Syrian traditional glassblowing is a centuries-old artisanal craft with roots dating back more than 2,000 years, reportedly originating from the Phoenicians and evolving significantly throughout Syrian history, especially in regions like Damascus and Aleppo.

Damascus, in particular, has long been a cultural hub where the craft intertwined with local artistic traditions, incorporating Islamic motifs and delicate painting techniques using oxides and thermal colors to decorate objects such as mishkats (lanterns), hookah bottles, vases, and cups.

This craft is not only valued for its aesthetic beauty but also for its cultural significance, representing an important facet of Syria’s intangible cultural heritage and artisanal identity.

Historically, Syrian glassblowing and related handicrafts flourished within cultural centers such as the Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a late Ottoman architectural complex that became a marketplace for traditional handicrafts and artisans.

This venue supported the survival and transmission of ancient craftsmanship, including glassblowing, despite periods of socio-political upheaval and conflict.

Syrian craftsmen blend creativity and manual skill to produce finely shaped and color-decorated glassware using recycled glass melted at high temperatures, a process that continues to be taught within artisan families across generations.

However, the Syrian civil war and ongoing economic hardship have severely affected the traditional glassblowing sector.

Many workshops have shut down or struggled to survive due to displacement, destruction, and diminished tourism.

Despite these challenges, some artisanal centers and craftspeople are striving to maintain the tradition and transmit it to younger generations, often with limited resources and under difficult conditions.

Recognizing the urgent risk of losing this heritage, in December 2023 UNESCO inscribed Syrian traditional glassblowing on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

The inscription aims to highlight the craft’s vulnerability due to factors such as the war-induced disruption, economic pressures, emigration of skilled artisans, and lack of formal support.

This designation underscores the importance of preserving the specialized knowledge, manual techniques, and cultural expressions embodied in Syrian glassblowing, which is both an artistic and a cultural treasure.

In summary, Syrian traditional glassblowing remains a vibrant yet endangered craft that reflects Syria's rich historical layering and cultural identity.

Its protection by UNESCO seeks to ensure that the expertise, artistry, and cultural meanings embedded in this craft survive for future generations amid ongoing challenges faced in Damascus and other historic centers

[2a417b11-2e84-4732-8f7e-117ba083ce22_938338807; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262; 5631a3d9-5271-452b-b829-8edbcee9a592_594216657].

This background will enable a well-informed introduction, appreciating both the craft’s historical depth and its cultural resilience, before the expert’s technical presentation and demonstration.

Syrian traditional glassblowing is a centuries-old artisanal craft with roots dating back more than 2,000 years, reportedly originating from the Phoenicians and evolving significantly throughout Syrian history, especially in regions like Damascus and Aleppo.

Title:

Content: Samples of the Damascene Literary Heritage Attend an Exhibition and Seminar in the Culture of Infection
Damascus-Sana
In the exhibition “Heritage Crafts are Inherited by the Fragrance of History ” hosted by the Adawi Cultural Center, the artworks varied between glass decoration, Damascene brocade and various handicrafts.
The exhibition was followed by an introductory seminar on these arts for the Sheikhs of Carr and craftsmen specialized in these professions under the supervision of the handicraft trainer Rowaa Yousef.
Youssef Lassana explained that the exhibition was dedicated to traditional professions in general and handicrafts, especially such as brocade, painting on glass, Islamic motifs and handicrafts to maintain their continuity and importance.
Mohammed Bassam Rayhan Sheikh Al-Karar in painting on glass and decoration spoke in his intervention about the history of this craft, its forms, fields of work and materials used in it, pointing out that the glass, which was the first to be invented by the Phoenicians, evolved in Damascus throughout history and was painted on the mishkat and lanterns using oxides and various materials, thermal colors, acrlik and others.
The Damascene brocade craftsman Mohammed Rankous explained in his intervention that this cloth is made of natural silk and golden reed yarns and attributed to Damascus because it took its character, heritage and environment, such as the painting of Omar Khayyam, the Levantine Rose, grape clusters, the lover and the beloved, and the octagonal geometric drawings, pointing out that this craft entered the cultures of different civilizations.
Nasruddin Mohammed is a graduate of applied arts and a drawing teacher who participated in paintings for his students from children and boys. In his intervention, he explained the history of the Damascene plant decoration, its methods, types and schools such as Andalusian, Persian and Damascene, and its differences in decoration, diggings, mirrors and miniatures, indicating that its history dates back to the Andalusian civilization, which was its main creativity in palaces and buildings.
Mohammed Sabha is a bridal craftsman who participated in a group of decorative glass works for brides and explained that he has completed a model of a waterfall flowing from an electric mountain that is operated by hand from cardboard, wood and cork inspired by his ideas.
Rana Ayoub participated in a group of works of three-dimensional models and miniatures of the Levant environment. She explained that she chose this environment because she grew up and lived in it and adored it. It is necessary to inform future generations of their heritage and history, pointing out that she works with cork, wood, natural materials, gypsum, ceramic paste and others.
Bilal Ahmed

Damascus, in particular, has long been a cultural hub where the craft intertwined with local artistic traditions, incorporating Islamic motifs and delicate painting techniques using oxides and thermal colors to decorate objects such as mishkats (lanterns), hookah bottles, vases, and cups.

This craft is not only valued for its aesthetic beauty but also for its cultural significance, representing an important facet of Syria’s intangible cultural heritage and artisanal identity.

Historically, Syrian glassblowing and related handicrafts flourished within cultural centers such as the Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a late Ottoman architectural complex that became a marketplace for traditional handicrafts and artisans.

This venue supported the survival and transmission of ancient craftsmanship, including glassblowing, despite periods of socio-political upheaval and conflict.

Title:

Content: Art of glassblowing returns again in Aleppo countryside liberated from terrorism

The town of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province in northern Syria has historically been famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen. The war considerably affected this traditional craft inherited from our ancestors, but after the liberation of the city from terrorism, some artisans have brought it back to life. The artisan, Yassin Arab learned the glassblowing craft from his father when he was a child, and after the town was liberated from terrorism, he returned to his small facility, where he worked to restore it and start working again. Arab does not hide his enormous passion for the craft of glassblowing and his belief in the need to preserve this ancient Syrian heritage. Regarding the working mechanism, the artisan explained to SANA that he uses recycled glass, melts it again in the oven at high temperature, and then chooses a specific shape for its manufacture, whether hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs, fish houses for decoration, decorated cups and antiques of different sizes. After that, t he piece is blown, rotated and processed by the artisan until it takes its final shape using white and brown colors, and once the manufacturing of the product is finished, it is decorated and colored to give it the required aesthetics. For his part, Hussein Najjar noted that he learned the craft of blowing glass manually since he was young and has been working in this field for 40 years. He added that he is able to make any shape or glass container, using his imagination, and considered that the art of glassblowing is one of the types of plastic arts. Traditional glassblowing is a profession that dates back more than two thousand years (since the time of the Phoenicians) and was included in December 2023 by UNESCO on the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs urgent preservation. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Syrian craftsmen blend creativity and manual skill to produce finely shaped and color-decorated glassware using recycled glass melted at high temperatures, a process that continues to be taught within artisan families across generations.

However, the Syrian civil war and ongoing economic hardship have severely affected the traditional glassblowing sector.

Title:

