In the oldest city in the world, Aleppo’s historic citadel offers a poignant and ongoing narrative of the impact of war on a city’s development
The great citadel of Aleppo has the grim distinction of being the world’s only ancient fortress that is back in action today as a garrison and artillery battery in the midst of war. In the ruins of arsenals, dungeons and palaces from earlier centuries, troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are wreaking destruction on enemies in the plain below, as though the Middle Ages had never ended.
Until 2012, the grid of streets built by the Seleucids could still be detected just below the citadel in Aleppo’s sprawling network of souks and khans, once the most extensive in the Arab world. Then they were destroyed by fire in the fighting between rebels and the Assad government troops. The shops’ ancient wooden panelling and carved shutters burnt to ash in a few hours. Each side blamed the other for the devastation.
Syrian government forces have held firm in the citadel for three years now. Rebel fighters of the West-backed Free Syrian Army moved into streets and apartment blocks just below the citadel’s eastern walls in August 2012. The outer gateway was repeatedly struck by shells as the rebels tried to capture the citadel, though again each side accused the other of causing the damage.
More recently, the Free Syrian Army was replaced by fighters from an organisation known as the Islamic Front. Jihadis from the notorious Islamic State (Isis) who took control of parts of eastern Aleppo last year, but in the internecine struggles between various rebel factions which have been a characteristic of the Syrian war, they were driven back by the Islamic Front. Isis remains some 20 miles from the city, at least for now.
Guardian Cities is kicking off a special series delving into the evolution of cities across the globe, by looking at 50 buildings which tell incredible stories about urban history. From the Zoser pyramid of Memphis, the first purpose-built capital city some 5,000 years ago, through to the world’s first skyscraper in Chicago and the occupied half-built Tower of David in Caracas, our history of cities in 50 buildings will explore how technology, religion, politics and culture have shaped urban development through time.