aleppo can only really be seen on foot.

First day: The ramparts, Bab Antakia, the al Bharamyah Mosque, the covered souks, the Great Mosque and neighboring building, the Citadel.

Second day: the Jedeide district ("Old houses", St. George Cathedral, antique shops), the souk of coppersmiths, the al Mahmandar Mosque, the Armenian churches, the Archaeological Museum, the Public Gardens and Zoo, the University quarter.

Third day: the al Firdows Madrassa, Bab Qinnesrin, the Bimarstan (asylum) Arghoun al Kamili, the Cotton souk (caravansaries and neighboring building), the al Atroush Mosque (and other buildings nearby) the Museum of Popular Art and Traditions (in the Ageckbash Palace).

These different sight will now be briefly described in the above order.

Of course this minimum stay in Aleppo should be extended by another three days or more to see some of the sight further afield: Qalaat Samaan, al Bara, Cyrrhus, al Thaura, Rasafah, etc.

Aleppo was a key town on the trade routes for thousands of years and still uses, for local and regional trade, a considerable proportion of the facilities that were developed in the time of the caravans: khans, courtyards as warehouses with workshops around them: kilometers of narrow covered street where traders and craftsmen congregate according to their various calling and specialties. This busy center of the old city naturally had many public buildings: mosques schools (madrassas), baths (hammams), hospitals and asylums (bimarstans), as well as the occasional foreign consulate - the Venetian one dates back to the beginning of the 13th century.

A visit to the souk thus enables the tourist to discover something of the town's everyday life and at the same time see monuments which are often no longer used (the madrassas and bimarstans for example) but whose design and decoration is extremely interesting.

Along the main axis from Bab Antakia to the Citadel just about every possible kind of goods are offered for sale - food, clothing, perfumes, shoes... What does it matter if tinned goods and plastics are displayed beside freshly gathered vegetables and traditional spices piled up in great gaily colored heaps, if western detergents rub shoulder with red and green beeswax candles; if in the narrow passageway that is the al Irakich souk reserved for the rope-makers, peasants and the last of the camel drivers hesitate between hemp and nylon.... Of course it doesn't matter at all; change is a sign of vitality and the daily life of a people who are both faithful to their traditions and also fully up to date is just as interesting to watch as painfully preserved folklore. The visitor may be a little put off at first but he will soon get used to the setting and appreciate the company of these people - traders, artists and customers - who are so often prepared to be friendly.

As far as monuments are concerned, the visitor will wish to see the most characteristic ones.

The semicircular or pointed slightly horseshoe-shaped vaulting, the domes where the streets intersect, all built in fine limestone, are themselves an architectural masterpiece. The thickness of the structure ensures an even temperature all the year round; cool in summer, warm and dry in winter. Opening the top of the vaulting let in sunbeams sometimes and a gentle light throughout the day.

Some 200 meters from Bab Antakia, on the right, there is a mosque of some importance: Jame al Bahra-myah, in the Turkish style with a great dome which is being restored; note the many beautiful small carpets in the prayer hall.

One hundred meters further on, a short passage (on the right hand side of the main souk which is called at this point al Sakatiah) leads to the largest khan in the old city: the al Joumrok (or Gomrok) khan , literally the "customs caravansary". It dates from the 17th century. French, English and Dutch merchants traded here and their consuls were obliged to live here.

Two windows have attractively carved string courses. Unfortunately, as in most of these warehouses, secondary buildings in quite unsuitable materials, as well as heaps of wrappings and rubbish, spoil the general impression of the original building.

Contiguous with the al Joumrok khan, but opening onto a street at right angles to it, the al Mahmas souk, is the al Nahasian khan . Littered with bales and shaded by some scrawny trees in the center this khan is occupied by shoemakers. In a corner a staircase leads up to a private house which was the Venetian consulate from the 15th to the 19th century when it became the residence of the Belgian consul. The present owner, rarely refuses to show visitors this typically Venetian house, in which many generations of men of taste have built up a priceless collection of works of art from every country between China and Egypt- yet another sign of Aleppo's transcontinental role.

