All TrailsWalking Route

TRIPOLI IN DEPTH

A tour through the heart of the Mamluk city along the old markets

Total Distance

3.8 Km

Duration

4 Hours

Stops

7 monuments

Trail Map

Leaflet © OpenStreetMap contributors

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Mosque

AL MANSOURI GREAT MOSQUE

The Grand Mosque of Mansuri is considered to be the most important aspect of the Mamluk city. It is the oldest in Tripoli and the first in the Mamluk period. It was built by Sultan Khalil Qalawun, known as Al-Ashraf in 1294 AD, five years after defeating the Crusaders and entering the city. It took four years to build it; it has a square shape and an area of 3224 sq. The mosque has a special significance to the city of Tripoli, as it is one of the most important religious centers in terms of value, historical representation, spaciousness and location in the old city. It played a social, cultural and political role since demonstrations and popular movements were set off from that site during the confrontation with the French Mandate before the Independence Day until recently. The Mansuri Mosque is not one of the most luxurious and richly adorned mosques such as the Tinal Mosque, which is considered the most beautiful mosque in Tripoli. However, it is characterized by simplicity, a clear and organized design: The center has a square shape where the ablution basin lies and is surrounded by corridors from the north, east and west and the prayer setting in the south. To the right of the Haram is a small and famous space called “The Room of the Holy Sepulcher”, which includes a hair of Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in a pure gold box. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II offered this hair to the city of Tripoli and it is taken out only twice a year, the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan and after dawn prayer in Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Decree). The Hall of the mosque extends along the southern side of the courtyard, has seven large doors and consists of seven arches inside. On the southern wall of the Haram (prayer Hall) are two Mihrabs (Niches) and a wooden podium adorned with geometric motifs that have been preserved since the mosque was built. According to Tripoli’s historian Dr. Omar Tadmouri, the Great Mansouri Mosque was built on the ruins of an ancient church, where the main gothic gate and minaret tower are the remains of a Crusader church. The minaret was formerly the Lombardi tower of the church of Saint-Marie-de-Latour that was destroyed at Mansour Qalawoun’s siege of the city.

Central Square, Old City

8 minutes walk to next stop

Hammam

Hammam El Nouri

Hammam Al-Nouri has been inoperative since the 1970s and needs restoration; however, time and neglect have added strange charm and beauty. It is a cave of history that tells the story of a place that was bustling for eight long centuries. Hammam Al-Nouri is a Mamluk Hammam located in the Nouri district next to the Grand Mansouri Mosque and many Mamluk schools. Builder is somewhat disagreed on and said to be Prince Singer Bin Abdullah Al-Nuri. He is said to be one of Tripoli’s wealthy people called Noureddine. What is certain is that it was built in the first half of the eighth century facing the Nourieh School (Madrasa).

Old Tripoli, El Nouri

Castle

Citadel of Tripoli

The castle of Tripoli is known as the castle of Saint-Gilles as per the crusader’s count of Raymond Saint-Gilles who built it on a high hill for its strategic position that overlooks the river of Abu Ali (Qadisha) and the old city of the port at the sea. Based on historical texts describing a fortress built by Sufian Al-Asdi during his siege on the city of Tripoli during the days of the Rashidun Caliphs, which is located two miles away from the ancient city (the port today, El Mina), the historian Dr. Omar Tadmouri believes that this fortress is situated on the citadel’s site itself. In 1970, the excavations on the site revealed a Fatimid mosque that was buried under Tripoli’s citadel. It included a marble tomb with Quran verses and the names of the twelve imams. Crusader’s era When the crusaders came, Saint-Gilles chose the hilltop (called the Mountain of the Monk) where he erected his citadel at the beginning of the twelfth century AD as a center for his military campaigns and siege of the ancient city of Tripoli, defeated Bani Ammar State and established his kingdom. Mamluk’s era During the rule of the Crusaders, the castle remained the center of military campaigning for a long time until the Mamluks seized it and burned it, and then rebuilt it at the beginning of the 14th century under the reign of the city’s governor, Esnemir Korji. Ottoman’s era When the Ottomans arrived, they occupied the citadel and it was restored during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In the following years, the Ottomans have made different renovations and constructions at the citadel, destroying over time the medieval walls and replacing them with holes for their guns. As a consequence, historians believe that little remains only of the original crusader’s structure. The Citadel of Tripoli is considered one of the oldest, largest, and the most beautiful citadels in the region. It was built with massive sandstone that was available back then in the region. The citadel is rectangular and polygonal, 136 meters long north to south and a width of up to 70 meters on average. The castle consists of two internal and external buildings, includes several trenches, basements and crypts, one of which is said to reach the sea three kilometres away. The castle has a large main door in the first tower and two small doors below the twelfth and twenty-second towers. The castle contains twenty-five towers, a courtyard, many defensive openings and gun ports, which historians say are over 20. The height of the walls of the castle is between five and nineteen meters. They are very strong, which explains their resistance and resilience in many periods. Inside the castle there is a large number of ccavities leading to storeys under the citadel grounds, which are said to have been prisons, weapons caches and basements that were connected to some houses scattered on the sides including those connected to the military towers on the shore. Tripoli Castle museum The museum was supposed to open in the summer of 1974, but war erupted and the citadel was taken over by gunmen which stopped the project. Historian Dr. Omar Tadmori stated about the museum’s losses: “We lost a wonderful sarcophagus from transparent marble dating back to the Roman era. We also lost most of the paintings decorated with Quranic scripts in Kufic calligraphy from Bani Ammar Era – Princes of Tripoli in the Fatimid period – and a collection of rare paintings inscribed in Latin from the reign of the Franks era who ruled Tripoli for nearly two centuries, as well as paintings bearing royal decrees from the Mamluk era to construct mosques in Tripoli, Ottoman and Garshuni (Syriac alphabet) paintings, a large amount of money that was minted in Tripoli in the successive centuries, Roman, Byzantine, Fatimid, Crusader and Mamluk money and other priceless riches. ” Within the framework of the “Cultural Heritage” project, the Directorate General of Antiquities reopened the museum inside the castle. A center was established to describe the history of the civilizations that passed through northern Lebanon. The Princes’ Hall was prepared and equipped in the upper western part of the citadel to become a museum where exhibitions, collectibles, paintings, coins and artifacts were distributed in eighteen rooms.

