This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/24/syria-war-citadel-aleppo-history-cities-buildings
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Syria's war-scarred citadel of Aleppo: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 2 | Syria's war-scarred citadel of Aleppo: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 2 |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The great citadel of Aleppo has the grim distinction of being the world’s only ancient fortress that is back in action today as a garrison and artillery battery in the midst of war. In the ruins of arsenals, dungeons and palaces from earlier centuries, troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are wreaking destruction on enemies in the plain below, as though the Middle Ages had never ended. | The great citadel of Aleppo has the grim distinction of being the world’s only ancient fortress that is back in action today as a garrison and artillery battery in the midst of war. In the ruins of arsenals, dungeons and palaces from earlier centuries, troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are wreaking destruction on enemies in the plain below, as though the Middle Ages had never ended. |
| The slits in the walls which used to allow archers to launch their arrows at attackers are now used by Syrian government marksmen with sophisticated sniper rifles, safely taking aim at targets in the streets beneath them. Artillery rounds are regularly fired at Islamist rebel fighters from positions inside the castle grounds. | The slits in the walls which used to allow archers to launch their arrows at attackers are now used by Syrian government marksmen with sophisticated sniper rifles, safely taking aim at targets in the streets beneath them. Artillery rounds are regularly fired at Islamist rebel fighters from positions inside the castle grounds. |
| Since 2012, when rebel forces first tried to seize Syria’s second city, the Aleppo citadel has been on the front line. Like the massive crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, which was held for over a year by rebel forces who could dominate a valley full of Christian villages west of Homs, the Aleppo citadel used to be one of Syria’s major tourist attractions. Designated as Unesco World Heritage sites, both have suffered untold damage which will only be open for proper assessment when the war is over. | Since 2012, when rebel forces first tried to seize Syria’s second city, the Aleppo citadel has been on the front line. Like the massive crusader castle of Krak des Chevaliers, which was held for over a year by rebel forces who could dominate a valley full of Christian villages west of Homs, the Aleppo citadel used to be one of Syria’s major tourist attractions. Designated as Unesco World Heritage sites, both have suffered untold damage which will only be open for proper assessment when the war is over. |
| There was a time when the outcrop of rock that looms over the city of Aleppo, measuring approximately 160 x 280m, was just an attractive grass-covered plateau. According to Ibn al Shihna, Aleppo’s chief judge (qadi) in the 15th century, this was where the patriarch Abraham climbed up on his nomadic wanderings to enjoy the view and milk his sheep. A cuneiform text from 2500 BC mentions a shrine built on the hill and dedicated to a storm god, Hadda. Archeologists have found the foundations of a temple on the plateau from around that date. | There was a time when the outcrop of rock that looms over the city of Aleppo, measuring approximately 160 x 280m, was just an attractive grass-covered plateau. According to Ibn al Shihna, Aleppo’s chief judge (qadi) in the 15th century, this was where the patriarch Abraham climbed up on his nomadic wanderings to enjoy the view and milk his sheep. A cuneiform text from 2500 BC mentions a shrine built on the hill and dedicated to a storm god, Hadda. Archeologists have found the foundations of a temple on the plateau from around that date. |
| The shops’ ancient wooden panelling burnt to ash in a few hours. Each side blamed the other for the devastation | The shops’ ancient wooden panelling burnt to ash in a few hours. Each side blamed the other for the devastation |
| Aleppo, which can lay claim to being the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlement of substantial size, has had a symbiotic relationship with its citadel over the centuries. The rocky hill’s military potential was first developed to a significant degree in the third century BC, several millennia after the city was established. After Alexander the Great conquered the region, commanders from the Hellenistic state founded by his successor, Seleucus I Nicator, fortified the hill and made it into their army headquarters. The civilian population lived in the fertile Syrian steppe below, close to the river Qwaiq which provided an uninterrupted supply of water. | Aleppo, which can lay claim to being the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlement of substantial size, has had a symbiotic relationship with its citadel over the centuries. The rocky hill’s military potential was first developed to a significant degree in the third century BC, several millennia after the city was established. After Alexander the Great conquered the region, commanders from the Hellenistic state founded by his successor, Seleucus I Nicator, fortified the hill and made it into their army headquarters. The civilian population lived in the fertile Syrian steppe below, close to the river Qwaiq which provided an uninterrupted supply of water. |
