Al-Madiq Citadel

This noria, located at the historic Orontes River bridge, is the oldest wooden waterwheel that still retains its original mechanism. It boasts a diameter of approximately 22 meters and features 120 compartments, lifting 2000 liters of water per minute to a double-arched stone aqueduct. The Orientalist Dickson documented it in an 1890 watercolor painting, which is currently exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Its wooden axles are replaced every seven years with mulberry wood, which is steeped in tar oil for six months.