Sarouja () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 ...

, 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 researchers mention). The name of the neighborhood is also attributed to one of its leaders, who is Sarim Al-Din Sarouja, who died in 1342.

History

After this neighborhood was established by Mamluks, it was vandalized as a result of the conflicts of the princes in the Mamluk period, which led to the destruction of the entire Levantine Barani school and the situation worsened after

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

occupied Damascus in 14th century. The place of the neighborhood became a base for his catapults that were bombing the Damascus Citadel, and the matter did not stop at this neighborhood, as Tamerlane burned Damascus, including Sarouja neighborhood, before withdrawing from it. The neighborhood is famous for its souk, in addition to

hammam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s, dating back to the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

. On the 16th July 2023 a fire broke in the area destroying a large number of historic buildings, including the Palace of Abdul Rahman Pasha Al-Yusuf as well as partially destroying Al-Azm Palace, which contains the Center for Historical Documents.

Districts

*Al-Adwi (pop. 16,088) *

Al-Amarah Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the Iran–Iraq border, border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the ...

(pop. 2,159) *Fares al-Khoury (pop. 8,970) * Masjid Aqsab (pop. 14,148) * Al-Qassaa (pop. 11,467) *Al-Qusour (pop. 15,568) *Al-Uqaybah (pop. 8,813) *Sarouja (pop. 6,601)

References

{{coord, 33, 30, 55.5, N, 36, 17, 55, E, type:landmark, display=title Neighborhoods of Damascus