Darwish Pasha Mosque, Damascus

The Darwish Pasha Mosque is an early Ottoman-era mosque in Damascus located along the Street Called Straight. The mosque was erected in 1574 by the Ottoman governor of Damascus Darwish Pasha. The building is built with alternating courses of black and white stones and is composed of a prayer hall preceded by a portico and a rectangular courtyard. On each side of the portal arch are two medallions of polychrome stone. The cylindrical minaret, crowned by a conical roof above a single balcony supported on muqarnas corbels, rises directly above the portal and is accessed by a spiral staircase entered from the courtyard. To the south side of the courtyard, is the five bay portico of the prayer hall. Its domes are carried on white stone columns with black capitals. Doorways at the east and west ends of the portico lead out to the streets.

The prayer hall is accessed through a door centered on the portico and flanked by windows with arched tympana. Adjoining the windows on both sides of the portico are three tile panels. The first panel on the east side is a tiled mihrab niche followed by a flat tiled panel depicting a niche. A similar panel is found on the west side of the entrance.