I took this photo in August 2009. It's the Citadel of Aleppo. You enter through a fortified Gate, and then cross a bridge over a 22 metre deep, 30 metre wide, moat. The mound itself is 50 metres high. The walls are huge. If you control the Gate, you control the Citadel. And if you control the Citadel, you control Aleppo. It dominates the city.
Seleucus, a General of Alexander, may have ordered its construction. It was certainly constructed by 360AD because the Roman Emperor Julian recorded his visit there. The crusader King Baldwin II was held prisoner there for two years. Timurlaine pulled it down in 1401 and ten years later, the Mamluks rebuilt it. French soldiers were stationed there during France's unloved and much resented rule of Syria between the two World Wars.
It's now occupied by Syrian forces loyal to President Assad. And while Assad holds the Citadel, he can be confident of holding Aleppo. Or so history would suggest.
Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nashes. It's an astonishing spectacle, a few minutes walk away from the northern entrance to the souks of the Old City - large parts of which were destroyed by fire last week.
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