IBN AL-WALID MOSQUE

A Muslim sanctuary recognizable by its grey metal domes that reflect on the sun. Today, a very respected place of worship, it offers visitors an unusual spectacle: the crowd of the faithful carrying out his duty, pressed by the accelerated pace of urban life, mingled with young cireurs of shoes proposing a quick cleaning the time of prayer.

The glimpse of the mosque is confined to a part of the tomb, the prayer room hidden with the eyes of women. In 1908, the primitive mausoleum was demolished and rebuilt in Ottoman fashion. It passes to contain the tomb of Khaled ibn Al-Walid, the Arab conqueror of Syria. It was he who finally ended the Roman stranglehold on the country at the Battle of the Yarmouk in 636. He died in Medina. His wood cenotaph is exhibited at the Damascus National Museum (Room 2). The prayer room is square and surmounted by a dome. In front of the mosque, the old cemetery in the garden shows some antique pieces. The tomb of the protector of the city was an obligatory passage of processions which, until 1950, led the city. During seven consecutive Thursday and until the Orthodox Thursday of the Orthodox people, the city, devoted to the sacred spring, saw a parade of Sufi sheikhs followed by their followers preceded by the banner of Khaled ibn Al-Walid.