Bab al-Jinan explained

Bab al-Jinan (ar|بَاب الْجِنَان|Bāb al-Jinān), meaning the Gate of Gardens, was one of the gates of Aleppo that used to lead to gardens on the banks of the Quwēq river.^[1]

The gate is thought to have been built by Sayf al-Dawla during his possession of Aleppo between 944 and 967. The gate provided access to the great palace of Halba and gardens that Sayf al-Dawla had built outside the city.^{[2] [3] [4]} The gate was referred to by Al-Muqaddasi in 985 as The Watermelon Gate, and noted by Alexander Russell in his 1756 book The Natural History of Aleppo.^[5]

The gate was demolished around 1900 in order to widen the road.^[6] There used to be numerous exchangers and storage houses for goods near the gate, and a pine dating back to the 16th century. The gate had a tower called the "serpent tower" in which was said to be a talisman capable of protecting from serpent bites. Bāb Jnēn today is the site of a traditional souk.

Bibliography

• Book: Bianquis, Thierry . Autonomous Egypt from Ibn Ṭūlūn to Kāfūr, 868–969 . Thierry Bianquis . Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume One: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517 . Cambridge University Press . Petry . Carl F. . Cambridge . 1998 . 0-521-47137-0 . 86–119 . https://books.google.com/books?id=y3FtXpB_tqMC&pg=PA86 .
• Book: Humphreys, Stephen . Syria . The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume I: The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries . Robinson . Charles F. . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge and New York . 2010 . 978-0-521-83823-8 . 506–540.

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Notes and References

1. Book: Knost. Stefan. Historical Disasters in Context: Science, Religion, and Politics. 2011. Routledge. 9781136476259. 281. 6 March 2017.
2. Book: Tabbaa. Yasser. Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo. 2010. Penn State Press. 9780271043319.
3. Bianquis (1997), p. 105
4. Humphreys (2010), p. 537
5. Book: Strange. Guy Le. Guy Le Strange. Collected works of Guy Le Strange : the medieval Islamic world. 2011. I.B. Tauris. London. 9781848856707. 362. 6 March 2017.
6. Web site: Bab Al-Jinan 2021, #8 top things to do in aleppo, aleppo governorate, reviews, best time to visit, photo gallery | HelloTravel Syria.