| Until 2012, the grid of streets built by the Seleucids could still be detected just below the citadel in Aleppo’s sprawling network of souks and khans, once the most extensive in the Arab world. Then they were destroyed by fire in the fighting between rebels and the Assad government troops. The shops’ ancient wooden panelling and carved shutters burnt to ash in a few hours. Each side blamed the other for the devastation. | Until 2012, the grid of streets built by the Seleucids could still be detected just below the citadel in Aleppo’s sprawling network of souks and khans, once the most extensive in the Arab world. Then they were destroyed by fire in the fighting between rebels and the Assad government troops. The shops’ ancient wooden panelling and carved shutters burnt to ash in a few hours. Each side blamed the other for the devastation. |
| In spite of Aleppo’s great age as a city, it was not until the end of the sixth century AD that civilians built homes on the great mound that towered above them. They were hoping to escape attacks from yet another invading army; this time the forces of Khosrau II, the last great Persian king before the Muslims conquered Iran. The 40m high plateau became an acropolis, a walled city on a hill, although the houses remained of typical mud-brick construction with wooden roofs. | In spite of Aleppo’s great age as a city, it was not until the end of the sixth century AD that civilians built homes on the great mound that towered above them. They were hoping to escape attacks from yet another invading army; this time the forces of Khosrau II, the last great Persian king before the Muslims conquered Iran. The 40m high plateau became an acropolis, a walled city on a hill, although the houses remained of typical mud-brick construction with wooden roofs. |
| Until Syria’s current civil war, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture was mapping the Aleppo citadel and paying for conservation work. In the trust’s book, Syria: Media Citadels between East and West, Julia Gonnella describes how the sixth-century fortification failed to become a place of long-term refuge and settlement because of a lack of clean water. Too many donkeys, horses and sheep were brought into the citadel along with their owners, contaminating the only water source. | Until Syria’s current civil war, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture was mapping the Aleppo citadel and paying for conservation work. In the trust’s book, Syria: Media Citadels between East and West, Julia Gonnella describes how the sixth-century fortification failed to become a place of long-term refuge and settlement because of a lack of clean water. Too many donkeys, horses and sheep were brought into the citadel along with their owners, contaminating the only water source. |
| A severe earthquake also took its toll. When the Arabs arrived in 637 AD, they found most of the largely abandoned citadel’s walls had collapsed. But the Byzantine inhabitants of the acropolis had survived on the plateau long enough for churches to be built. These were converted into mosques, whose walls are still standing today. | A severe earthquake also took its toll. When the Arabs arrived in 637 AD, they found most of the largely abandoned citadel’s walls had collapsed. But the Byzantine inhabitants of the acropolis had survived on the plateau long enough for churches to be built. These were converted into mosques, whose walls are still standing today. |
| The Arabs were the people who did most to develop the Aleppo citadel as a powerful fortress and turn it into one of the most impressive monuments of military architecture in the Middle East. To thwart crusader raids in the 12th century, Saladin’s son, Sultan al-Zaher Ghazi, dug out the moat, filled it with water, then built a massive outer gateway and the ramp that leads over arches to an even more vast inner gateway. Inside that, the covered road makes five 90-degree turns to prevent enemy horses and men easily running in. | The Arabs were the people who did most to develop the Aleppo citadel as a powerful fortress and turn it into one of the most impressive monuments of military architecture in the Middle East. To thwart crusader raids in the 12th century, Saladin’s son, Sultan al-Zaher Ghazi, dug out the moat, filled it with water, then built a massive outer gateway and the ramp that leads over arches to an even more vast inner gateway. Inside that, the covered road makes five 90-degree turns to prevent enemy horses and men easily running in. |
| Openings above the road allowed boiling oil, water or rocks to be dropped on attackers. Sultan Ghazi also had the citadel’s 48-degree slope faced with gleaming limestone to make it harder for would-be assailants to climb up or to sneak in at night . To avoid a repetition of the Byzantines’ water shortage, Ghazi built a reservoir and a deep well inside the citadel as well as grain silos, baths, palaces and gardens. | Openings above the road allowed boiling oil, water or rocks to be dropped on attackers. Sultan Ghazi also had the citadel’s 48-degree slope faced with gleaming limestone to make it harder for would-be assailants to climb up or to sneak in at night . To avoid a repetition of the Byzantines’ water shortage, Ghazi built a reservoir and a deep well inside the citadel as well as grain silos, baths, palaces and gardens. |
