Ancient City of Aleppo

A crossroads of caravan routes since the 2nd millennium B.C., Aleppo passed through Hittite, Assyrian, Arab, Mongol, Mameluke and Ottoman hands, each age adding a layer to its dense urban fabric. The great 13th-century citadel rises above the 12th-century Great Mosque and a maze of caravanserais, madrasas and hammams. UNESCO inscribed the ancient city in 1986; the fighting of the 2010s has since left grave scars on its monuments.