Al-Qassaa (; also spelled ''Qasa'' or ''Qasa'ah'') is a neighborhood and district of the

Sarouja Sarouja () is a municipality of Damascus, Syria, due north of the Old Damascus. It was the first part of Damascus to be built outside the city walls in the 13th century. Etymology The name comes from the word , which means yellow (as some resear ...

municipality in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Qassaa is situated in the northeastern part of the city and borders the Old City neighborhood of

Bab Tuma Bab Tuma (, meaning: "Gate of Thomas") is a neighborhood located in the Old city of Damascus in Syria. It is one of the seven gates of Damascus, a geographic landmark of Christianity. Etymology The gate was named by the Byzantines to commemo ...

. It had a population of 11,467 in the 2004 census. Al-Qassaa's inhabitants are predominantly upper class

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Etymology

Al-Qassaa was famous for the manufacture of clay

porringer A porringer is a shallow bowl, between 100 and 150 mm (4–6 inches) in diameter, and 38 to 76 mm (–3 inches) deep; the form originated in the medieval period in Europe and was made in wood, ceramic, pewter, cast iron and silver. They had flat ...

; from which it gained its name.

History

Al-Qassaa was founded in the early 20th century, during the last years of Ottoman rule. The people who established the neighborhood were Christians from the Old City neighborhood of

who moved to al-Qassaa due to the increasingly difficult living conditions in Bab Tuma's ancient buildings and narrow alleys. The people of Bab Tuma felt secure enough to move into the unwalled suburbs of the Old City due to the increased protection established by the Ottomans in the aftermath of the 1860 massacre of Christians in Damascus. Al-Qassaa was further developed during the French Mandatory period, being designed along the lines devised by French architect Michel Ecochard. In the 1936 French Mandate census, al-Qassaa had a population 1,872, all Christians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qassaa Christian communities in Syria Neighborhoods of Damascus