Opposite the al Nahhasine khan, a low door gives access to one of the oldest hammams of Aleppo; it is open for inspection and use.

The al Doukh souk (the first turning on the right as you walk up the al Mahmas souk) houses leather workers, shoe merchants and carpet wholesalers and leads to the Cotton souk and khan (khan al Ilabyah).

Here are donkeys and carts all piled high with enormous bales crammed so full that the cotton spills out on the ground.

Opposite the souks and khans already mentioned, in relation to the central axis, (here called the al Sakatiiah souk and the al Attareen souk) stands the Jami al Kabir , the Omayyad or Great Mosque.

The entrance is on the western side, opposite an old Koran school, the al Halawyah Madrassa , installed in the former Byzantine Cathedral erected at the command of the Empress Helena. The tinsmiths of the street souk al Haddadin share their street in the mornings with open air stalls full of fruit... and vine leaves.

The Great Mosque was founded in the early Islamic period but there is little to see that dates from that time. Its somewhat heavy style shows it to be mainly Mamluk, but its beautiful minaret, which rises straight from the street, dates from 1090 and is with its fine proportions and Kufic inscriptions a good example of the great period of Islamic architecture in Syria.

The north facade of the Great Mosque forms one side of the square crowded with hawkers and peddlers.

On the square, to the right on leaving the mosque, a two-colored gateway with a honeycomb vault and heavily studded doors beneath, leads into the ancient al Charafyah Madrassa which used to be a library.

Unfortunately its lovely decorated windows are half-hidden by ugly accretions, which it would be fairly easy to remove.

The same unfortunately applies to the neighboring khan, the al Wazir, with its monumental 17th century gateway, which was cut into when the street was built.

A narrow street between the al Charafyah Madrassa and the east wall of the mosque leads into more covered street where jewelers and goldsmiths abound. The goods they offer are little different from those sold everywhere from Cairo to Teheran and beyond.

Almost opposite the al Wazir khan a little doorway leads into the Museum of Popular Art and Traditions , installed in the 18th century Ageckbash palace.

The side rooms are furnished with decorated chests, sofas and chairs inlaid with pearl-shell, ebony and ivory. There are many mirrors, lamps, samovars and other objects in 19th century Ottoman taste.

The displays in the glass cases are more interesting: blue and brownish glassware, ewers, plates and dishes of steel or damascened bronze, finely-chased silver. There is jewelry too.

Finally there is an extraordinary wooden contraption, a sort of ancestor of the modern cinema: covered with mirrors and spy-holes, with a sort of boilers at the back, it was taken from village and set up on the square. Three “viewers” crouched over the spy-holes, fascinated, as the “operator” produced a series of moving pictures with an appropriate commentary.

The Citadel above a steep glacis

Abraham is said to have camped on this hill and milked his red cow there on his journey from Ura to Hauran. But from even earlier the remains of more ancient civilizations have raised the level of this acropolis beneath which so many bloody events have taken place.

Fifty meters above the city a ring of crenellated walls and towers rises from a steep glacis, encircling a mass of ruins of every period.

On the north and south sides great moat, some 20 meters deep and 30meters wide emphasize the proud isolation of the whole fortress. This impression has been rather spoiled by the planting of a clump of trees right in front of the entrance gate. A steeply rising bridge, supported by slender arches, leads across the moat from an entrance tower on the lower side to the great and forbidding entrance fortifications above. These are both austerely beautiful and full of ingenious defensive devices which strike even a 20^th-century visitor as sophisticated. Five great iron-plated doors - each set at a corner of the passageway - could be closed to trap invaders under a hail of arrows, fire and boiling oil (used in these parts since ancient times) from the lookout places, arrow-slits and machicolations above.

