Bāb Kīsān was erected by a person of that name in the time of Muʿāwīya on the site of an older gate. Opposite this gate, about 50 paces distant, is the Tomb of St. George , which is much revered by the Christians. The saint is said to have assisted St. Paul to escape from Damascus, and the window (above the Turkish wall !) is still pointed out whence the apostle was let down in a basket by night (Acts IX 25). The conversion of St. Paul was localised in the middle ages at the village of Kawkab, about 6 M. to the S.W. of the town, but since the last century tradition has conveniently fixed the site nearer the Christian burial-grounds, which lie about 1/2 M. to the E. of Bāb Kīsān, and where H. Th. Buckle , the eminent English historian (d. 1862), is interred.
Text Baedeker 1894
Photo: Henri Sauvaire. Damas, le tombeau de Saint Georges, 1861
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