Hamah City

Hamah

About Syria Photos form Syria Orontes River

Hamah, city in west central Syria, on banks of the Orontes river . An ancient city, frequently mentioned in the Bible as Hamath, Hamah was once an important center of the Hittites. Hama is a river town, built on the banks of the Orontes. The town is famous for the 17 huge wooden water wheels, known as norias, which once scooped water from the river and deposited it into the aqueducts, which then supplied homes, public buildings and farms. These wheels are about 20 metres in diameter and still turn today, although their water is not used.
The norias situated in the town centre are located in a public park and the Four norias of Bichriyat are situated on a weir about 1km up-river from the town centre. The largest noria is known as Al-Mohammediyyah.
Hama is situated between Homs and Aleppo, It's an important agricultural and industrial center. Except for Damascus, Hama is considered the most picturesque city in Syria and one may wish to take time to relax in its attractive gardens along river banks.
Hama has been settled since the early Iron Age. In book of Joshua, Hama is mentioned at the time when the land was divided up between the 12 tribes. It is also mentioned in Kings II as the source for the settlers the Assyrians moved into Samaria, after depopulating the cities of Holy land.

The norias (water-wheels) which are the chief attraction of Hama are originating in Byzantine times, the oldest surviving wheels date from the 13th century. The purpose of the Norias nowadays is purely decorative and of historical interest.

Hama's Museum, housed in Beit Al-Azem (Azem Mansion) is a splendid example of 18th century Ottoman architecture. There are lovely courtyards with central fountains, mosaics, richly decorated wood ceilings and paneled walls, marble floors and wax models of various aspects of Syrian life in bygone days illustrating the sumptuousness of a Pasha's life.

There are numerous mosques and Greek Orthodox churches worth a visit, as well as the aqueducts and, of course, Hama Citadel which was once a site of an 11th century BC royal palace and later a Muslim fortress. Of the citadel - the Qalaat - of Hama, there is not a stone left standing. It stood on a tell which excavations have shown to consist of at least ten distinct archaeological layers, from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages.

Every single stone of the medieval fortress was carries off and used in other buildings. But the hull on which, like all other Syrian strongholds, is still there and has been developed as public gardens from which, at sunset especially, there is very good view of the whole city. The winding course of the Orontes, between its banks of greenery, is laid out beneath us as if on a map. We can easily make out all the well known norias. There are at least ten of them, two or three are no longer working. Those farther out from the center of the town, often half-hidden among gardens, are difficult to locate from the river level itself.

A new circular road around the foot of the citadel hill makes it easy to find the group of norias that are furthest downstream; they are almost concealed by the luxuriant gardens that lend to Hama something of the atmosphere of an oasis. A rustic bridge on which there is a mill crosses the river at this point. The highest waterwheel, which dates from the 14 century, is known as the Al Mouhammadiya; it supplies water to the Great Mosque a hundred and fifty meters away, marked by an elegant octagonal minaret with a double lantern and wooden balcony. This mosque was built on the site of a Roman temple, later occupied by a Byzantine church; many re-used ancient capitals indicate its earlier history. It contains the mausoleum of two princes of Hama who reigned at the end of the 13th century; their cenotaphs of ebony inlaid with ivory are marvelous examples of fine woodwork.

Following the Orontes upstream, from the bridge with the mill and the Mouhammadiya, keeping to the streets near the river we come to the other norias and the main buildings of the city.

On the bend of the river, as it winds round the north of the citadel hill, a bridge leads across to a small mosque; beside it stands a short squat minaret, built of large blocks of white stone underlined by narrow bands of black. A little dome, bare of all ornament, marks a tomb adjacent to the mosque. Here lies Abu al Fida'a (or Abi Fidaa), King of Hama from 1310 to 1332, who was famous above all as an historian and geographer. The mosque is sometimes called Jami al Hayaat, "the snake mosque", from the interlaced designs around one of its windows, which look like snakes intertwined.
At the very foot of the citadel, but in the south-east of the town, there is another mosque that is worth visiting: Al Nouri, with little ribbed domes, over which rises a fine square minaret, the bands of darker stone half-way up give it its typically Syrian character. The minbar (pulpit) inside in the prayer hall is another fine example of the taste and skill of the craftsmen of Hama; it is made from rare woods finely carved in geometric patterns. The delicacy of this decoration contrasts particularly well with the reflective sobriety of the courtyard with is simple arcading which harmonizes perfectly with the white domes close by. There are three inscriptions worth noting, on the outside wall: the first, in Greek, praises the bravery of the inhabitants in the face of the Roman invaders; the second, framed within a finely sculpted border, records, in Arabic, the name of the builder of the mosque, Sultan Nour ad-Din Zanki, and the date of its construction, the 558th year of the Hegira (1129); the third, also in Arabic, notes that students used to gather here to work and that their expenses were paid by the municipality.