Content: Sulaymaniyah in Damascus.
Do you want to throw out your guards?
While the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent saw in his dream that he was in a grove in the center of the capital Damascus, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) appeared to him and instructed him to build a mosque in that land. The Ottoman Sultan awoke from his sleep pleased with what he saw and heard. He immediately ordered to cut off a side of that grove and build a large kiosk in the middle of it. He was in a dream and pointed out.
This is the story conveyed by a number of writers and historians, the latest of which was Sheikh Najmuddin al-Ghazi in his book "The Walking Planets in the Eyes of the Tenth Hundred", about the decision of the legal sultan to build the Tekke Sulaymaniyah (west of Damascus) in the 16th century, one of the most prominent Ottoman tekaya and the most modern style and the most beautiful architecture, according to specialists.
Historically, the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah was a place to perform religious duties and a resting place for pilgrims and a refuge for the maqtada and poor people of Damascus, Muslims and others, and remained so until the French colonizer entered the country in 1920; where General Guru and his forces took from the Tkiyet as a residence.
With the departure of colonialism and the advent of 1948, the Shari ’ ah school in Tkiyet returned to hold educational seminars and memorization of the Quran, and since the mid-seventies of the last century began to embrace dozens of shops of ancient Damascene handicrafts, and expanded this part to be known later as the market of handicrafts.
Recently, this complex cultural and religious identity of the heritage teacher has become threatened, after the Ministry of Tourism (in the government of the Syrian regime) notified professionals to vacate their shops before the end of the year under the pretext of restoration.
From Al-Ablaq Palace to Al-Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah
The site of Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, west of Damascus, was known for the construction of a number of royal residences, the last of which was the palace of the owner of the Mamluk Sultan Baqiris (1228-1277 AD), which was named after the colors of the stones of its construction black and yellow brought from Aleppo and Daraa.
However, large parts of the palace were burned during the conquest of Damascus by the Mongol commander Tamerlane in 803 A.D. (1402 A.D.), and it was not until the Ottoman Sultan Selim I entered Damascus in 923 A.D. (1517 A.D.) that the Ablaq palace was restored and rehabilitated.
By 959 A.D. (1502 A.D.), Sultan Selim the Magnificent commissioned the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to develop a modern architectural plan for a hospice on the site of the Al-Ablaq Palace. In 960 A.D. (1553 A.D.), a large number of workers began building the hospice under the supervision of the Damascene engineer Shahabuddin ibn Al-Attar.
Then rest on the banks of the Barada River "a luxurious architectural group that captivates the hearts of the hearts with its regular domes like knots around a large main dome, surrounded by two minarets, and interspersed with gardens and trees whose beauty blends with the beauty of architecture makes this spot in Damascus one of the most beautiful and beautiful spots", the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, as described by Abdul Qader Rihawi in his book "Architecture in Arabic".
Ottoman architecture and Damascene motifs
The building of the Sulaymaniyah Tekke consists of two similar architectural blocks, one large and includes the mosque and the other small and includes the school, and linked between these two blocks was a market dedicated to the caravans of pilgrims, and the Ottoman engineering effects on the planning and construction, while the Damascene artistic touch overshadows the designs of doors and windows and decorations that decorate the walls and rooms of the place.
The two architectural blocks are surrounded by relatively low walls, while the middle of them are two rectangular pools fed by water vertical fountains used for ablution, and the mosque with its narrow minarets tops the southern block, while the school mosque with its smooth dome tops the eastern block, and on the sides of the blocks spread buildings are shops and narrow rooms covered with low domes interspersed with low The chimneys are shaped like minarets and are led by shady arcades with ornate arches.
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye market extends from its easternmost to its westernmost, and is lined with dozens of shops that were previously commercial shops, and have since the 1970s turned into handicrafts shops.
In addition to its traditional role as a place for the betters, the poor and the needy, the Sulaymaniyah Tekke was designed to be a stop for pilgrims on the pilgrimage route to Mecca, where the place was equipped with spacious kitchens, bakeries, rest rooms, several prayer rooms, a sea for ablution and other necessary services for pilgrims.
When it became a teachers ’ house in 1923, it stopped hosting guests and sheltering arrivals for the first time since its establishment four centuries ago, but soon regained its identity as a hospitable place when it hosted a number of Palestinian families displaced to Damascus following the 1948 Nakba.
While the Sulaymaniyah school was famous for receiving students of Sharia sciences from all parts of the world, before turning, with the opening of the Syrian University in Damascus in 1934, into a place to teach dentistry, and then into an archaeological landmark that includes a war museum with the continuation of religious activities in the chapels and mosque to this day.
From an incubator to a bounty hunter.
In mid-October, the Ministry of Tourism in the government of the regime warned the Karar sheikhs of craftsmen in the handicrafts market to evacuate their shops before the new year 2023 for the purpose of restoration.
Despite the appeals of the craftsmen to the concerned authorities through the local newspapers and media, and the intervention of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism to promise the craftsmen their return after the completion of the restoration operations, Nidal Mashfej, Assistant Minister of Tourism, stressed that there is no legal provision obliging the ministry to renew the contracts of craftsmen after the end of each year. Shopkeepers have the right to claim any malfunction, damage, injustice or the like, the official told the official Tishreen newspaper.
A member of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism, Arafat Oza Bashi, points out that all the shopkeepers in the Sulaymaniyah Tkiyet hope to return to their shops after the completion of the restoration, to continue their work and preserve the intangible heritage threatened with extinction.
Haj Abu Mohammed, 57 years old, owner of a shop in Tkiyet, told Al Jazeera Net, "Years ago they evacuated the glass market of Tkiyet under the pretext of restoring it, and it is still a wreck and it is not clear if it will return to a glass market, and I do not exclude that our shop has a similar fate."
"As if they were not satisfied with the stagnation of the market in the last 10 years and the absence of tourists and visitors from our shops, which the simple citizen can not buy goods from them because of their high cost, and all the losses we suffered to continue to revive these crafts during the war."
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye has been undergoing restoration since 2019, and the first phase aimed to restore part of the Tikkiye and what is known as the glass market, while the second phase is dedicated to the handicrafts market and some parts of the interior of the Tikkiye “to preserve the archaeological site from landings and structural cracks, ” according to Nidal Mashfaj.
Source: The Island

Many workshops have shut down or struggled to survive due to displacement, destruction, and diminished tourism.

Despite these challenges, some artisanal centers and craftspeople are striving to maintain the tradition and transmit it to younger generations, often with limited resources and under difficult conditions.

Title:

Content: Exhibition of craft products by Syrian and Russian artists in the public park in Aleppo
Halab-Sana
On the grounds of the public park in the city of Aleppo, the activities of the exhibition of craft products were launched today, with the participation of 20 craftsmen and artists from Syria and the Russian Federation.
The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Industry in cooperation with the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, the Federation of Artisans in Aleppo and the Syrian Professional Center Association, includes a collection of heritage and artistic works, paintings of Ajami thread, ornaments and handicrafts of wool, orphans, leather, rugs, carpets, bamboo and silver industry.
According to the President of the Union of Artisans in Aleppo, Mohammed Hossam Hallak, in a statement to SANA correspondent, the exhibition aims to highlight the traditional handicrafts and crafts and folklore professions to revive them by training the younger generations and mastering their industry to preserve them.
Mustafa al-Nu, President of the Syrian Professional Center Association, pointed out that the association worked to attract professionals and handicrafts, and provided them with financial grants to encourage them to continue their work, to preserve these crafts from extinction, in addition to training young people wishing to learn these crafts and develop them to suit the times.
The Russian artist Yuri Lishin, famous for the manufacture of blowing on glass, talked about his professionalism for more than 54 years, and his participation in many exhibitions in the world, indicating that his visit to Syria to learn about the glass industry, and participate in workshops on the manufacture of hand glass in Syria.
A number of participants noted the importance of the exhibition, which allows for the marketing of their products, where Zakaria Sultan, who works in the craft of silver and peat breaking, explained that he participates with silver and copper products and accessories made by hand in various forms for swimming pools, steadfastness, image cadres and chandeliers, in addition to grafting copper on wood, calling for providing the necessary support to maintain this profession.
The craftsman Ayman Saeed presented the results of the drawing on wood, which is called Ajami art, and stated that he learned to make this art and plant motifs and painting in Arabic calligraphy in the association, and became a trainer contributing to the revival of heritage, and that the exhibition is an important opportunity to market his products.
Artist Tala Naravyan participated in watercolor, oil and other paintings painted with pencils and charcoal, talking about the Armenian and Arab heritage and the neighborhoods of Aleppo and its citadel, pointing out that she participates to introduce people to the components of the rich Syrian heritage through painting because it constitutes the language of the world.
Samira Misto, who works in the craft of making the ancient traditional macrame, using colored threads and ropes to decorate the Koran, mirrors, clothes and jewelry, pointed out that she is working to develop this profession by adding beads and tree trunks to revive and preserve it.
Qusay Razzouk
Follow SANA news on Telegram https: / / t.me / SyrianArabNewsAgency
Look, too.
Aleppo Public Park

Recognizing the urgent risk of losing this heritage, in December 2023 UNESCO inscribed Syrian traditional glassblowing on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

The inscription aims to highlight the craft’s vulnerability due to factors such as the war-induced disruption, economic pressures, emigration of skilled artisans, and lack of formal support.

This designation underscores the importance of preserving the specialized knowledge, manual techniques, and cultural expressions embodied in Syrian glassblowing, which is both an artistic and a cultural treasure.

In summary, Syrian traditional glassblowing remains a vibrant yet endangered craft that reflects Syria's rich historical layering and cultural identity.

Its protection by UNESCO seeks to ensure that the expertise, artistry, and cultural meanings embedded in this craft survive for future generations amid ongoing challenges faced in Damascus and other historic centers

[2a417b11-2e84-4732-8f7e-117ba083ce22_938338807; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262; 5631a3d9-5271-452b-b829-8edbcee9a592_594216657].