But such grim efficiency did not preclude decoration and reminders of the presence of God. The nail-heads on the doors themselves beautifully worked, the lintels have comic or enigmatic carvings on them - intertwined serpents, a pair of lions confronting one another, one smiling the other weeping, and above all there are the fine Kufic inscriptions calling upon the power and the mercy of Allah. The interior of the Citadel shows all too clearly how it has been ravaged by enemies (the Mongols invaded it twice) and shattered by earthquakes (that of 1822 was particularly devastating).

As we follow the arrowed route the keepers will point out the various points of interest: the little domed Byzantine church converted into a mosque; a prison with dungeons dug of the rock, a stretch of wall four meters thick which was the base of a Syro-Hittite temple; the remains of a great mosque built by Saladin’s son, still flanked by its square minaret 20meters high - from which there is a splendid view. A covered building contains fragments of sculpture and objects from various periods found on the site.

Wells 60 meters deep are said to have been linked up with mysterious underground passages. Gigantic cisterns and grain silos guaranteed the garrison’s survival in times of siege.

The visit ends with the 13^th-century royal palace, with its fine stalactite and honeycomb entrance porch, inlaid with white marble. The throne room, dating from the Mamluk period (15^th - 16^th centuries) has been most tastefully restored. Syrian artists and craftsmen have here recreated the luxurious setting of the court: the ceiling with its decorated beams and caissons, the lighting, the windows, the polychrome columns - all are a tribute to their skill. It also illustrates the way the Department of Museums and Antiquities are going about their vast task of restoration and reconstruction.

The commercial quarters are not limited to the souks whose grass-covered vaults can be seen from the rampart walk to the west of the Citadel. A network of narrow streets surrounds the castle mound itself. There are minarets in every direction (two hundred it is said) some squat like defensive towers, others slender as needles.

In the street leading to the entrance to the Citadel, opposite the al Khousrawria mosque (a large building of no particular interest), is a more modest building with a dome. The Emir Zaher Ghazi (son of Saladin) is buried there in an annex to a Madrassa founded during the Crusader periods (the Sultaniya Madrassa).

Close - too close in fact - to these historic parts stand the Municipal Building, the Seraglio, an imposing modern structure with black marble columns.

Between it and the Citadel moat an old building has recently been cleared accertations. Its faced, with a lofty entrance porch is decorated with stone of two colors; its roof is covered with cupolas which look like huge pimples. It was at one time a textile factory. Now that the recent restoration work is completed, the 14^th century al Nassiri Hammam is functional again and open to tourists. Opposite the citadel, not far from these “Turkish baths”, the al Sounah Khan has been converted into a souk where highly reputed local craftswork is sold.

Other mosques and “the School of Paradise”

On the other side - facing away from the Citadel and the Seraglio - stands a fine octagonal minaret with a double wooden balcony and decorated with an attractive frieze around its base. Its is part of the al Atroush (or Otrouch) mosque which dates from the 15^th century. Its porch forms an iwan, richly decorated and framed between twisted columns. Its courtyard is reminiscent of a church cloister, with trees - figs, olives and pines - and a scattering of graves.

The street Bab al Makkam, lined with warehouses and enclosures containing sheep and even dromedaries, leads to an open-air morning market near the ancient town gate or Bab. Continuing in the same direction, crossing waste land and cemeteries, some 800 meters further on the left (it is easy to miss it) lies the al Fardos (or Firdows) Madrassa (literally, and charmingly, “the school of Paradise”) - one of the loveliest and most moving religious buildings in Aleppo. A dark twisting passageway brings us to a light and beautifully proportioned courtyard. It is a wonderfully peaceful spot; all harmony, sobriety and purity. The high pointed arches are supported on small columns with palm-leaf capitals. There is a great iwan on the north side. The sky is reflected in a pool in the center. In a double domed chamber Mamluks lie buried under the floor in unmarked graves. The bustle of the city seems miles away …

Due north of the Citadel, at right angles to the road which encircles the mound, the street al Kawakbi leads to a quarter where craftsmen abound and the coppersmiths’ hammers can be heard all day. Great sheets of copper are transformed into jugs and pans by their well-aimed blows; a rough outline drawn on the wall is their only pattern. They sell their goods by weight. At the end of this street of copper a beautifully carved entrance leads into an ordinary warehouse.

