February 2017

We will be featuring monthly reposts of archived Saudi Aramco World articles on Aleppo as part of the 100 Aspects of Aleppo series. This article was featured in the March/April 2004 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.

Written by Louis Werner

Photographs by Kevin Bubriski

Abdel Qadir Na‘aal

Spices, Perfumers’ Suq

Silva Jezdanian

Clothing, Aziziyah Quarter

Muhammad Waraaq and sons Fadil and Abdelrahman

Wedding dresses, Handkerchief Suq

Musbah Fansa with son Fuad

Soap, Bab al-Faraj (Gate of Deliverance)

Muhammad Sami Hakim and son Mamduh

Gold, Handkerchief Suq

Ayman Mehmeh

Drapery material, Khan al-Jumruk

Salih Ibn Mansour

Animal skins and “eastern goods,” Main Suq

Alaa al-Din Labban

Men’s clothing, Sharia Quwatli

Adnan Mustafa Qaliyet

Fine antiques, Main Suq

Ola Al Kassir

Benetton Clothing, Aziziyah

Abdelrahman Nahhas

Copper goods, Copper Market

Abdel Rizaq Bakir

Rope, Ropemakers’ Suq

Abdelrahman Qali

Tent cloth, Main Suq

Though shops in Aleppo’s Aziziyah district, above, and on Sharia Qawatli are more likely to resemble their western counterparts than those in the world’s oldest covered market, below, the suq is no timeless arcade: Fax machines whir, international magazines inspire dress design, and antiquarian bric-a-brac sells to tourists at a good profit.

Ghassan al Hussein

Appliances, Sharia Qawatli

Hussam Dashirni

Internet cafe and pastry shop, Sharia Qawatli

Aleppo vies with Damascus for the title of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. Both are mentioned in Eblaite tablets from the third millennium BC, where Aleppo goes by the name Hal-pa-pa, but fine neo-Hittite reliefs recently found in Aleppo’s towering citadel mound may give a slight edge in the antiquity contest to this more northerly of Syria’s two largest cities.