Title:

Content: Culture of Al-Baath Newspaper
I'm sorry.
Fouad Tubal..
The integration of the arts unit in his exhibition “Block and Color ”
Shweikani's wife.
The polyester sculpture of the flute player in her blue dress, which did not hide the curves of her swaying body with the melodious flute tones that wrap around her slender waist, filled a side of the artist ’ s exhibition.
Fouad Tubal, professor of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts, sculptor, painter, researcher, critic and oud player, entitled “Block and Color ”, which was held at the Arab Cultural Center – Abu Rumman – at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture – Directorate of Culture of Damascus.
Toubal is known for his passion for the world of sculpture and works in the middle of the places and squares of some countries. He found in the hardness of flint stone, basalt and marble types magic and turned the hardness into a soft paste, while wood was suitable for his poetic sense of sculpture, in addition to the techniques of photography, graphics and ceramics he employed with his works inspired by nature, life and heritage.
His creativity was not limited to sculpture and photography, the doctorate he received from the Petersburg Academy was the beginning of his diligent research in the art of destruction and the art of ancient civilizations and ancient Egyptian civilization in particular, and he wrote books and presented many researches.
Despite all his preoccupations, he was interested in the musical heritage and the history of plastic art and participated and supervised many activities and seminars in cultural centers.
Variety of methods
His exhibition “Block and Color ” was filled with different variations, techniques and styles, as the materials and sizes of the sculptures, paintings and flat figures varied, and it looked like a small museum that reduced the experience of dr.
The decades-long Fuad Tubal.
He began his talk to “Al-Baath ” from the title: I called the exhibition“ Block and Color ” because I worked in sculpture, photography, graphic and painting on glass and porcelain, and the color was present even with sculptures, because today we have reached a merger between arts and cultures, a unit of currents and a fusion unit of the body and the painting even the advertisement sometimes merges with the body. Expressive, impressionistic, symbolic and even realistic styles, between photography, sculpture, architectural psychology, wood, stone and polyester materials.
Then I stopped with him about the flat sculpture “burnt ”, which was inspired by the burning of a young woman after a fire in her house: I happened to find a piece of wood from the walnut tree and part of it was burned at the workshop of my friend Bashar al-Halabi, the chopper maker, and I could maneuver only about five centimeters, to carve the movement of the neck and turn and I completed the leg from the trunk of the dark color of the wood. Burn and add oil only.
Goddess Ishtar
I participated in a meeting in Damascus Castle and found a cypress tree with many branches and trunks. The small branches I cut seemed to be roses inside the dress. The female repeats my works such as the sculpture of the birth of Ishtar, the goddess of love and beauty, because it symbolizes everything, and the sculpture of the woman in front of the mirror. And the woman in the shower, which I carved out of a very hard stone, volunteered it to become a soft paste.
Painting on glass
In the field of photography, I carried out with the technique of drawing on glass an interesting architectural scene that I saw in Saudi Arabia of a mosque, and analyzed it and then turned it into lines and painted it directly with the juice in bright colors on a blue background.
As for the large mural of the painting of faces, I was inspired by a historical and heritage scene from the duality of life and death, the astronomical symbol and a number of different personalities, including the Mawlawi, Sheikh and al-Shaabi (Qabadi), and then I stopped with him about the old polyester sculpture of Mount Qasyoun and what it means to Damascus.
Big names.
As for the views of visitors at the exhibition, he said that it found positive echoes of different readings according to the culture and vision of the recipient, and the exhibition was visited by elite artists and large names in the Syrian visual scene.
Cultural Communication
The exhibition expressed my message of cultural communication from the cultural centers, especially as I presented many cultural activities and critical seminars. I welcomed the invitation of the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate of Culture of Damascus, as culture is spreading despite the difficult situation in Syria.
The sculpture's still shy?
At the end of the discussion with dr.
Fouad Tubal asked him about the sculptural scene that is still shy in front of the photography?
He replied: We have good sculptors who fled to photography because of the difficulty of performing the sculptural work, which requires the use of electric machines that produce disturbing sounds to the neighborhood, the sculpture needs a special place to perform, while the artist can paint at home.
And the demand of students in the Faculty of Fine Arts for the Department of Sculpture?
He noted that most students tend to decoration and graphics, and some students choose sculpture willingly, and others join the Department of Sculpture according to differentiation, however, the Department of Sculpture includes students who were able to deal with materials and tools skillfully, and noted the skill of female students sculptors and their tolerance of stone, rocket and dust, and the fact that the Faculty of Fine Arts in all its departments graduated students. Hren.

This background will enable a well-informed introduction, appreciating both the craft’s historical depth and its cultural resilience, before the expert’s technical presentation and demonstration.


Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly centered in cities like Damascus and Aleppo, is a craft with ancient roots dating back more than two thousand years to the Phoenician era.

This artisanal practice involves manually shaping recycled glass by melting it at high temperatures and skillfully blowing it into various shapes such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative items.

Syrian glassblowers employ traditional colors like white and brown and decorate their pieces with intricate designs that reflect the cultural aesthetics of the region .

Historically, cities like Aleppo and Damascus have been important centers for glassblowing, with Damascus also known for related crafts like painting on glass and mosaic work.

The craft is embedded deeply in Syrian cultural identity and heritage, as many artisans inherit the skills from previous generations, maintaining the connection to Syria’s long-standing artisanal traditions.

Glassblowing, along with other crafts such as brocade weaving and silverwork, contributes significantly to the cultural fabric, representing social, artistic, and economic practices passed down through families and communities [f25e3fd8-52cf-4f3d-a4dc-31ab5f7d5663_388375409; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262].

Despite its rich heritage, the craft faces severe challenges.

The Syrian conflict and economic hardships have disrupted traditional production, with many workshops damaged or abandoned.

Conflict-related destruction, loss of markets, and competition from industrial mass production threaten the survival of traditional glassblowing.

For instance, the historic Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a hub for handicraft shops including traditional glasswork, has been undergoing restoration since 2019, causing craftsmen to vacate their shops and adding uncertainty to their future .

The designation highlights the craft's vulnerability due to the impacts of war, deteriorating traditional infrastructure, and a declining number of practitioners.

Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly centered in cities like Damascus and Aleppo, is a craft with ancient roots dating back more than two thousand years to the Phoenician era.

Title:

Content: Art of glassblowing returns again in Aleppo countryside liberated from terrorism

The town of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province in northern Syria has historically been famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen. The war considerably affected this traditional craft inherited from our ancestors, but after the liberation of the city from terrorism, some artisans have brought it back to life. The artisan, Yassin Arab learned the glassblowing craft from his father when he was a child, and after the town was liberated from terrorism, he returned to his small facility, where he worked to restore it and start working again. Arab does not hide his enormous passion for the craft of glassblowing and his belief in the need to preserve this ancient Syrian heritage. Regarding the working mechanism, the artisan explained to SANA that he uses recycled glass, melts it again in the oven at high temperature, and then chooses a specific shape for its manufacture, whether hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs, fish houses for decoration, decorated cups and antiques of different sizes. After that, t he piece is blown, rotated and processed by the artisan until it takes its final shape using white and brown colors, and once the manufacturing of the product is finished, it is decorated and colored to give it the required aesthetics. For his part, Hussein Najjar noted that he learned the craft of blowing glass manually since he was young and has been working in this field for 40 years. He added that he is able to make any shape or glass container, using his imagination, and considered that the art of glassblowing is one of the types of plastic arts. Traditional glassblowing is a profession that dates back more than two thousand years (since the time of the Phoenicians) and was included in December 2023 by UNESCO on the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs urgent preservation. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

This artisanal practice involves manually shaping recycled glass by melting it at high temperatures and skillfully blowing it into various shapes such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative items.

Syrian glassblowers employ traditional colors like white and brown and decorate their pieces with intricate designs that reflect the cultural aesthetics of the region .

Title:

