Museum of Arabic Calligraphy

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 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

One of the oldest great mosques in the world and the best-known landmark of Damascus, built by Caliph al-Walid I between 705 and 715 on a site that had been a Roman temple and then a church of St John the Baptist. It is famed for its golden mosaics, vast courtyard and three minarets, and its prayer hall holds the shrine of John the Baptist (the Prophet Yahya).

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

A historic bathhouse inside the Old City of Damascus, in the Amara Jowaniyyeh quarter, about 200 m from the Umayyad Mosque. It stands on As Sabe' Tawale' Lane. The Old City of Damascus has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.

Damascus

The oldest and best-known café of Old Damascus, just east of the Umayyad Mosque, serving coffee for around 250 years. It is known for its hakawati storyteller, who recites the tales of old heroes.