Darwishiyya Mosque
الجامع الدرويشية
A 16th-century Ottoman religious complex including a mosque, madrasa, and mausoleum, built by governor Darwish Pasha near Souq Midhat Pasha.
Darwishiyya Mosque was built in 1574 by order of Darwish Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, to serve as a complete religious complex including a mosque, a religious school, and a private mausoleum for the governor himself, during a period that saw notable growth in Ottoman religious architecture in Damascus following the region's incorporation into Ottoman rule.
The mosque is distinguished by an architectural design blending traditional Damascene decorative elements with the incoming Ottoman style, clearly visible in the colored Qashani tilework covering parts of its interior walls -- a decorative technique for which Ottoman religious buildings in the region became famous.
The complex occupies a strategic location near Souq Midhat Pasha and Bab al-Jabiya, making it an important landmark for the surrounding neighborhood's residents throughout the ages, and it still serves its original religious function today as a mosque regularly attended by worshippers.
Darwishiyya Mosque is an important addition to the record of Ottoman religious architecture in Damascus, and an example of the urban development activity that accompanied the succession of Ottoman governors who ruled the city.
For the visitor
Location: 33.5100, 36.3005 · Open on the map
Photos: Tareq Mnadili — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
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