Site and urban network
[Picture source: © 2009 Stefan Knost] The Madrasa al-Ahmadiyya is situated in the Jallum neighborhood on the main suq axis, only separated by a narrow alley from the Bahramiyya mosque (fig. 3), one of the major 16th century mosques, in the most prominent and busy part of Aleppo, the central market district. Like the huge foundations of the 16th century, this place guaranteed high visibility and prestige; all passers-by in the central suq axis would at least perceive the madrasa’s sabil.
Al-Jallum was one of the areas where a high number of the most prominent notable families used to live, among them the Taha Zadeh and the Kawakibi families that derived their prestige from being part of the ʿulamaʾ (religious scholars). The latter one controlled a mosque in the southwestern part of the Jallum neighborhood beside which in the middle of the 18th century a madrasa was constructed,[1] but considerably smaller in scale than the Madrasa al-Ahmadiyya.