Citadel Hill, Old City

12 minutes walk to next stop

Hammam

Hammam Ezzeddine

Built by the Mamluk ruler Ezzedine Aybak Al-Moussli in 1294 AD (buried in a nearby mausoleum), on the ruins of a building from the Crusader period. His geometric designs are in line with the Tailors’ Khan’s designs next door, suggesting they form one project. The Hammam was not subject to any worth mentioning architectural modifications during the Mamluk or Ottoman period, except for casing the floor with Italian Carrara marble and the introduction of a new entrance at the Copper market (Nahhassine) periphery at the end of the 19th century. Above the Hammam’s entrance there is a Crusader text between the sarcophagi of St. Jacob and a figurine featuring the Passover lamb on the entrance threshold. We also notice Roman-style stones inside which the Mamluks reused when building the Hammam. Like all Mamluk baths, Ezzeddin Hammam consists of a large hall topped by a large dome. In the middle lies a water basin and terraces all around the sides that bathers use to put their clothes underneath in beautifully designed stone slabs. An outer lobby prepares bathers before stepping into the following atrium, where bathing takes place in the side rooms. A third lobby follows for bathing in high temperatures surrounded as well by side rooms with an octagonal ribs slab in the middle for massages. As in all Mamluk Hammams, the domes of the hallways and the rooms are interspersed with small circular openings covered with thick glass that allow sufficient light to illuminate the spacious quarters rather than windows that are impossible to open in Hammams. Water heating was done by lighting firewood in a special area with pipes stretching to all rooms conveying hot steam through the walls and the ground in a heating technique similar to the current heating systems.

Old Tripoli

Khan

Khan El Khayatine

It is one of the most beautiful Mamluk Khans of Tripoli. It is characterized by its unique design consisting of a long yard partially roofed similar to a street, a cluster of shops to the right and left, eastern and western gates at each end. There is no document or historical plaque that specifies the construction date of this Khan, while some historians confirm that it was built in the 14th century by the Mamluks, with reference to the remains of two columns and crowns dating back to the Byzantine era located in front of the Khan’s western gate, in addition to Byzantine monuments at Hammam Ezzeddine entrance which emphasize the existence of a Byzantine building in the same place where the Hammam and Khan were erected. Tripoli’s historian, Dr. Omar Abdulsalam Tadmouri stated that Tripoli was under the crusaders’ reign before the invasion of the Mamluk. It was famous for weaving textiles and silk where trade flourished and tons of textiles were exported to Europe. When the Mamluks arrived to Tripoli they found four thousand weaving looms confirming the prosperity of this industry. The Khan was named Khan AL-Khayatine (Tailors Inn) because it was a center for the textile and clothing industry. It was called “Caesarea”, a Roman word for the roofed market where the ground floor was for manufacture and sale while the first floor was for visitors’ accommodation.

Old City

15 minutes walk to next stop

Mosque

Al Burtassi MOSQUE

Built during the Mamluk era in the eighth century Hijri / 14th century AD by Issa ibn Omar Al-Bartasi to serve as a school for teaching students religion on the Shafi’i principles and for Friday prayers; it stands on the banks of Abu Ali River with a captivating edifice that had always inspired 19th-century European travelers and artists who sketched it with its surroundings as a representation of the enchanting East. The mosque is topped by three domes; the largest is the middle dome above the ablution basin, a smaller dome above the niche, and the smallest is a third dome east of the minaret. Minaret and architectural challenge The Mamluks built the minaret of this mosque-school seven hundred years ago and presented an architectural and structural model that preceded the era which constituted a clear miracle manifested in the construction of the huge minaret above the entrance hall of the mosque, carrying an arc that helps transferring this colossal weight to the edges. This minaret has survived several earthquakes which hit the city in previous centuries. It is believed that this minaret’s architect is of Andalusian origin, evident in Andalusian architecture details of the double window. (In the Mamluks era Andalusia fell and its engineers and craftsmen moved to the Arab World with their art and architecture.)

Old City

10 minutes walk to next stop

Khan

Khan Al ASKAR

It is the largest khan in Tripoli, Lebanon. Also known for prisoners’ khan ad silk khan. It was built in the Mamluk era at the beginning of the 14th century as Mamluk art and architectural details are evident. Ottoman influences from their period are also noticeable in addition to a section that appears to belong to the Crusader’s period at the side of the Christian district. The Mamluks initially built it for military purposes after invading the city and burning its fortress (the most prominent military center that protected the city). This is what explains the enormity of the building, which had a business function like the other khans. Later, it was turned into a trading center in the ground floor, and merchants’ accommodation on the top floor. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Aziz restored its military role as people of Tripoli remember how the city’s youth was trained in the khan to fight under the reign of the Ottoman Empire during the first world war (the last days of the Ottoman rule in Lebanon).

Old City

End of trail — enjoy the old city!