Damascus
Al-Hamidiyyah Souq is the great covered market of Damascus, about 600 metres long under a tall iron roof, running from al-Thawrah Street to the square in…
Al-Hamidiyyah Souq is the great covered market of Damascus, about 600 metres long under a tall iron roof, running from al-Thawrah Street to the square in front of the Umayyad Mosque. It was laid out in the Ottoman period and takes its name from Sultan Abd al-Hamid, in whose reign it was rebuilt and extended in the 1880s, and at its far end stand the columns of the ancient temple that once occupied the mosque's site. Its shops sell textiles, sweets, spices and crafts, and the small holes in the iron roof are said to date from the French bombardment of 1925. It is the busiest way into the heart of the old city.