Bab al-Jinan (), meaning the ''Gate of Gardens'', was one of the gates of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

that used to lead to gardens on the banks of the Quwēq river. The gate is thought to have been built by

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...

during his possession of Aleppo between 944 and 967. The gate provided access to the great palace of Halba and gardens that Sayf al-Dawla had built outside the city.Bianquis (1997), p. 105Humphreys (2010), p. 537 The gate was referred to by Al-Muqaddasi in 985 as ''The Watermelon Gate'', and noted by Alexander Russell in his 1756 book ''

The Natural History of Aleppo ''The Natural History of Aleppo'' is a 1756 book by naturalist Alexander Russell on the natural history of Aleppo. In 1794 his half-brother, Patrick Russell, revised and expanded the text in a second edition. The book is significant for its qual ...

''. The gate was demolished around 1900 in order to widen the road. There used to be numerous exchangers and storage houses for goods near the gate, and a pine dating back to the 16th century. The gate had a tower called the "serpent tower" in which was said to be a talisman capable of protecting from serpent bites. Bāb Jnēn today is the site of a traditional

souk A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets that have doors ...

References

Bibliography

* * Ayyubid architecture in Syria Jnēn Demolished buildings and structures in Syria {{Islam-stub