| In spite of its new defences, the Mongols managed to capture the citadel in 1260. There followed a period when the citadel changed hands repeatedly: the Mameluks from Cairo seized it from the Mongols, then lost it to Tamberlain, and recaptured it. Although the Mameluks added a ring wall with 40 towers, this was still not a good enough defence; they lost the citadel a second time when the Ottomans invaded in 1516. | In spite of its new defences, the Mongols managed to capture the citadel in 1260. There followed a period when the citadel changed hands repeatedly: the Mameluks from Cairo seized it from the Mongols, then lost it to Tamberlain, and recaptured it. Although the Mameluks added a ring wall with 40 towers, this was still not a good enough defence; they lost the citadel a second time when the Ottomans invaded in 1516. |
| The Ottomans succeeded in creating a large empire and pacifying most of the Levant. With the threat of attack diminished, civilians once again moved on to the plateau and the city enjoyed three centuries of peace, the longest period of tranquillity it had ever known. What finally ended its period as a dwelling-place was not another war but an earthquake which struck in 1822, reducing the citadel’s buildings to ruins. | |
| After the first world war and the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the League of Nations gave France a mandate to run Syria in 1923. The French closed the hill to the public and housed troops there, but they also began archaeological digs. After Syria gained independence in 1946, restoration of the Mameluk buildings, in particular the impressive Throne Room, started. | After the first world war and the collapse of the Ottoman empire, the League of Nations gave France a mandate to run Syria in 1923. The French closed the hill to the public and housed troops there, but they also began archaeological digs. After Syria gained independence in 1946, restoration of the Mameluk buildings, in particular the impressive Throne Room, started. |
| In the 1970s and 80s, tourism revived and the citadel became one of Aleppo’s most popular destinations. Visitors could sit in the open-air cafes below the walls and admire the towering gateways, shining in the light of the setting sun. No one expected that the city would be engulfed in war again. | In the 1970s and 80s, tourism revived and the citadel became one of Aleppo’s most popular destinations. Visitors could sit in the open-air cafes below the walls and admire the towering gateways, shining in the light of the setting sun. No one expected that the city would be engulfed in war again. |
| Syrian government forces have held firm in the citadel for three years now. Rebel fighters of the West-backed Free Syrian Army moved into streets and apartment blocks just below the citadel’s eastern walls in August 2012. The outer gateway was repeatedly struck by shells as the rebels tried to capture the citadel, though again each side accused the other of causing the damage. | Syrian government forces have held firm in the citadel for three years now. Rebel fighters of the West-backed Free Syrian Army moved into streets and apartment blocks just below the citadel’s eastern walls in August 2012. The outer gateway was repeatedly struck by shells as the rebels tried to capture the citadel, though again each side accused the other of causing the damage. |
| Related: Egypt's 4,600-year-old pyramid of Zoser: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 1 | Related: Egypt's 4,600-year-old pyramid of Zoser: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 1 |
| More recently, the Free Syrian Army was replaced by fighters from an organisation known as the Islamic Front. Jihadis from the notorious Islamic State (Isis) who took control of parts of eastern Aleppo last year, but in the internecine struggles between various rebel factions which have been a characteristic of the Syrian war, they were driven back by the Islamic Front. Isis remains some 20 miles from the city, at least for now. | More recently, the Free Syrian Army was replaced by fighters from an organisation known as the Islamic Front. Jihadis from the notorious Islamic State (Isis) who took control of parts of eastern Aleppo last year, but in the internecine struggles between various rebel factions which have been a characteristic of the Syrian war, they were driven back by the Islamic Front. Isis remains some 20 miles from the city, at least for now. |
| Because of the high risk, few journalists get permission to travel to government-held parts of Aleppo, and none has been permitted to enter the citadel. Similarly, no independent archaeologists have been inside it since the war began. Most of the buildings were already ruins and under reconstruction; how much new damage the last three years of fighting have wrought on this historic urban landmark will not be known for some time. | Because of the high risk, few journalists get permission to travel to government-held parts of Aleppo, and none has been permitted to enter the citadel. Similarly, no independent archaeologists have been inside it since the war began. Most of the buildings were already ruins and under reconstruction; how much new damage the last three years of fighting have wrought on this historic urban landmark will not be known for some time. |
| • Part 3 in our History of Cities tomorrow: the Inca Coricancha temple in Cusco | • Part 3 in our History of Cities tomorrow: the Inca Coricancha temple in Cusco |
| • Which other buildings in the world tell stories about urban history? Share your own pictures and descriptions with GuardianWitness, on Twitter and Instagram using #hoc50 or let us know suggestions in the comments below | • Which other buildings in the world tell stories about urban history? Share your own pictures and descriptions with GuardianWitness, on Twitter and Instagram using #hoc50 or let us know suggestions in the comments below |
Previous version
1
Next version