Beit Achiqbash


Beit Achiqbash is an old Aleppine courtyard mansion built in the mid 18th Century by Qarah Ali, a wealthy Christian merchant.

Background

Beit Achiqbash is one of a number of historic buildings found in the Al-Jdayde Christian quarter of Aleppo. It was built in 1757 CE. A Turk named Ashiqbash later bought the house after the Karaly moved to Alexandretta.
The house is famous for its courtyard, which is extravagantly decorated in a Mamluk-Rococo style. The building was turned into a museum in 1973 and restored in the 1980s. It is well known for the fine carved ornaments that decorate its courtyard. Its style is said to have been greatly influenced by Baroque decorative traditions. The rooms on its eastern side were eliminated to make way for the street that now runs in front of the property.
It remains the home of the Popular Traditions Museum with its collection of fine decorations of Aleppine art along with artefacts of past local lives. The building, like much of Aleppo's old city, suffered "severe" damage and looting caused by street fighting during Syria's civil war.
A survey of Beit Achiqbash was completed in November 2017 by the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums and UNESCO to facilitate emergency consolidation of its structure. Consolidation work was undertaken during 2019.

Gallery