Citadel of Damascus, Towers 6 and 7, and the East Curtain

Opening inside the city walls, the East Gate of the Citadel is endowed with a double structure.

The original entrance is located between Towers 6 and 7 (*). This curtain is a solid structure and the highest in the Citadel, reaching to the level of the roofs of the towers. The frontal base boasts the characteristic rusticated facing stones of the ʾAyyūbid al-Malik al-ʿĀdil. The upper portion is ashlar and bears an inscription of an-Nāṣir Muḥammad dated 1313 CE and recording the construction of the curtains. The wall has three levels of defenses:

1. Al-ʿĀdil's arrow slits at the base.

2. On a level slightly above the wall-walk, a pair of brattices with one large slot each and a single loophole between.

3. Almost level with the roofs of the towers, a single brattice with three openings between two arrow slits.

This entrance is doubled by an outer gate built between the flanks of Towers 6 and 7, enclosing the space between them as a sort of barbican. The gate proper opens on the barbican, the wall of which resembles the main curtain to a considerable extent.

Photo credit: Ernst Herzfeld, 1914. 

* Tower 7 is about 27.5 m. wide and projects about 11 m. on the south. 

D. J. Cathcart King. The Defences of the Citadel of Damascus; a Great Mohammedan Fortress of the Time of the Crusades. Archaeologia, Volume XCIV, 1951 (p 57-96).