The Citadel of Aleppo
I’ve had the privilege of visiting this magnificent site twice, once in 2023 and again in 2025. It loses none of its awe-inspiring effect on second viewing!
The highest point of Aleppo, the Citadel sits imperiously over the city. You cannot help but marvel at the ingenuity and sheer labour that must have been required to build such a monumental edifice.
Aleppo is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities with usage of the Citadel hill - a natural outcrop of limestone - dating back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.
According to World Monuments Fund: “The majority of the structures on the citadel were erected by the Ayyubids in the 12th and 13th centuries, but substantial structures are also preserved from the Ottoman period (beginning in the sixteenth century).” Founded by the great general Saladin, who reconquered Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, the Ayyubids ruled Egypt, Syria, and parts of the Middle East for over a century.
Due to its strategic position overlooking the city, the Citadel was occupied by government forces during Syria’s civil war. One person told me that army helicopters would have to drop food to the government troops stationed there as it was completely surrounded by opposition forces. Food was also apparently smuggled in through a network of tunnels that run from the souk (perhaps beyond) into the Citadel that date back centuries.
Parts of the Citadel were restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in the 2000s with support from the World Monuments Fund among others. Following the end of the civil war and under the new government, the hope is that restoration works can continue.
The scale of the destruction is evident from the air (see foreground here).
The walk up to the main entrance gate
“The Citadel is a symbol for Aleppian people. It makes them proud to have such a monument.”
Mohammed Nour Habbaq, Director of the Citadel of Aleppo
A dronie from the amphitheatre in the centre of the Citadel.