Reaching the foot of the citadel mount. Go to the right and continue for about 200 m. on the street built around
the moat. You will immediately grasp in all its splendor the monumental entrance to the citadel which dominates
the city surrounding it by about 50 m. This mound, an ideal defensive position, alone justifies the foundation
of the city which was occupied from the beginning of the 1st millenary B.C. under the neo-Hittites for whom Aleppo
was the capital.
The hill was probably fortified in the Seleucid period. It became a place of royal residence in the 10th century
under the Hamadanides. However, it owes its present aspect to a reconstruction by the Mamelukes at the end of the
13th century, following its destruction by the Mongols in 1260.
However, the magnificent powerful construction which defended the only entrance was erected in the last years of
the 12th century by EI-MaIek Ez-Zaher EI-Ghazi. With its bridge made of tall arches, preceded by a tower, this
gate has become one of the classics of intelligent fortification of the Middle Ages. An intelligence which also
included beauty, as can be seen from the windows with their two-coloured jambs and ornaments. The long band with
the elegant writing commemorates the restoration of the citadel by the Mameluke Sultan Khalil, after the invasion
of the Mongols.
Visiting the upper plateau of the citadel you will remember in particular the noble architecture of the Great Mosque,
the Emir Ez-Zaher EI-Ghazi erected in 1214, with its square shaped minaret. You will also notice the imposing size
of the three-tiered hall partly excavated in the rock, above giant silos, and the majesty of the large room of
the throne, and the yard you cross to reach this room with its two-coloured tilling. The portal is also executed
on bases of yellow and black stone with stalactites of the 15th century. |
|