Content: Or Elias...
Embraced the traditional crafts in its small museum Baharat Hanania Damascene
Damascus-Sana
You cannot pass through the Damascene neighborhood of Hanania in Bab Sharqi without being stopped by the time at the gallery of Mrs. Sophia Al-Ashqar “Um Elias ”. The smell of the place leads you voluntarily to stand at the heritage of nearly a hundred years old, looking at the cloth, moving your eyes to the copper and mosaic, and drowning in the place to come the laugh of Umm Elias and take you back to its small museum.
As her sons and residents of Haret Hananiya describe it as a “fortress ”, it is a fortress that stands as the steadfastness of Syrian women through time. Umm Elias does not only tell visitors to her heritage museum about the concept and value of the work, but she sees it embodied in her spirit and in every piece she weaved with her management of the gallery for nearly 70 years, including during the war on Syria. The development of the Syrian kaftan.
The love of the homeland and the authenticity of Umm Elias overshadowed her work many times, and she acted as a guide to the foreign tourist about the history of Syria and the age of each piece she acquired, reminding them that Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in history, and stressing that she did not tire and did not tire of that task, especially when visiting tourist delegations to Haret Hanania and their acquisition of the heritage craft in the gallery.
Mrs. Al-Ashqar talked about how she developed the Damascene kaftan from a traditional folk costume to a modern one that has been mixed for centuries until the present day. Umm Elias, 83, manipulated velvet, silk, agbani and brocade fabrics with her fingers as if she were manipulating her grandchildren, to come up with a piece of kaftan that mimics the fashion of our times and the new taste.
The icon of Haret Hanania moves around the gallery, continuing to talk, and with her warm voice narrates her beginning with the needle and thread since she was ten years old, and like any girl, the first dress she knitted was for her little doll, and developed her passion for cloth and sewing, considering that her father and grandfather have been professionals for a long time. Qar received the third prize in the mosaic industry at the Damascus Exhibition in 1936.
Umm Elias did not spare us time, and despite her fatigue, which seemed clear on the features of her face, love and determination had a stronger presence appeared in the explanation and give the most accurate information. She talked about the visit of senior guests to the gallery of artists, intellectuals and prominent personalities. However, she did not think to move to another area outside Bab Sharqi. Glass, as well as icons, begins to live from 45 years to almost 100 years.
Umm Elias goes back to an ancient time whose effects were evident on a copper table occupied by Damascene hands, through the technique of downloading silver on copper, and is more than eighty years old, in addition to the types of wood such as mosaic, which is famous for her father 's craftsman Haneen Ashqar. With her hands she opens a wooden piece of art created by her father, a mosaic table that includes several levels of toys. Sometimes chess, sometimes Elias's mother turns it into a dice game.
It then moves on to Damascene ornaments, icons and small brides made of cloth to stained glass, which gives the place the spirit of life and confirms that each piece and masterpiece has a cultural significance rooted in the culture of Syria.
So that Umm Elias remains one of the many Syrian women who went through the war, and their heads are nostalgic like the ears of wheat, but they did not break them, and they remain tender and shameless, raising their muses to them whenever their names are mentioned.
Najwa Aida Mariam Hajir
Follow SANA news on Telegram https: / / t.me / SyrianArabNewsAgen
Look, too.
Umm Elias Museum of Traditional Crafts in the Damascus neighborhood of Hanania

Historically, cities like Aleppo and Damascus have been important centers for glassblowing, with Damascus also known for related crafts like painting on glass and mosaic work.

The craft is embedded deeply in Syrian cultural identity and heritage, as many artisans inherit the skills from previous generations, maintaining the connection to Syria’s long-standing artisanal traditions.

Glassblowing, along with other crafts such as brocade weaving and silverwork, contributes significantly to the cultural fabric, representing social, artistic, and economic practices passed down through families and communities [f25e3fd8-52cf-4f3d-a4dc-31ab5f7d5663_388375409; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262].

Despite its rich heritage, the craft faces severe challenges.

Title:

Content: (Hakawati) Drama of the beautiful time and nice Ramadan evenings
Damascus-Sana
The image presented to us by the visual space through its channels, which compete strongly for the premiere of its dramas in Ramadan, is only a natural evolution of an art that began more than a hundred years ago, based on the story, using the efforts of one hero, the storyteller, how did the art of storytelling begin?
RAMADAN NIGHTS
A storyteller, storyteller, storyteller or storyteller, by definition, is a person who has been a storyteller in homes, shops and cafes, who used to crowd around people in the past, not only telling the story in constant interaction with his audience, but motivated by enthusiasm to embody the role of the character that he tells about with movement and voice.
Hakawati is a profession that relied on one character, the character of the storyteller, she possessed her own treasure of diversity and difference, and she roams the psychological character in all respects and depends on the extension and prolongation of the story so that it turns into a night series that can cover the days of the month of Ramadan.
Folk cafes are a theater for storytellers
With his voice and image, Hakawati is the alonis of the Ramadan evenings, telling stories of heroism and manhood in front of a group of people in the popular cafes. Mohammed Khair Kilani, who for thirty years embodied the role of Hakawati in the Ramadan evenings of Homs, showed that the popular cafes were the center of Hakawati and his stories were linked to the holy month. She, they follow attentively his movements and his interaction with the storytelling and sometimes embodying the role of her characters.
Al-Hakawati is a character, according to Kilani, was once considered a means of collective entertainment and education for the real and fictional stories of heroism and the promotion of moral values and positive behaviors, pointing to the most famous tales known (Antara, Al-Zir Salem, Al-Himma, and Strange Beni Hilal) and others.
The origin of the folk tale
The East was the source of popular tales, as most studies and researches in the field of the history of the emergence of the folk tale, and the opinions differ between those who consider the Arab East the source of the tale and its origin as the Babylonians, Assyrians and Pharaohs, and between Persia and India is the origin of the tale, and then moved from it to Mesopotamia according to the book of the popular tale between the past and the present by Mustafa Muhammad Ali Mystic.
The popular tale was known in the Arab heritage early on, as the books of Tabari, Isfahani, Masoudi, Ibn Kathir and others gathered many of these tales, which were known in the pre-Islamic era and what followed, mixed with the traditions and news of kings, as well as what was deposited in the collective memory of old news and facts.
It was formed in the beginnings in the public circles did not take care of anyone of the private, except as a kind of nice Asmar, and in the second century AH accounted for the interest of news and poets and writers, especially in the Abbasid era where translated Ibn al-Maqba book (Kalila and Damna) and increased interest in the third and fourth centuries, and mentioned historian Hamza Esfahani that it was in his era of books of the brown hands circulation Of the seventy books, books on the Hadiths of Sinbad and the Snail and the Mouse also appeared during the period when there was a wide discussion about the introduction of the tales of One Thousand and One Nights into the Arab heritage.
It ’ s a job that doesn ’ t die in Damascus.
In 1990, Rasheed al-Hakawati al-Damascene revived the profession of Hakawati at the coffee shop (al-Nawfra) at the request of the owner of the coffee shop Abu Saleh al-Rabat grandfather and the heads of religious rituals, where they decided to serve it after the Maghreb prayer until the Isha ’ an to be served in Ramadan after the Taraweeh prayer.
Hakawati Al-Sham Rashid Al-Hallaq started the art of Hakawati for the intangible cultural heritage since 1990 and continued until 2014 at the Nofra Café and was presenting stories that combine lessons and awareness, where he dealt with the story of the apparent King Bebars, Antra bin Shadad Al-Absi and many others.
On this subject, Shadi Alhallaq, Jr., spoke in a statement to SANA correspondent, saying that the tourist delegations had a permanent stop in the cafe to attend the Hakawati and take commemorative pictures with him, pointing to the works of his father Rashid, which exceeded the Syrian borders, where he participated in the Jerash Festival in Jordan in 1992 and until 1995 on the theater of sound and light. Hump, participated with the UNESCO Committee of the Medleheart Project for the Protection of the Heritage of the Mediterranean Countries in 2010.
Shadi the barber deepened his father ’ s career and began searching for the mythical and historical stories loved by the audience of storytellers from Syrian cafes and collected handwritten books and restored them as the story of One Thousand and One Nights and the sword of the son of Yazan. The French Institute for Middle Eastern Studies printed the story of the apparent king Bebars with the help of his father to explain some words and their meanings.
The son of the barber pointed to the heritage treasure that he found during the search operations, which was written in a coded language, which he discovered that it is a tent of Karkouz and preachers of Syria, where his father explained to him how to present and make them of leather, colors, ways of moving and the names of the pieces and their recipes to present the first presentation of shadow fiction in the presence of a group of shadow fiction.
Shadi Alhallaq practiced this profession with the art of Hakawati until it was classified by UNESCO on the list of urgent conservation in cooperation with the Syrian Secretariat for Development and provided a workshop to teach 22 students to make shadow and animation and teach them the basics of the profession and traditional craft.
Hereditary career:
Shadi went on to turn the Hakawati profession into a continuous work project for him and his children, pointing out that it is his profession that he loves and he continued in it after the death of his father in 2014 and continued the journey of Hakawati Al-Sham with the shadow imagination and currently his children learn this art.
Jawad bin Rashid, the oldest barber, has performed shadow fiction since he was nine years old at Qasr al-Azm Theater in the festival of (grandparents to grandchildren) and now he is 10 years old has more than 40 shadow fiction shows, the youngest of them and helps his father manufacture pieces and make presentations.
Eight-year-old Rashid is also learning the profession of storyteller and shadow fiction, and five-year-old Jad is driven by his passion for shadow fiction, which he drinks from his family, to provide dialogues at home and for the family.
Hakawati is a comprehensive artist:
Hakawati Ammar Jarrah says in a statement to SANA correspondent: The character of Hakawati is a historical figure known from the immaterial heritage inherited from generation to generation, and he has been working in this field since 2000 and every year of the month of Ramadan appears in this character to protect it from extinction, like the shadow imagination (Karkouz and Ewaz), and the world fund to remain in memory.
Al-Jarrah pointed out that he is working on developing it to suit the people ’ s desire through his presence with his audience in traditional restaurants and cafes, choosing local stories that carry humor and interest to the public in addition to the presence of an oriental takht to play music, and the presentation of the Mesharati segment.
Tarek Ali, one of the listeners of the storytellers, said that the choice of the presence of storytellers for the folklore stories and the stories of his heroes revives the beautiful times, where he catches their eyes with the tone of his voice, which rises and falls in harmony with the course of events and the enthusiasm contained in his story.
Lawyer Rana Bakbashi found in the character of Hakawati a return to the revival of the immaterial heritage, and to create an atmosphere of love and harmony, and a little away from the pressures of life in addition to attracting the young generation to listen to the championships of Antra and Abu Zaid al-Hilali and learn the values of chivalry and Arab ethics.
Economic and Heritage Project
Hakawati is not only a profession, but the details of the owner of the profession carry with it a growing economic importance in the Syrian society, starting from the clothes of Hakawati, which includes a dark red cowl on the head and a bra made of hand looms and long Shami pants. The zenar is a roll of Damasco fabric, Damasco brocade, in addition to a shawl on the shoulders of silk and an Arabic jacket called Damer. The silk belly is as black as the trousers are black and the storytellers sit in the public cafes on a chair that represents the work of the hands of the Damascene craftsmen of carved wood and mosaic restaurant with seashells.
These details represent traditional heritage crafts bearing the distinctive Syrian character of Damascene brocade, Aghbani mosaic, engraving and engraving on wood and shells, explained by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Syrian Development Society Ramal Saleh, indicating that this heritage has become a development project for many Syrian families through the project (Orient House for Heritage) launched by the Society with the support of the Syrian Trust for Development, which includes 13 artisans. Zain, whose workshops were destroyed by the terrorist war on Syria, was collected in an old Arab house with an area of about 750 meters, and provided them with production tools and requirements to preserve the cultural and cultural heritage and their production is present in external and local exhibitions.
Saleh pointed out that the Aghbani industry is also one of the most important projects of the Association, which was established at the end of 2017, which brings together women affected by the war in Douma city in Damascus countryside, where it started with four women to include 450 women within four years.
As for the Damascus brocade, Saleh pointed out that it is one of the finest and most luxurious fabrics in the world, as it is woven from natural silk threads extracted from silkworm cocoons, a luxurious fabric woven on the hand loom and added to it golden and silver threads. Damascus is known as the incubator of this industry, which is one of the oldest Syrian industries.
Saleh added that the Damascene brocade reflects the culture, nature and history of the region through the drawings called princesses or Damascene cloth and its threads woven the most beautiful paintings and prints such as the lover and the mahshooq, Salahuddin, Romeo, Juliet, Damascus rose and Damascus jasmine. The brocade is expensive because of the difficulty of extracting natural silk and the presence of silver and gold threads inside.
Saleh said that Damascus included several factories for the production of Damascus brocade, the most famous of which was the Naasan factory for handicrafts near Bab Sharqi. The importance of Naasan Palace with the factory lies in the fact that its founder is one of the mosaic and brocade artists, the young Georges Naasan, who built the factory in 1720 in Bab Sharqi to pour his leadership in the mosaic school itself.
Muhasen Awad - Rasham Mahrez - Tamam Al-Hassan - Alaa Al-Shehabi
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The storytellers...
An authentic Ramadan heritage

