Built in 1749 for Assaad Pasha al Azem, Governor of Damascus, this palace is pretty rather than grandiose. Polychrome stone courtyards, marble fountains, bougainvillea, roses, jasmine and towering cypress trees make it feel like the romantic Damascus of literature brought to life. Since 1954 it has housed the National Museum of the Arts and Popular Traditions, with nearly ten thousand items including life-size dioramas of traditional Damascene life, costumes, furniture and everyday objects.
Azem Palace
Ottoman governor's palace turned folk-arts museum