Bab al-Jinan

Bab al-Jinan (Arabic: بَاب الْجِنَان, romanized: Bāb al-Jinān), meaning the Gate of Gardens, was one of the gates of Aleppo that used to lead to gardens on the banks of the Quwēq river.^[1]

Bab al-Jinan, photo taken by Baron Max von Oppenheim, circa 1899

The gate is thought to have been built by Sayf al-Dawla during his possession of Aleppo between 944 and 967. The gate provided access to the great palace of Halba and gardens that Sayf al-Dawla had built outside the city.^[2][3][4] The gate was referred to by Al-Muqaddasi in 985 as The Watermelon Gate, and noted by Alexander Russell in his 1756 book The Natural History of Aleppo.^[5]

The gate was demolished around 1900 in order to widen the road.^[6] There used to be numerous exchangers and storage houses for goods near the gate, and a pine dating back to the 16th century. The gate had a tower called the "serpent tower" in which was said^{[by whom?]} to be a talisman capable of protecting from serpent bites. Bāb Jnēn today is the site of a traditional souk.