Hammam al-Malik al-Zahir

Damascus

A Mamluk madrasa holding the tomb of Sultan al-Zahir Baybars (died 1277), built by his son near the Umayyad Mosque, with golden mosaics in its domed chamber. From the late 19th century it housed the Zahiriyya Library, the first major public library in Damascus.

Damascus

An Ayyubid madrasa begun under Nur al-Din Zangi and completed in the time of al-Adil, Saladin's brother, whose tomb it holds. It faces al-Zahiriyya Madrasa near the Umayyad Mosque.

Damascus

A restaurant inside the Old City of Damascus, in the Hameidiyyeh quarter, about 200 m from the Umayyad Mosque. It stands on Souq Bab Al Bareed Lane. From here the markets, mosques and churches of the Old City are all within walking distance.

Damascus

The tomb of Sultan Saladin (died 1193), built in 1196 in a small garden against the north wall of the Umayyad Mosque. It was restored after the visit of the German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1898, who donated a marble cenotaph that stands beside the original wooden one over Saladin's remains.

Damascus

The graves of Ottoman airmen who died in 1914 during a pioneering flight from Istanbul to Cairo. They were buried beside the Mausoleum of Saladin near the Umayyad Mosque.

Damascus

The river of Damascus, rising in the Anti-Lebanon mountains near al-Zabadani and entering the city through the Rabweh gorge; for centuries its branches watered the Ghouta orchards and the city's houses and fountains. In the centre it flows past the Takiyya Sulaymaniyya and along the north side of the Old City walls.