Things to see and do Aleppo & The Dead Cities

The staff only have plans for the city and the region.

To guide you on the road, ask for the direction of the nearby Nabi Houri sanctuary, and much better known than under its ancient name. The tomb of this Muslim saint that is worships here is housed in an astonishing Roman tomb of several metres high. Visible on the left of the access road, it is hexagonal and its second floor in lantern has a pyramid roof. The ribbons attached to the tomb of the tomb report the passage of Kurdish visitors. It is indeed a custom to leave a piece of cloth to mark its presence in a place. The surrounding area is littered with drums and half-record capitals in the ground. The ruins of Cyrrhus are hidden behind a hill at 200 m from the mausoleum. It was founded by Seleucus at the beginning of the th century BC, perhaps to shelter the headquarters of one of its satrapies, annexed a time to the kingdom of Armenia, and it will have to await the arrival of the Romans who will make it a military and commercial base. Fortifiée was fortified by Justinian as an important Christian community. Cyrrhus dépeuplera quickly. Noureddin by chasing the crusaders who settled there in 1150. Only a French mission became interested in these ruins from 1952, most of which are still buried. The wild frame in which the remains are divided at least as much as the remains themselves.

Bishop Théodoret de Cyr owes the biography of the saint. Born in 389 at Sis, between Cilicia and Syria, the young Simeon is shocked by the words of the Gospel. He then attends a ascetics retreat from his region and went to the monastery of Teleda where he spent ten years of his existence fighting Evil.
Continuing along this path, he joins the monastery of Telanissos (the present Deir Samaan) where he remains recluse three years. But anachorite wants more. He decides to isolate himself on the nearby hill in a restricted space that he defines by an enclosure. The reputation of this ascetic is beginning to exceed the framework of Telanissos. We come a long way to get his blessings. It is then that he designs the project permanently at the top of a column. Twelve metres high, it preaches ever more crowds and has a great reputation in the Bedouin, some of which are converted to Christianity. To protect it from the pilgrims'assaults, the column is even enhanced at a height of sixteen metres and surrounded by railings.
This form of new asceticism will spread in the East. The stylite (of the Greek stûlos which means "column") will do school especially in the dead cities. In contrast to the first monks who, in Egypt in the fourth century, withdrew from the world by settling in the desert (Saint Antoine was the first of them), Syrian stylites, on the model of Saint Benedict and Saint Basile, maintain contact with the population that they urged faith. Atarib is another hermit in the region, removed not far from Bab al-Hawa.
For forty years, Saint Simeon prêchera from the top of his column by all the time. At his death, in 459, his remains were transferred to the church of Constantine in Antioch and then to Constantinople. In 476, probably under the impetus of the Byzantine emperor Zénon, a martyrium is founded - a monumental construction whose remains are admired today.
Fourteen years of work is required, the architects come from the surrounding areas; we will look for arms to Antioch. The pilgrimage centre at Deir Samaan operated until the th century. It was even restored during the Byzantine recovery of the th century before permanently falling with the whole massif.

The last Aleppo soap factory delivers its secrets of manufacture, to be visited preferably between January and March, the period of manufacture of the soaps. The products developed here are exported to many large French surfaces!

Returning to Aleppo by Azaz, a few kilometres away from Cyrrhus, the two magnificent Roman bridges of the th century and their progress in triangular shape. The modern road still borrows them. We have to imagine relatively busy roads. The Roman roads continue by means of trails further afield in the steppe. A horse travelled at the time 30 km a day and a donkey 15 km; thus, des were successive on these axes at a maximum distance of 15 km. Also not far from Azaz remains tracks of the mythical East-Express.

The imposing theatre, in the centre of the site, was partly cleared. It's reached by entering the city by the south door, which gave the maximus maximus that you guess before the theater. With its 115 m diameter, it is the second by size after that of Apamea. Like the latter, it stands on a hill. At its summit, we guess the citadel. It served as a defence station against the Parathians. We have a beautiful view of the cardo, the ramparts in the north and the watchtowers that mark the Turkish border.

Located at the entrance to the city when you arrive in Aleppo, the museum presents mainly the objects uncovered during the excavations of Ebla. They include the reconstitution of the archives hall, numerous tablets, an Egyptian cut in the name of the pharaoh Chephren, elements of an interlining panel of the Royal Palace.

Built on the location of the 1124 st century Cathedral of St. Helena, seized by the Muslim ruler of Aleppo in, in retaliation for atrocities committed by the «Franj» during the crusades. Just opposite the entrance, in the prayer room, note the capitals of Byzantine origin and the splendid wooden mihrab. Women must provide for a shawl, there are no available at the entrance.

In a tiny street devoted to the trade in wool (in a pelota), you will discover on your right the Syrian, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches, before arriving at the church of the forty-Martyrs, the oldest (th century) church. Enter the cloister and walk on the tombs of the Armenian martyrs massacred by the Turks in 1915, just below the impressive bell tower. The charm of the Syrian Catholic Church stems from its strange blend of pious images and oriental architecture, including the alternance of coloured stones in the choir.

This Arab residence dating back to 1757 was transformed into a museum of popular traditions. The interest of the place lies more in the building which welcomes it than the few old objects put into the scene by wax characters. A left-hand staircase from the entrance leads to the terrace from where the view takes the large courtyard with the very busy decoration and the grandiose iwan. A lemon stands in the middle of the courtyard. Beautiful gargoyles from the facade in the rococo style.

It was built in 1233 on order of the widow of the son of Saladin, Sultan Az-Zahir al-Ghazi, and daughter of the brother of Saladin al-Adil. Its mosque is organized around a small square courtyard bordered by porticos whose arches are based on wooden pieces on the columns of columns. An original device designed to defy earthquakes. The mihrab of the prayer room, located opposite the vast iwan of the courtyard, decorated with a splendid marble marquetry, is described by the Aleppins as the most «chauvinists of Syria's finest mihrab. If possible, it is better to get there at 12 p. m. The faithful carry out prayer inside, while a handful of merchants are active outside, with their carriages filled with vegetables or fruit. Placed at the exit of the mosque, they harvest the faithful barely the prayer completed. A quarter of an hour later, they disappear as fast as they ran. At the end of prayer, non-Muslims can enter and admire the interior of the building as well as the small dozen tombs of holy saints there.

The best preserved of the two/of the main street transformed into a museum. It presents an interesting collection of mosaics from the region. The Khan Assad Assad (1748) facing him does not visit.