Damascus, capital of Syria
Wednesday, 29 April 2015 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Levant / Levante General , UNESCO World Heritage , Union for the Mediterranean
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Saladin mouselum tomb © flickr.com – Jan Smith/cc-by-2.0
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Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria.
Aleppo comes in second. It is commonly known in Syria as
ash-Sham (Arabic:
ash-Shām ) and nicknamed as the
City of Jasmine (Arabic:
Madīnat al-Yāsmīn ). In addition to being
one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world , Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the
Levant . The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.). Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the
Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the
rain shadow effect . The
Barada River flows through Damascus.
First settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty , the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad . Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. During Ottoman rule , the city decayed completely while maintaining a certain cultural prestige. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries.
Ruins of the Jupiter Temple at the entrance of Al-Hamidiyah Souq © flickr.com - Ai@ce/cc-by-2.0
The historical role that Damascus played as an important trade center has changed in recent years due to political development in the region as well as the development of modern trade. Most goods produced in Damascus, as well as in Syria, are distributed to Countries of the Arabian peninsula. Damascus also holds an annual international trade exposition in the fall since 1955. Damascus has the potential for a highly successful tourism industry. The abundance of cultural wealth in Damascus has been modestly employed since the late 1980s with the development of many accommodation and transportation establishments and other related investments. Since the early 2000s, numerous boutique hotels and bustling cafes opened in the old city which attract plenty of European tourists and Damascenes alike.
Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city’s history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet (2.4 m) below the modern level.
Read more on
unesco.org – Damascus ,
Tourism in Syria ,
Politics of Syria ,
Foreign relations of Syria ,
Economy of Syria ,
Culture of Syria ,
Architecture of Syria ,
Syrian cuisine ,
Wikitravel Damascus and
Wikipedia Damascus (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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