Ancient City of Damascus
Founded in the 3rd millennium B.C., Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. It was the center of a flourishing craft industry, specializing in swords and lace. The city has some 125 monuments from different periods of its history – one of the most spectacular is the 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads, built on an Assyrian sanctuary. Damascus was an important cultural and commercial center by virtue of its geographical position at the crossroads of the orient and the occident, between Africa and Asia. The old city of Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world
Timeline of Damascus to 2000
• 150CE - Damascus became a Roman provincial city under Trajan.
• 4th century – Temple of Jupiter built by the Romans.
• 613 – Sasanian captured Damascus during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628
• 634 – Arab conquest of Damascus under Khalid ibn al-Walid.
• 715 – Great Mosque built by Al-Walid I by converting the church of St John the Baptist constructed by Arcadius.
• 789 – Qubbat al-Khazna built.
• 1078 – Citadel of Damascus built.
• 1126 - Crusaders attacked Damascus.
• 1142 – Al-Mujahidiyah Madrasa established.
• 1154 – Nur al-Din Bimaristan built.
• 1196 – Mausoleum of Saladin built.
• 1215 – Al-Adiliyah Madrasa founded.
• 1216 – Citadel of Damascus rebuilt.
• 1224 – Al-Rukniyah Madrasa built.
• 1234 – Aqsab Mosque built.
• 1254 – Al-Qilijiyah Madrasa established.
• 1260 – Kitbuga, a confidant of the Mongol Ilkhan Hulagu, captured Damascus. Then, it was captured five days after the Battle of Ain Jalut by the Mamluk Sultanate.
• 1277 – Al-Zahiriyah Library established.
• 1400 – Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, besieges Damascus.
• 1515 – Al-Sibaiyah Madrasa built.
• 1516 – Ottomans under Selim I conquered Damascus from the Mamluks.
• 1558 – Tekkiye Mosque built.
• 1566 – Al-Salimiyah Madrasa established.
• 1574 – Khan al-Harir built.
• 1605 – Printing press established.
• 1736 – Khan Sulayman Pasha built.
• 1750 – Azmlace built.
• 1752 – Khan As'ad Pasha built.
• 1832 - Captured by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt.
• 1840 - Return of the city to Turkish domination, when the Egyptians were driven out of Syria.
• 1860 - Massacre; the Moslem population rose against the Christians.
• 1885 – Bakdash (ice cream parlor) established.
• 1900 - Population: 154,000. (approx date)
20th century
• 1918 – October: Arab troops led by Emir Feisal, and supported by British Armed Forces, captured Damascus, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.
• 1920 – July: French Armed Forces occupy Damascus, forcing Feisal to flee abroad.
• 1923 – University founded.
• 1925/6 – French forces bombard Damascus.
• 1928 – Al-Wahda Club of Damascus founded.
• 1935 – Population: 193,912.
• 1939 – Chapel of Saint Paul inaugurated.
• 1946 – Population: 303,952.
• 1947 – Al-Jaish Sports Club founded.
• 1960 – Syrian Television begins broadcasting.
• 1961 – September: Discontent with Egyptian domination of the United Arab Republic prompts a group of Syrian Army officers to seize power in Damascus and dissolve the union.
• 1964 – Population: 562,907 (estimate).
• 1970 – Population: 836,668 city; 923,253 urban agglomeration.
• 1977 – Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts founded.
• 1981 - Bomb explodes near Syrian Air Force headquarters. Azbakiyah bombing
• 1983 – Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology founded.
• 1984 – Al-Assad National Library established.
• 1985 – Population: 1,196,710 (estimate).
• 1986 – Bombings
• 1994 – Population: 1,549,000 (estimate).
• 2000 – Spring
History of Syria
Prehistory
• Levantine corridor
• Natufian culture
• Halaf culture
• Uruk period
• Abu Hureyra
• Aswad
• Yarmukian culture
Bronze Age
• Amorites
• Akkadian Empire
• Arameans
• Canaanites
• Old Assyrian Empire
• Middle Assyrian Empire
• Ebla
• Yamhad
• Qatna
• Mari
• Ugarit
• Late Bronze Age collapse
Antiquity
Middle Ages
• Muslim conquest (636)
• Caliphal Syria (Bilad al-Sham)
• Tulunid dynasty
• Ikhshidid dynasty
• Zangid dynasty
• Hamdanid dynasty
• Mirdasid dynasty
• Fatimid Syria
• Saljuqid Syria
• Crusader states
• County of Edessa
• Principality of Antioch
• County of Tripoli
• Ayyubid Syria (1174–1260)
• Mamluk Syria (1260–1516)
Early modern
• Ottoman Syria (1516–1918)
Modern
• Arab Kingdom of Syria (1920)
• French Mandate
• Syrian Federation (1922–25)
• State of Syria (1925–30)
• Mandatory Republic (1930–46)
• Independent First Syrian Republic (1946–50)
• Second Syrian Republic (1950–58, 1961–63)
• United Arab Republic (1958–61)
• Ba'thist Syria (1963–present)
Excavations at Tell Ramad on the city's outskirts have demonstrated that Damascus was inhabited as early as 8,000 to 10,000 BC. However, it is not documented as an important city until the arrival of the Aramaeans.
