Shaalan Neighborhood

Shaalan Neighborhood

Overview:

• The name, according to history books, goes back to the Al-Shaalan family, “the princes of the state of the Unaizia clan”, which became famous for its valor and generosity, and was immortalized in the novels of the desert wars and its conquests. The name “Al-Shaalan” is a reference to the family’s grandfather who extracted the clan’s emirate from the Qaqaa family.

• The meaning of the name: the one whose hair is mixed with whiteness; it is one of the praiseworthy colors of horses.

• In the early twenties of the last century, Sheikh "Nuri al-Shaalan", the head of the state clan, bought "Dar Yassin Pasha al-Hashemi", the former Iraqi prime minister, located in this neighborhood in Damascus, and since then he built a mosque next to his house, and the mosque and the famous neighborhood took their names from the name of the owner who opened his house as a guest house for the mosque.

• The neighborhood arose at the beginning of the French occupation of Syria as a suburb separate from Old Damascus, designated for the residence of the French and Italians in the capital, and soon attracted a number of Damascene families, especially government employees, to become later on one of the most famous Damascene neighborhoods at all.

Architectural Description:

• Al-Shaalan neighborhood is located to the west of Al-Salihiya Avenue.

• The "Shaalan area" extends from the corner of the Franciscan Institute (Dar es Salaam) and ends with the beginning of the Sibky neighborhood, which begins with the spacious Sibky Park, the natural outlet for the two neighborhoods, and parallels Al-Hamra Avenue and Arnous Avenue.

• The location of the neighborhood near the University of Damascus, the construction of the governorate of Damascus, the Central Bank, and a number of luxury hotels and other vital centers helped it to be a very active commercial neighborhood and a center for many businesses in Damascus.

• Buildings in "Al-Shaalan neighborhood" were distinguished by their European character, with white limestone facades, high internal ceilings exceeding four meters, and large external doors that were wooden at first to turn into iron doors.

• Despite the spread of cement buildings, "Al-Shaalan area" was not free from the presence of typical traditional Damascene houses. However, the architectural expansion was able to eliminate it and the previously existing green space, which was irrigated by canals branching from the "Tora River" branch, one of the branches of the "Barada River".

Resources:

esyria.sy website

Facebook of Al Shaalan District