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Al-Hamidiyah Souq

Oldest bazaar in Damascus, Syria

Field	Value
name	Al-Hamidiyeh Souq
native_name	ar
image	Al-Hamidiyah Souq 02.jpg
length	600 m
width	15 m
location	Damascus, Syria
coordinates
construction_start_date	1780
completion_date	1884

The Al-Hamidiyeh Souq () is the largest and the central souk in Syria, located inside the old walled city of Damascus next to the Citadel. The souq is about 600 m long and 15 m wide, and is covered by a 10 m tall metal arch. The souq starts at Al-Thawra street and ends at the Umayyad Mosque plaza, and the ancient Roman Temple of Jupiter stands 40 feet tall in its entrance.

History

The souq dates back to the Ottoman era and was built along the axis of the Roman route to the Temple of Jupiter around 1780 during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid I, and later extended during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

In the 1898 book "Palestine and Syria: Handbook for Travellers" by Orientalists Albert Socin and the souk was described as a "new bazaar" and "handsomely decorated." |access-date=28 December 2025 They noted several Arab confectioner selling "ices, which [were] very popular."

21st century

Nowadays it is one of the most popular shopping districts in Syria, being lined with hundreds of clothes emporiums, shops selling traditional crafts and jewelry, cafés, grocery stores, food stalls, and ice cream parlors. Before the Syrian Civil War, it was one of Damascus's main attractions and was visited by many tourists, including Europeans and Gulf Arabs; however, it still remains a popular attraction for locals and Syrians.

Although there have been many violent clashes around Damascus and in some of its districts the souq has not been affected in any way by the Syrian Civil War, but peaceful protests and demonstrations have taken place in the nearby Medhat Pasha Souq, which extends from the Al Hamidiyah Souq.

It was one of the treasures featured in the 2005 BBC documentary Around the World in 80 Treasures presented by Dan Cruickshank.

References

[http://www.discover-syria.com/bank/52 سوق الحميدية - اكتشف سورية]
"Al-Hamidiyah Souk, main Damascus shopping centre - The Arab Weekly".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

souqs-in-damascus

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