The city exhibits extraordinary evidence of the civilizations which created it - Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic. Each succeeding dynasty has left and continues to leave its mark. In particular, the Umayyad caliphate created Damascus as its capital, setting the scene for the city's ongoing development as a living Muslim Arab city.
Despite Islam's prevailing influence, traces of earlier cultures, particularly the Roman and Byzantine, continue to be seen in the city. Thus the city today is based on a Roman plan and maintains the aspect and the orientation of the Greek city, in that all its streets are oriented north-south or east-west and is a crucial example of urban planning.
The city was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate. The earliest visible physical evidence dates to the Roman period - the extensive remains of the Temple of Jupiter, the remains of various gates, and an impressive section of the Roman city walls. However, apart from the incomparable Great Mosque, built on the site of a Roman temple and overlaying a Christian basilica, there is little visible dating from this significant era of the city's history. The present city walls, the Citadel, some mosques, and tombs survive the Middle Ages. However, the most significant part of the city has built heritage dates from after the Ottoman conquest of the early 16th century.
Damascus testifies to the unique aesthetic achievement of the civilizations which created it. There are five criteria noted:
Criterion (i): The Great Mosque is a masterpiece of Umayyad architecture. Other major monuments of different periods such as the Citadel, the Azem Palace, madrasas, khans, public baths, and private residences demonstrate this achievement.
Criterion (ii): Damascus, as the capital of the Umayyad caliphate - the first Islamic caliphate - was crucial in developing subsequent Arab cities. With its Great Mosque at the heart of an urban plan deriving from the Graeco-Roman grid, the city provided the exemplary model for the Arab Muslim world.
Criterion (iii): Historical and archaeological sources testify to origins in the third millennium BC, and Damascus is widely known as among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The present city walls, the Citadel, some mosques and tombs survive from the Medieval period, and a large part of the built heritage of the city including palaces and private houses dates from after the Ottoman conquest of the early 16th century. The incomparable Great Mosque is a rare and highly significant monument of the Umayyads.
Criterion (iv): The Umayyad Great Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque of Damascus, is one of the largest mosques in the world and one of the oldest sites of continuous prayer since the rise of Islam. As such, it constitutes a significant cultural, social and artistic development.
Criterion (v): The city is closely linked with important historical events, ideas, traditions, especially from the Islamic period. These have helped shape the city's image and impact on Islamic history and culture.
Integrity (2009)
The line of the walls of the old city forms the property's boundary. Although areas outside the walls that represent the city's expansion from the 13th century are considered related to the old city in terms of historical significance and provide its setting and context, the key attributes of Outstanding Universal Value lie within the boundary. These include the plan of the city and its dense urban fabric, city walls and gates, and its 125 protected monuments, including the Umayyad Mosque, madrasas, khans, the Citadel, and private houses.
The attributes are vulnerable to erosion from a lack of traditional approaches to maintenance and conservation, and the use of traditional materials, while its setting and context are threatened by lack of conservation policy for the historical zones outside the walled city and by regional planning projects.
Authenticity (2009)
Since the property's inscription, the historic fabric's morphological layout and spatial pattern have remained unchanged, and the key discrete attributes survive. However, commercial and semi-industrial activities are spreading into the residential area of the walled city and its suburbs, eroding the value of the attributes relating to the urban fabric and their inter-relationships.
Protection and management requirements (2009)
Responsibilities for planning control over the old city and its management are in the hands of two government departments (the Commission for Safeguarding the Old Town and the General Directorate for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM). Technical Cooperation for projects and programs to enhance the city is undertaken by the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment with support from international organizations. The effectiveness of the conservation policy relies on the full participation of various interests within the city, such as public/private partnerships, all levels of government, the financial community, and citizens.
Legal protection is provided by the Antiquities law 222 amended in 1999 in addition to the Ministerial order no. 192 of 1976 designating the walled city as part of Syria's cultural and historical heritage. Parliamentary Act N° 826 for the Restoration and Reconstruction/Rebuilding the city within the walls has been reviewed in light of changed conditions, needs, and opportunities. It aims at establishing new conditions for the walled city.
A Committee for the Protection and Development of Old Damascus has been established, with representatives of the different bodies to coordinate the planning and building activities and be responsible for the strategic planning for the Old City.
The draft of the Integrated Urban Plan of the old city had been formally approved by Ministerial decision N° 37/A of 2010. A buffer zone has also been delineated but not yet formally approved.
There is a need for the plan, once approved and implemented, to clarify the different levels of protection to be applied to the different parts of the urban fabric, to set out the appropriate interventions
