ISLAMIC SITES IN DAMASCUS

stands at the heart of the Old city at the end of Souq al-Hamidiyeh constructed on the site of what has always been a place of worship. built by in 705 A.D. when Damascus was the capital of the Arab Islamic Empire. Prominent features of it are the three minarets built in different styles

Located next to the north-western corner of the Great Umayyad Mosque.
The construction of the tomb is typically Damascene: a square chamber with ablaq walls and four arches capped by a cupola. The movement from square room to circular dome is achieved by a transitional drum in two zones: octagonal and 16-sided polygonal. The interior of the tomb chamber is mounted with blue and green Ottoman tiles known as qashani.
the wooden cenotaph, a masterpiece of the linear interplay typical of Ayyubid woodworking. It is decorated with geometric and astral patterns as well as floral and vegetal motifs

SIBAIIEH SCHOOL

Built during the late Memlouk era by (Prince Sibai son of Bakhtija)in 1515 from collected stones and pillars of old and neglected mosques, and the marbles of the decaying school of Khatoun hence the scholars of Damascus called it the Mosques Collection

constructed during the second half of the first century of Ottoman rule (AD 16th century). It marked the beginning of the darb al-hajj, lying on the long-distance pilgrimage and trade route that connected Syria with the Mediterranean, via the Lebanon Mountains, and which ran from Aleppo to Damascus on to the Hijaz. Since the Mamluk period, this area had developed a distinctive religious character influenced by the spirituality of pilgrimage. With security of the pilgrimage route as the banner for legitimising authority, it was an ideal location for the architectural manifestation of Ottoman political hegemony, using characteristic Ottoman features such as pencil-shape

The mosque itself is the finest Ottoman monument in the city. It was built at the order of Suleiman the Magnificent, was planned by the Architect Sinan
The buildings that surround the mosque's courtyard were also built and planned by Sinan. They were built originally as accommodation for the Dervishes, who are known for their religious chants and whirling. It was used later as a khan to house pilgrims who were on their way to Mecca. On the east side is a Koranic School called the Selimiye Madrasa, which was built between 1566 and 1574. The prayer room of the Madrasa is still used as a school to teach Koran. The buildings round the school are currently being used by craftsmen, who sell products such as glass, copper, jewelry, inlaid boxes and carpets

Shrine of the martyrs of Karbalaa, Shrine of Seyida Soukeina Bint Imam Husain Bin Ali, Seyida Zeinab (Oum Kulthoum) Bint Imam Ali, Fatima Bint Imam Ali, Shrine of Abdulla Bin Jaafar Assadek, Shrine of Bilal, Shrine of Abdullah Bin Zein ElAbideen, Shrine of Seyida Habiba (wife of Prohet Mohammed), Shrine of Seyida Oum Salma (wife of Prohet Mohammed )

The sarcophagus is one of a very few remains from the Fatimid period in Damascus, the northernmost stronghold of Cairo-based Fatimid supremacy (AH 3rd to 5th / AD 9th to early 11th centuries).
The sarcophagus is located inside a mausoleum in the centre of Bab Saghir (“Small Gate”) cemetery, southwest of the Old City of Damascus, in the upper half of the Maydan suburb. The stone sarcophagus measures 2.39 m x 0.98 m x 0.85 m and it is located in the subterranean crypt of an Ottoman building that was constructed after the earthquake of AH 1173 / AD 1759. The monolithic sarcophagus is covered on all four sides with inscriptions in kufic script taken from the Qur'an ('Throne verse', II: 256) and a funerary inscription of an unknown person, Fatima bint Ahmad al-Sibti (d. AH 439 / AD 1048). According to local tradition, this is the tomb of Fatima, the granddaughter of Ali, and the sister of Sukayna. Although this is implausible since the latter died at Mecca in AH 117 / AD 735, and the inscription on her tomb clearly says that this particular Fatima passed away in hegira Rajab 439 (AD January 1048), the names “Fatima”, “Husayn” and the epithet “Sibt” are important names in Shi'ite tradition. Thus it is probable that the Fatima named on this tomb came from a chief Shi'ite family.
The inscription on the wooden sarcophagus of Sukayna (end of the AH 5th / AD 11th century), which is found next to Fatima's, is one of the very few Fatimid inscriptions in Damascus. The inscription is a rarity and amongst the oldest preserved; a valuable source for the study of Syrian epigraphy and the development of Arabic script in general. Both tombs are evidence of the elegant and well elaborated artwork of the Fatimid period in contrast with the later Zengid inscriptions of the AH 6th / AD late 12th century which, generally speaking, are more sober in style.
Analysis of the inscriptions and decorations on both these tombs has revealed that funerary decoration is art-historically independent from other contemporary decorative arts in Egypt and Iran, developing its own decorative and stylistic repertoire. Nevertheless the Fatimid ornaments of Egypt, Syria and Iran go back to one common source: the epigraphic and ornamental Abbasid decorations, which were adopted and transformed in all parts of the Muslim world