The Syrian conflict and economic hardships have disrupted traditional production, with many workshops damaged or abandoned.

Conflict-related destruction, loss of markets, and competition from industrial mass production threaten the survival of traditional glassblowing.

Title:

Content: Sulaymaniyah in Damascus.
Do you want to throw out your guards?
While the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent saw in his dream that he was in a grove in the center of the capital Damascus, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) appeared to him and instructed him to build a mosque in that land. The Ottoman Sultan awoke from his sleep pleased with what he saw and heard. He immediately ordered to cut off a side of that grove and build a large kiosk in the middle of it. He was in a dream and pointed out.
This is the story conveyed by a number of writers and historians, the latest of which was Sheikh Najmuddin al-Ghazi in his book "The Walking Planets in the Eyes of the Tenth Hundred", about the decision of the legal sultan to build the Tekke Sulaymaniyah (west of Damascus) in the 16th century, one of the most prominent Ottoman tekaya and the most modern style and the most beautiful architecture, according to specialists.
Historically, the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah was a place to perform religious duties and a resting place for pilgrims and a refuge for the maqtada and poor people of Damascus, Muslims and others, and remained so until the French colonizer entered the country in 1920; where General Guru and his forces took from the Tkiyet as a residence.
With the departure of colonialism and the advent of 1948, the Shari ’ ah school in Tkiyet returned to hold educational seminars and memorization of the Quran, and since the mid-seventies of the last century began to embrace dozens of shops of ancient Damascene handicrafts, and expanded this part to be known later as the market of handicrafts.
Recently, this complex cultural and religious identity of the heritage teacher has become threatened, after the Ministry of Tourism (in the government of the Syrian regime) notified professionals to vacate their shops before the end of the year under the pretext of restoration.
From Al-Ablaq Palace to Al-Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah
The site of Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, west of Damascus, was known for the construction of a number of royal residences, the last of which was the palace of the owner of the Mamluk Sultan Baqiris (1228-1277 AD), which was named after the colors of the stones of its construction black and yellow brought from Aleppo and Daraa.
However, large parts of the palace were burned during the conquest of Damascus by the Mongol commander Tamerlane in 803 A.D. (1402 A.D.), and it was not until the Ottoman Sultan Selim I entered Damascus in 923 A.D. (1517 A.D.) that the Ablaq palace was restored and rehabilitated.
By 959 A.D. (1502 A.D.), Sultan Selim the Magnificent commissioned the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to develop a modern architectural plan for a hospice on the site of the Al-Ablaq Palace. In 960 A.D. (1553 A.D.), a large number of workers began building the hospice under the supervision of the Damascene engineer Shahabuddin ibn Al-Attar.
Then rest on the banks of the Barada River "a luxurious architectural group that captivates the hearts of the hearts with its regular domes like knots around a large main dome, surrounded by two minarets, and interspersed with gardens and trees whose beauty blends with the beauty of architecture makes this spot in Damascus one of the most beautiful and beautiful spots", the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, as described by Abdul Qader Rihawi in his book "Architecture in Arabic".
Ottoman architecture and Damascene motifs
The building of the Sulaymaniyah Tekke consists of two similar architectural blocks, one large and includes the mosque and the other small and includes the school, and linked between these two blocks was a market dedicated to the caravans of pilgrims, and the Ottoman engineering effects on the planning and construction, while the Damascene artistic touch overshadows the designs of doors and windows and decorations that decorate the walls and rooms of the place.
The two architectural blocks are surrounded by relatively low walls, while the middle of them are two rectangular pools fed by water vertical fountains used for ablution, and the mosque with its narrow minarets tops the southern block, while the school mosque with its smooth dome tops the eastern block, and on the sides of the blocks spread buildings are shops and narrow rooms covered with low domes interspersed with low The chimneys are shaped like minarets and are led by shady arcades with ornate arches.
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye market extends from its easternmost to its westernmost, and is lined with dozens of shops that were previously commercial shops, and have since the 1970s turned into handicrafts shops.
In addition to its traditional role as a place for the betters, the poor and the needy, the Sulaymaniyah Tekke was designed to be a stop for pilgrims on the pilgrimage route to Mecca, where the place was equipped with spacious kitchens, bakeries, rest rooms, several prayer rooms, a sea for ablution and other necessary services for pilgrims.
When it became a teachers ’ house in 1923, it stopped hosting guests and sheltering arrivals for the first time since its establishment four centuries ago, but soon regained its identity as a hospitable place when it hosted a number of Palestinian families displaced to Damascus following the 1948 Nakba.
While the Sulaymaniyah school was famous for receiving students of Sharia sciences from all parts of the world, before turning, with the opening of the Syrian University in Damascus in 1934, into a place to teach dentistry, and then into an archaeological landmark that includes a war museum with the continuation of religious activities in the chapels and mosque to this day.
From an incubator to a bounty hunter.
In mid-October, the Ministry of Tourism in the government of the regime warned the Karar sheikhs of craftsmen in the handicrafts market to evacuate their shops before the new year 2023 for the purpose of restoration.
Despite the appeals of the craftsmen to the concerned authorities through the local newspapers and media, and the intervention of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism to promise the craftsmen their return after the completion of the restoration operations, Nidal Mashfej, Assistant Minister of Tourism, stressed that there is no legal provision obliging the ministry to renew the contracts of craftsmen after the end of each year. Shopkeepers have the right to claim any malfunction, damage, injustice or the like, the official told the official Tishreen newspaper.
A member of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism, Arafat Oza Bashi, points out that all the shopkeepers in the Sulaymaniyah Tkiyet hope to return to their shops after the completion of the restoration, to continue their work and preserve the intangible heritage threatened with extinction.
Haj Abu Mohammed, 57 years old, owner of a shop in Tkiyet, told Al Jazeera Net, "Years ago they evacuated the glass market of Tkiyet under the pretext of restoring it, and it is still a wreck and it is not clear if it will return to a glass market, and I do not exclude that our shop has a similar fate."
"As if they were not satisfied with the stagnation of the market in the last 10 years and the absence of tourists and visitors from our shops, which the simple citizen can not buy goods from them because of their high cost, and all the losses we suffered to continue to revive these crafts during the war."
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye has been undergoing restoration since 2019, and the first phase aimed to restore part of the Tikkiye and what is known as the glass market, while the second phase is dedicated to the handicrafts market and some parts of the interior of the Tikkiye “to preserve the archaeological site from landings and structural cracks, ” according to Nidal Mashfaj.
Source: The Island

For instance, the historic Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a hub for handicraft shops including traditional glasswork, has been undergoing restoration since 2019, causing craftsmen to vacate their shops and adding uncertainty to their future .

