People of Aleppo From the Late Eighteenth Century

Aleppo was not a city known only for its walls and markets, but also for its people; for that human diversity that gave the city its distinctive spirit, and made it, across the centuries, one of the richest cities of the East in life, cultures, languages, and traditions.

In the late eighteenth century, Aleppo was a city bustling with merchants, craftsmen, scholars, and travelers, and an important economic center connecting Anatolia with the Levant, Iraq, and the Mediterranean. In its old markets, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, and Syriac could be heard, while caravans passed through carrying silk, spices, and textiles from different parts of the world.

The people of Aleppo at that time were marked by their social, religious, and cultural diversity. The city was home to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, alongside communities and merchants who had come from distant regions and settled there, until Aleppo became a model of an Eastern city open to the world.

Old photographs, drawings, and documents clearly reveal the features of this diversity: in embroidered traditional garments, turbans of different styles, robes, and luxurious fabrics that expressed social status, profession, and cultural belonging. Each group had its dress, each neighborhood its details, and each face its own story.

This album is an attempt to return to Aleppo as it once was: a city full of people, life, and the small details that shaped its unique character over time.

Faces passed through here… But the city remained.