ALEPPO, SYRIA - JANUARY 5: People browse inside the Aleppo Souk, which is the largest covered market in the world, with an approximate length of 13 kilometres, on January 05, 2011 in northern Syria. The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace which is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Subsequently occupied by many civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mukluks, the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. Conservation work has taken place by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in collaboration with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities in the early 21st century. Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the Levant. Aleppo is also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it has been inhabited since perhaps as early as the 6th millennium BC, which makes it the oldest known human settlement in the world. Aleppo was a strategic trading point midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. For centuries, was the third largest city in the Ottoman Empire, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppo is distinct in identity, architecture and culture, all shaped by a markedly different history and geography. The city's significance in history has been its location at the end of the Silk Road, which passed through central Asia and Mesopotamia. When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, trade was diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Aleppo ceded its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important railway connecting it to Mosul. (Photo by Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
