Site and Urban Network

According to the trust deed of the foundation, dated to 1583, the buildings of Behram Pasha are distributed in two main locations. [4] The first group is his mosque complex in the central commercial zone (el-Mdine) (Fig. 1) and the second is the public bath-qaysariyya complex in the extramural neighborhood of al-Jdayde.

The mosque complex lies to the west of Sokollu Mohammed Pasha’s complex (1574) on the both sides of the main thoroughfare which extends from the Antioch Gate in the west to the citadel in the east. (Fig. 2) The mosque itself lies to the south of the thoroughfare surrounded by the patron’s suq to the north, two narrow alleys to the east and west and by the Bimaristan of Nur ad-Din and other buildings to the south. In addition to the mosque, the beneficiary buildings include a public fountain (sabil) beside the mosque’s northern entrance, a primary school (maktab) and a latrine (mathara). [5] The revenue-generating properties are located to the north of the mosque and include two suqs, an elevated qaysariyya and a coffee-house. [6]

Footnotes

[4] One copy of the trust deed is preserved in the Archives of Endowments (Vakıflar Genel Mudürlüğü Arşivi) in Ankara, defter 588, p. 139-146. Another copy is preserved in the Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi) in Istanbul. The deed was summarized by al-Ghazzi, Nahr adh-Dhahab, 2: 41-45.

[5] The primary school was located close to the mosque’s western entrance and the latrine was located to the north of al-Madrasa al-Muqaddamiyya. Neither is still extant.

[6] Some dependencies were added to the foundation in 1890: a coffee house and several shops to the west of the bath-qaysariyya complex in al-Jdayde neighborhood, according to al-Ghazzi, Nahr adh-Dhahab, 2: 44. In addition to the properties in Aleppo, the deed also refers to a number of mills outside of Aleppo, a public bath, a coffee house, a stable and shops in Cairo and several orchards near Gaza.