Hamidiya Ghuraba Hospital
Founding and purpose
Hamidiya Ghuraba Hospital was founded on 18 March 1899 by order of Sultan Abdülhamid II and carried out by the governor of Damascus, Hüseyin Nâzım Pasha. It was intended to provide free care to the needy and to guests arriving from Jerusalem, Beirut, Aleppo, and Deir ez-Zor. The name "Ghuraba" means "strangers" — the hospital was conceived as a humanitarian refuge for travellers and the poor.
Historical and architectural value
built on the site of the Nuri Bimaristan, founded by Nur ad-Din Mahmud Zengi in 1154. The building has two floors: the ground floor housed administration, pharmacy, emergency, kitchen, and baths; the upper floor held the patient rooms, with separate wings for men and women and a dedicated maternity ward.
Extensions
a mental-health house was added in 1900; the Hamidiya Women's Hospital opened in 1904; the medical school opened in 1903 and was linked to the hospital in 1906, making it a teaching hospital.
The Imperial Civil School of Medicine
officially opened on 31 August 1903. It began in the Zîver Pasha palace, moved to the government house in the Hamidiya quarter, and finally into a new building inside the hospital garden. It was the first Ottoman medical college outside Istanbul, focused on training physicians and offering modern medical services.
Later history
after the fall of the Ottoman state the hospital was renamed "Al-Watan Hospital," then "the French Hospital" during the French Mandate, returning to "Al-Watan" after Syrian independence in 1943. Hospital and school fell into neglect after 1980 and were later restored; the school building became a French library and administrative centre, while the hospital became a conference centre.