Great Mosque of Damascus: General View

A view from southwest to northeast.

At the two ends of the Prayer-Hall, whose ceiling is cut by a dome-covered transept, the square towers of the ancient Temple of Jupiter serve as bases for two minarets. To the west is the Mamlūk Minaret of Qaytbāy, Sultan of Cairo (15th century); to the east is Minaret ʿīsa (Minaret of Jesus) with a bay of twin arcades surmounted by a slim Ottoman-style spire (18th century). The rows of cupolas in the foreground cover the cells and galleries of the Silk Caravansary (H̱ān al-Ḥarīr) constructed in the 16th century.

Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.