The designation highlights the craft's vulnerability due to the impacts of war, deteriorating traditional infrastructure, and a declining number of practitioners.


Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly centered in cities like Damascus and Aleppo, is a craft with ancient roots dating back more than two thousand years to the Phoenician era.

This artisanal practice involves manually shaping recycled glass by melting it at high temperatures and skillfully blowing it into various shapes such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative items.

Syrian glassblowers employ traditional colors like white and brown and decorate their pieces with intricate designs that reflect the cultural aesthetics of the region .

Historically, cities like Aleppo and Damascus have been important centers for glassblowing, with Damascus also known for related crafts like painting on glass and mosaic work.

The craft is embedded deeply in Syrian cultural identity and heritage, as many artisans inherit the skills from previous generations, maintaining the connection to Syria’s long-standing artisanal traditions.

Glassblowing, along with other crafts such as brocade weaving and silverwork, contributes significantly to the cultural fabric, representing social, artistic, and economic practices passed down through families and communities [f25e3fd8-52cf-4f3d-a4dc-31ab5f7d5663_388375409; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262].

Despite its rich heritage, the craft faces severe challenges.

The Syrian conflict and economic hardships have disrupted traditional production, with many workshops damaged or abandoned.

Conflict-related destruction, loss of markets, and competition from industrial mass production threaten the survival of traditional glassblowing.

For instance, the historic Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a hub for handicraft shops including traditional glasswork, has been undergoing restoration since 2019, causing craftsmen to vacate their shops and adding uncertainty to their future .

Recognizing the urgent risk to this intangible cultural heritage, UNESCO inscribed Syrian traditional glassblowing onto the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

The designation highlights the craft's vulnerability due to the impacts of war, deteriorating traditional infrastructure, and a declining number of practitioners.

The inscription aims to mobilize international attention and support for safeguarding measures, including transmission of skills to younger generations, restoration of workshops, and promotion of the craft in local and global markets .

Currently, the number of craftsmen actively practicing traditional glassblowing is limited but resilient.

Artisans like Yassin Arab and Hussein Najjar have continued their work despite the difficulties, often recovering their workshops after conflict-related interruptions and passing skills from father to son.

Their passion underscores a broader cultural commitment among Syrian artisans to preserve this heritage as a symbol of social and artistic identity .

In conclusion, Syrian traditional glassblowing is a centuries-old artisanal craft integral to Syria's cultural identity and heritage.

Its survival is threatened by recent conflicts, economic pressures, and modern challenges, leading UNESCO to call for urgent safeguarding.

The craft’s rich history, distinctive techniques, and cultural significance make it an emblematic heritage at risk, emphasizing the necessity of international and local efforts to revive and maintain this ancient art form for future generations.

This background provides a valuable context for understanding the upcoming talk and demonstration of Syrian glassblowing techniques.

Traditional glassblowing in Syria, particularly centered in cities like Damascus and Aleppo, is a craft with ancient roots dating back more than two thousand years to the Phoenician era.

Title:

Content: Art of glassblowing returns again in Aleppo countryside liberated from terrorism

The town of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province in northern Syria has historically been famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen. The war considerably affected this traditional craft inherited from our ancestors, but after the liberation of the city from terrorism, some artisans have brought it back to life. The artisan, Yassin Arab learned the glassblowing craft from his father when he was a child, and after the town was liberated from terrorism, he returned to his small facility, where he worked to restore it and start working again. Arab does not hide his enormous passion for the craft of glassblowing and his belief in the need to preserve this ancient Syrian heritage. Regarding the working mechanism, the artisan explained to SANA that he uses recycled glass, melts it again in the oven at high temperature, and then chooses a specific shape for its manufacture, whether hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs, fish houses for decoration, decorated cups and antiques of different sizes. After that, t he piece is blown, rotated and processed by the artisan until it takes its final shape using white and brown colors, and once the manufacturing of the product is finished, it is decorated and colored to give it the required aesthetics. For his part, Hussein Najjar noted that he learned the craft of blowing glass manually since he was young and has been working in this field for 40 years. He added that he is able to make any shape or glass container, using his imagination, and considered that the art of glassblowing is one of the types of plastic arts. Traditional glassblowing is a profession that dates back more than two thousand years (since the time of the Phoenicians) and was included in December 2023 by UNESCO on the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs urgent preservation. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

This artisanal practice involves manually shaping recycled glass by melting it at high temperatures and skillfully blowing it into various shapes such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative items.

Syrian glassblowers employ traditional colors like white and brown and decorate their pieces with intricate designs that reflect the cultural aesthetics of the region .

Title:

Content: Or Elias...
Embraced the traditional crafts in its small museum Baharat Hanania Damascene
Damascus-Sana
You cannot pass through the Damascene neighborhood of Hanania in Bab Sharqi without being stopped by the time at the gallery of Mrs. Sophia Al-Ashqar “Um Elias ”. The smell of the place leads you voluntarily to stand at the heritage of nearly a hundred years old, looking at the cloth, moving your eyes to the copper and mosaic, and drowning in the place to come the laugh of Umm Elias and take you back to its small museum.
As her sons and residents of Haret Hananiya describe it as a “fortress ”, it is a fortress that stands as the steadfastness of Syrian women through time. Umm Elias does not only tell visitors to her heritage museum about the concept and value of the work, but she sees it embodied in her spirit and in every piece she weaved with her management of the gallery for nearly 70 years, including during the war on Syria. The development of the Syrian kaftan.
The love of the homeland and the authenticity of Umm Elias overshadowed her work many times, and she acted as a guide to the foreign tourist about the history of Syria and the age of each piece she acquired, reminding them that Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in history, and stressing that she did not tire and did not tire of that task, especially when visiting tourist delegations to Haret Hanania and their acquisition of the heritage craft in the gallery.
Mrs. Al-Ashqar talked about how she developed the Damascene kaftan from a traditional folk costume to a modern one that has been mixed for centuries until the present day. Umm Elias, 83, manipulated velvet, silk, agbani and brocade fabrics with her fingers as if she were manipulating her grandchildren, to come up with a piece of kaftan that mimics the fashion of our times and the new taste.
The icon of Haret Hanania moves around the gallery, continuing to talk, and with her warm voice narrates her beginning with the needle and thread since she was ten years old, and like any girl, the first dress she knitted was for her little doll, and developed her passion for cloth and sewing, considering that her father and grandfather have been professionals for a long time. Qar received the third prize in the mosaic industry at the Damascus Exhibition in 1936.
Umm Elias did not spare us time, and despite her fatigue, which seemed clear on the features of her face, love and determination had a stronger presence appeared in the explanation and give the most accurate information. She talked about the visit of senior guests to the gallery of artists, intellectuals and prominent personalities. However, she did not think to move to another area outside Bab Sharqi. Glass, as well as icons, begins to live from 45 years to almost 100 years.
Umm Elias goes back to an ancient time whose effects were evident on a copper table occupied by Damascene hands, through the technique of downloading silver on copper, and is more than eighty years old, in addition to the types of wood such as mosaic, which is famous for her father 's craftsman Haneen Ashqar. With her hands she opens a wooden piece of art created by her father, a mosaic table that includes several levels of toys. Sometimes chess, sometimes Elias's mother turns it into a dice game.
It then moves on to Damascene ornaments, icons and small brides made of cloth to stained glass, which gives the place the spirit of life and confirms that each piece and masterpiece has a cultural significance rooted in the culture of Syria.
So that Umm Elias remains one of the many Syrian women who went through the war, and their heads are nostalgic like the ears of wheat, but they did not break them, and they remain tender and shameless, raising their muses to them whenever their names are mentioned.
Najwa Aida Mariam Hajir
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Look, too.
Umm Elias Museum of Traditional Crafts in the Damascus neighborhood of Hanania

Historically, cities like Aleppo and Damascus have been important centers for glassblowing, with Damascus also known for related crafts like painting on glass and mosaic work.

