Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited centers of human settlement and has flourished for millennia. Positioned high above the modern city, the Citadel of Aleppo was a strategic defensive location between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Sea. (...)
Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited centers of human settlement and has flourished for millennia. Positioned high above the modern city, the Citadel of Aleppo was a strategic defensive location between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Sea. The Citadel of Aleppo represents a palimpsest of evidence of occupation from the Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Zangid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods. It was under Ayyubid rule that the citadel reached its greatest peak, after Salah ad-Din (Saladin), the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, succeeded in capturing Aleppo in 1182. Strongly fortified for protection from the Crusaders and local raiders, Aleppo became a brilliant example of medieval Islamic military architecture. A complex of palaces, baths, and gardens was constructed for the new rulers of the city. Medieval sources praise the magnificence of the Ayyubid palace, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1212, only to be destroyed during the Mongol sack of Aleppo in 1260. Near the palace, the Ayyubid Cistern is an underground hall, partly carved out of the limestone rock on which the citadel is built. Accessed by a long staircase, the barrel-vaulted roof of the hall is supported on four massive pillars.
