Madrasa al-ʿUmarīyya

Colonnade of the portico, showing the alveolate capitals and abacus. 

This school standing on the slopes of Mount Qāsīūn is practically abandoned. It was established in the early 13th century and replaced an even older structure, a convent of ascetics which had been founded by a group of Palestinian mystics who emigrated to Damascus after the taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. Of this convent we can still see the well-preserved courtyard; of the school, scarcely anything remains except this beautiful colonnade, despite the fact that the madrasa was restored by the Mamlūks in the 15th 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.

Madrasa ’Umariya