The craft is embedded deeply in Syrian cultural identity and heritage, as many artisans inherit the skills from previous generations, maintaining the connection to Syria’s long-standing artisanal traditions.

Glassblowing, along with other crafts such as brocade weaving and silverwork, contributes significantly to the cultural fabric, representing social, artistic, and economic practices passed down through families and communities [f25e3fd8-52cf-4f3d-a4dc-31ab5f7d5663_388375409; 59b71ca2-4087-4e93-9b19-beb1564fe422_505232262].

Despite its rich heritage, the craft faces severe challenges.

Title:

Content: (Hakawati) Drama of the beautiful time and nice Ramadan evenings
Damascus-Sana
The image presented to us by the visual space through its channels, which compete strongly for the premiere of its dramas in Ramadan, is only a natural evolution of an art that began more than a hundred years ago, based on the story, using the efforts of one hero, the storyteller, how did the art of storytelling begin?
RAMADAN NIGHTS
A storyteller, storyteller, storyteller or storyteller, by definition, is a person who has been a storyteller in homes, shops and cafes, who used to crowd around people in the past, not only telling the story in constant interaction with his audience, but motivated by enthusiasm to embody the role of the character that he tells about with movement and voice.
Hakawati is a profession that relied on one character, the character of the storyteller, she possessed her own treasure of diversity and difference, and she roams the psychological character in all respects and depends on the extension and prolongation of the story so that it turns into a night series that can cover the days of the month of Ramadan.
Folk cafes are a theater for storytellers
With his voice and image, Hakawati is the alonis of the Ramadan evenings, telling stories of heroism and manhood in front of a group of people in the popular cafes. Mohammed Khair Kilani, who for thirty years embodied the role of Hakawati in the Ramadan evenings of Homs, showed that the popular cafes were the center of Hakawati and his stories were linked to the holy month. She, they follow attentively his movements and his interaction with the storytelling and sometimes embodying the role of her characters.
Al-Hakawati is a character, according to Kilani, was once considered a means of collective entertainment and education for the real and fictional stories of heroism and the promotion of moral values and positive behaviors, pointing to the most famous tales known (Antara, Al-Zir Salem, Al-Himma, and Strange Beni Hilal) and others.
The origin of the folk tale
The East was the source of popular tales, as most studies and researches in the field of the history of the emergence of the folk tale, and the opinions differ between those who consider the Arab East the source of the tale and its origin as the Babylonians, Assyrians and Pharaohs, and between Persia and India is the origin of the tale, and then moved from it to Mesopotamia according to the book of the popular tale between the past and the present by Mustafa Muhammad Ali Mystic.
The popular tale was known in the Arab heritage early on, as the books of Tabari, Isfahani, Masoudi, Ibn Kathir and others gathered many of these tales, which were known in the pre-Islamic era and what followed, mixed with the traditions and news of kings, as well as what was deposited in the collective memory of old news and facts.
It was formed in the beginnings in the public circles did not take care of anyone of the private, except as a kind of nice Asmar, and in the second century AH accounted for the interest of news and poets and writers, especially in the Abbasid era where translated Ibn al-Maqba book (Kalila and Damna) and increased interest in the third and fourth centuries, and mentioned historian Hamza Esfahani that it was in his era of books of the brown hands circulation Of the seventy books, books on the Hadiths of Sinbad and the Snail and the Mouse also appeared during the period when there was a wide discussion about the introduction of the tales of One Thousand and One Nights into the Arab heritage.
It ’ s a job that doesn ’ t die in Damascus.
In 1990, Rasheed al-Hakawati al-Damascene revived the profession of Hakawati at the coffee shop (al-Nawfra) at the request of the owner of the coffee shop Abu Saleh al-Rabat grandfather and the heads of religious rituals, where they decided to serve it after the Maghreb prayer until the Isha ’ an to be served in Ramadan after the Taraweeh prayer.
Hakawati Al-Sham Rashid Al-Hallaq started the art of Hakawati for the intangible cultural heritage since 1990 and continued until 2014 at the Nofra Café and was presenting stories that combine lessons and awareness, where he dealt with the story of the apparent King Bebars, Antra bin Shadad Al-Absi and many others.
On this subject, Shadi Alhallaq, Jr., spoke in a statement to SANA correspondent, saying that the tourist delegations had a permanent stop in the cafe to attend the Hakawati and take commemorative pictures with him, pointing to the works of his father Rashid, which exceeded the Syrian borders, where he participated in the Jerash Festival in Jordan in 1992 and until 1995 on the theater of sound and light. Hump, participated with the UNESCO Committee of the Medleheart Project for the Protection of the Heritage of the Mediterranean Countries in 2010.
Shadi the barber deepened his father ’ s career and began searching for the mythical and historical stories loved by the audience of storytellers from Syrian cafes and collected handwritten books and restored them as the story of One Thousand and One Nights and the sword of the son of Yazan. The French Institute for Middle Eastern Studies printed the story of the apparent king Bebars with the help of his father to explain some words and their meanings.
The son of the barber pointed to the heritage treasure that he found during the search operations, which was written in a coded language, which he discovered that it is a tent of Karkouz and preachers of Syria, where his father explained to him how to present and make them of leather, colors, ways of moving and the names of the pieces and their recipes to present the first presentation of shadow fiction in the presence of a group of shadow fiction.
Shadi Alhallaq practiced this profession with the art of Hakawati until it was classified by UNESCO on the list of urgent conservation in cooperation with the Syrian Secretariat for Development and provided a workshop to teach 22 students to make shadow and animation and teach them the basics of the profession and traditional craft.
Hereditary career:
Shadi went on to turn the Hakawati profession into a continuous work project for him and his children, pointing out that it is his profession that he loves and he continued in it after the death of his father in 2014 and continued the journey of Hakawati Al-Sham with the shadow imagination and currently his children learn this art.
Jawad bin Rashid, the oldest barber, has performed shadow fiction since he was nine years old at Qasr al-Azm Theater in the festival of (grandparents to grandchildren) and now he is 10 years old has more than 40 shadow fiction shows, the youngest of them and helps his father manufacture pieces and make presentations.
Eight-year-old Rashid is also learning the profession of storyteller and shadow fiction, and five-year-old Jad is driven by his passion for shadow fiction, which he drinks from his family, to provide dialogues at home and for the family.
Hakawati is a comprehensive artist:
Hakawati Ammar Jarrah says in a statement to SANA correspondent: The character of Hakawati is a historical figure known from the immaterial heritage inherited from generation to generation, and he has been working in this field since 2000 and every year of the month of Ramadan appears in this character to protect it from extinction, like the shadow imagination (Karkouz and Ewaz), and the world fund to remain in memory.
Al-Jarrah pointed out that he is working on developing it to suit the people ’ s desire through his presence with his audience in traditional restaurants and cafes, choosing local stories that carry humor and interest to the public in addition to the presence of an oriental takht to play music, and the presentation of the Mesharati segment.
Tarek Ali, one of the listeners of the storytellers, said that the choice of the presence of storytellers for the folklore stories and the stories of his heroes revives the beautiful times, where he catches their eyes with the tone of his voice, which rises and falls in harmony with the course of events and the enthusiasm contained in his story.
Lawyer Rana Bakbashi found in the character of Hakawati a return to the revival of the immaterial heritage, and to create an atmosphere of love and harmony, and a little away from the pressures of life in addition to attracting the young generation to listen to the championships of Antra and Abu Zaid al-Hilali and learn the values of chivalry and Arab ethics.
Economic and Heritage Project
Hakawati is not only a profession, but the details of the owner of the profession carry with it a growing economic importance in the Syrian society, starting from the clothes of Hakawati, which includes a dark red cowl on the head and a bra made of hand looms and long Shami pants. The zenar is a roll of Damasco fabric, Damasco brocade, in addition to a shawl on the shoulders of silk and an Arabic jacket called Damer. The silk belly is as black as the trousers are black and the storytellers sit in the public cafes on a chair that represents the work of the hands of the Damascene craftsmen of carved wood and mosaic restaurant with seashells.
These details represent traditional heritage crafts bearing the distinctive Syrian character of Damascene brocade, Aghbani mosaic, engraving and engraving on wood and shells, explained by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Syrian Development Society Ramal Saleh, indicating that this heritage has become a development project for many Syrian families through the project (Orient House for Heritage) launched by the Society with the support of the Syrian Trust for Development, which includes 13 artisans. Zain, whose workshops were destroyed by the terrorist war on Syria, was collected in an old Arab house with an area of about 750 meters, and provided them with production tools and requirements to preserve the cultural and cultural heritage and their production is present in external and local exhibitions.
Saleh pointed out that the Aghbani industry is also one of the most important projects of the Association, which was established at the end of 2017, which brings together women affected by the war in Douma city in Damascus countryside, where it started with four women to include 450 women within four years.
As for the Damascus brocade, Saleh pointed out that it is one of the finest and most luxurious fabrics in the world, as it is woven from natural silk threads extracted from silkworm cocoons, a luxurious fabric woven on the hand loom and added to it golden and silver threads. Damascus is known as the incubator of this industry, which is one of the oldest Syrian industries.
Saleh added that the Damascene brocade reflects the culture, nature and history of the region through the drawings called princesses or Damascene cloth and its threads woven the most beautiful paintings and prints such as the lover and the mahshooq, Salahuddin, Romeo, Juliet, Damascus rose and Damascus jasmine. The brocade is expensive because of the difficulty of extracting natural silk and the presence of silver and gold threads inside.
Saleh said that Damascus included several factories for the production of Damascus brocade, the most famous of which was the Naasan factory for handicrafts near Bab Sharqi. The importance of Naasan Palace with the factory lies in the fact that its founder is one of the mosaic and brocade artists, the young Georges Naasan, who built the factory in 1720 in Bab Sharqi to pour his leadership in the mosaic school itself.
Muhasen Awad - Rasham Mahrez - Tamam Al-Hassan - Alaa Al-Shehabi
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The storytellers...
An authentic Ramadan heritage