A little covered souk brings us back to the center, crossing the street al Kouwatly near an old gateway, the Bab al Nasr (victory), and joins the street al Moutanabi on which stands a small mosque, the al Mahmandar. It has a curious minaret - a square base becomes first octagonal then cylindrical and each stage is decorated in a different style. It is surmounted by a hideous iron watch tower.

We now come the Jedeide, or “old jouses” quarter, bounded by the street al Gassaniyin on the west and the al Kouwatly on the south. All the houses here are built of fine limestone, lining narrow streets with no shops and sometime vaulted. They are all most beautifully kept by their owners.

A guide is useful here to point out the courtyards which are completely invisible from the street. Little anonymous doorway lead into courts whose general style and decoration exemplifies the Epicurean tastes of the bourgeois of Aleppo in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. There is always a fountain in the center and sometimes a little garden planted with jasmine and roses. A high deep iwan, simply furnished for relaxation or for dinning, generally occupies the cooler north side. The other facades, with living rooms behind, have beautifully carved surrounds to their doors and windows. There is a whole variety of motifs-rosettes, ribbons, and garlands - which look like lace made of golden stone. A carved frieze and gargoyles emphasize the roofline. It is all essentially Syrian and unique to Aleppo.

The inhabitants are proud of their beautiful houses and very kindly disposed to visitors and photographers. Many of these houses are now owned collectively and run as institutions and schools. Unfortunately, later accretions, ugly chimneys and other incongruous eyesores sometimes mar them.

Five fantastic animals and two giants. two men and one woman, with bulging black and white eyes - all made of black basalt, greet the visitor - as they used to greet priests and pilgrims, in Syro-Hittite times, as they entered the temple-palace at Tal Halaf near the river Khabour in the 9^th century BC.

A mythical beast with the head of a man, an eagle’s body and the tail of a scorpion joins with them to plunge the visitor straight away into that mysterious period, four or five thousand years ago, which is to be studied here in Damascus better than anywhere else in the world.

Mari (Tal Hariri) has pride of place, with status of Prince Istupillum and of the “Goddess with the Vase” and dozens of smaller figures, men and women, with long beards and robes of plaited wool, and their names in cuneiform script on their bare right shoulders.

There are tables illustrating the similarities between the ancient scripts and even the Greek and Roman alphabets.

The sculptures found at Hama occupy a series of rooms; there is a splendid pair of lions almost ,ore comic than terrifying. The excavations at Ras Shamra-Ugarit have yielded many bronze statuettes of which the most famous is of a prince or worrier with a craggy face and huge eyes, wearing a golden loin-cloth and bearing a gold sculpture in his right hand.

Sphinxes, lions and buffaloes

From Tal Halaf, near present-day Ras-al Ain on the Khabour, come not only the monsters near the entrance but also many enigmatic figures carved from massive blocks of black stone - sphinxes, lions buffaloes, men and women with goats; bodies… Excavations at Arlan Tash (near Ain al Arab on the Turkish frontier) have yielded similar basalt figures, from the Hittite period and showing Assyrian and Egyptian influences.

Tal Ahmar, on the right bank of the Euphrates, halfway between Jarablus and Qalaat Najm, consists of the remains of the capital of a small Aramean kingdom of the 10^th century BC. From here come stelae of Assyrian manufacture and pottery that looks astonishingly modern.

Upstairs there is a display devoted to the rescue of sites threatened by the rising waters of Lake al Assad. There are several cases showing work under war or completed by various foreign expeditions.

Modern Syrian arts

Finally, a long gallery contains the beginnings of a collection of modern Syrian painting and sculpture. Visitors may then like to visit the large Abu Firas al Hamadani public gardens by the Quweiq, where the shade is a welcomed relief after wandering through this fascinating and lovely city.