Site and urban network – the Banqusa area
[Picture source: © 2008 Lamia Jasser ] [Picture source: © 2008 Lamia Jasser ] The Banqusa Mosque is situated in the neighborhood Khan as-Sabil in the northeast of Aleppo in the Banqusa suburb. The name Banqusa is usually attributed to the whole area outside the city walls in the northeastern part of town and comprises a number of different neighborhoods. Historians Ghazzi and Tabbakh give different explanations for the origin of the name ‘Banqusa’. In addition to a linguistic one, tracing the name back to a supposed Syriaque or Turkish origin, they mention an old toponym, a ‘Banqusa Mountain’ (Jabal Banqusa) in the area. In addition, a saint called ‘Banqusa’ (or ‘Banqus’) is said to be buried in the northwestern corner of the mosque. The name Banqusa for the area is probably used since the 3th / 10th century, for a suburb ‘outside the city walls’ (kharij al-madina) at least since the 7th / 13th century.[1]
The early presence of a Friday Mosque in the Banqusa area indicates a certain urban autonomy at an early stage. The settlement of new groups in the city in Mameluke times, particularly Turcoman tribesmen, did certainly lead to an urban upgrading already prior to the construction of the new eastern city wall. The extension of the eastern city walls to its present location during the reign of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay in the first half of the 15th century (instead of a reconstruction along the ‘old’ course after the old walls were destroyed by the Mongols and Tamerlane) certainly changed the outlook of this area, of which a part now was ‘intra muros’ Aleppo.[2] This must have had repercussions on the Banqusa Mosque that was reconstructed and newly endowed half a century before this major urban project.