The Syrian conflict and economic hardships have disrupted traditional production, with many workshops damaged or abandoned.

Conflict-related destruction, loss of markets, and competition from industrial mass production threaten the survival of traditional glassblowing.

Title:

Content: Sulaymaniyah in Damascus.
Do you want to throw out your guards?
While the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent saw in his dream that he was in a grove in the center of the capital Damascus, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) appeared to him and instructed him to build a mosque in that land. The Ottoman Sultan awoke from his sleep pleased with what he saw and heard. He immediately ordered to cut off a side of that grove and build a large kiosk in the middle of it. He was in a dream and pointed out.
This is the story conveyed by a number of writers and historians, the latest of which was Sheikh Najmuddin al-Ghazi in his book "The Walking Planets in the Eyes of the Tenth Hundred", about the decision of the legal sultan to build the Tekke Sulaymaniyah (west of Damascus) in the 16th century, one of the most prominent Ottoman tekaya and the most modern style and the most beautiful architecture, according to specialists.
Historically, the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah was a place to perform religious duties and a resting place for pilgrims and a refuge for the maqtada and poor people of Damascus, Muslims and others, and remained so until the French colonizer entered the country in 1920; where General Guru and his forces took from the Tkiyet as a residence.
With the departure of colonialism and the advent of 1948, the Shari ’ ah school in Tkiyet returned to hold educational seminars and memorization of the Quran, and since the mid-seventies of the last century began to embrace dozens of shops of ancient Damascene handicrafts, and expanded this part to be known later as the market of handicrafts.
Recently, this complex cultural and religious identity of the heritage teacher has become threatened, after the Ministry of Tourism (in the government of the Syrian regime) notified professionals to vacate their shops before the end of the year under the pretext of restoration.
From Al-Ablaq Palace to Al-Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah
The site of Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, west of Damascus, was known for the construction of a number of royal residences, the last of which was the palace of the owner of the Mamluk Sultan Baqiris (1228-1277 AD), which was named after the colors of the stones of its construction black and yellow brought from Aleppo and Daraa.
However, large parts of the palace were burned during the conquest of Damascus by the Mongol commander Tamerlane in 803 A.D. (1402 A.D.), and it was not until the Ottoman Sultan Selim I entered Damascus in 923 A.D. (1517 A.D.) that the Ablaq palace was restored and rehabilitated.
By 959 A.D. (1502 A.D.), Sultan Selim the Magnificent commissioned the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to develop a modern architectural plan for a hospice on the site of the Al-Ablaq Palace. In 960 A.D. (1553 A.D.), a large number of workers began building the hospice under the supervision of the Damascene engineer Shahabuddin ibn Al-Attar.
Then rest on the banks of the Barada River "a luxurious architectural group that captivates the hearts of the hearts with its regular domes like knots around a large main dome, surrounded by two minarets, and interspersed with gardens and trees whose beauty blends with the beauty of architecture makes this spot in Damascus one of the most beautiful and beautiful spots", the Tkiyet Sulaymaniyah, as described by Abdul Qader Rihawi in his book "Architecture in Arabic".
Ottoman architecture and Damascene motifs
The building of the Sulaymaniyah Tekke consists of two similar architectural blocks, one large and includes the mosque and the other small and includes the school, and linked between these two blocks was a market dedicated to the caravans of pilgrims, and the Ottoman engineering effects on the planning and construction, while the Damascene artistic touch overshadows the designs of doors and windows and decorations that decorate the walls and rooms of the place.
The two architectural blocks are surrounded by relatively low walls, while the middle of them are two rectangular pools fed by water vertical fountains used for ablution, and the mosque with its narrow minarets tops the southern block, while the school mosque with its smooth dome tops the eastern block, and on the sides of the blocks spread buildings are shops and narrow rooms covered with low domes interspersed with low The chimneys are shaped like minarets and are led by shady arcades with ornate arches.
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye market extends from its easternmost to its westernmost, and is lined with dozens of shops that were previously commercial shops, and have since the 1970s turned into handicrafts shops.
In addition to its traditional role as a place for the betters, the poor and the needy, the Sulaymaniyah Tekke was designed to be a stop for pilgrims on the pilgrimage route to Mecca, where the place was equipped with spacious kitchens, bakeries, rest rooms, several prayer rooms, a sea for ablution and other necessary services for pilgrims.
When it became a teachers ’ house in 1923, it stopped hosting guests and sheltering arrivals for the first time since its establishment four centuries ago, but soon regained its identity as a hospitable place when it hosted a number of Palestinian families displaced to Damascus following the 1948 Nakba.
While the Sulaymaniyah school was famous for receiving students of Sharia sciences from all parts of the world, before turning, with the opening of the Syrian University in Damascus in 1934, into a place to teach dentistry, and then into an archaeological landmark that includes a war museum with the continuation of religious activities in the chapels and mosque to this day.
From an incubator to a bounty hunter.
In mid-October, the Ministry of Tourism in the government of the regime warned the Karar sheikhs of craftsmen in the handicrafts market to evacuate their shops before the new year 2023 for the purpose of restoration.
Despite the appeals of the craftsmen to the concerned authorities through the local newspapers and media, and the intervention of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism to promise the craftsmen their return after the completion of the restoration operations, Nidal Mashfej, Assistant Minister of Tourism, stressed that there is no legal provision obliging the ministry to renew the contracts of craftsmen after the end of each year. Shopkeepers have the right to claim any malfunction, damage, injustice or the like, the official told the official Tishreen newspaper.
A member of the Damascus Chamber of Tourism, Arafat Oza Bashi, points out that all the shopkeepers in the Sulaymaniyah Tkiyet hope to return to their shops after the completion of the restoration, to continue their work and preserve the intangible heritage threatened with extinction.
Haj Abu Mohammed, 57 years old, owner of a shop in Tkiyet, told Al Jazeera Net, "Years ago they evacuated the glass market of Tkiyet under the pretext of restoring it, and it is still a wreck and it is not clear if it will return to a glass market, and I do not exclude that our shop has a similar fate."
"As if they were not satisfied with the stagnation of the market in the last 10 years and the absence of tourists and visitors from our shops, which the simple citizen can not buy goods from them because of their high cost, and all the losses we suffered to continue to revive these crafts during the war."
The Sulaymaniyah Tikkiye has been undergoing restoration since 2019, and the first phase aimed to restore part of the Tikkiye and what is known as the glass market, while the second phase is dedicated to the handicrafts market and some parts of the interior of the Tikkiye “to preserve the archaeological site from landings and structural cracks, ” according to Nidal Mashfaj.
Source: The Island

For instance, the historic Sulaymaniyah Tekke in Damascus, a hub for handicraft shops including traditional glasswork, has been undergoing restoration since 2019, causing craftsmen to vacate their shops and adding uncertainty to their future .

Recognizing the urgent risk to this intangible cultural heritage, UNESCO inscribed Syrian traditional glassblowing onto the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

The designation highlights the craft's vulnerability due to the impacts of war, deteriorating traditional infrastructure, and a declining number of practitioners.

The inscription aims to mobilize international attention and support for safeguarding measures, including transmission of skills to younger generations, restoration of workshops, and promotion of the craft in local and global markets .

Title:

Content: Exhibition of craft products by Syrian and Russian artists in the public park in Aleppo
Halab-Sana
On the grounds of the public park in the city of Aleppo, the activities of the exhibition of craft products were launched today, with the participation of 20 craftsmen and artists from Syria and the Russian Federation.
The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Industry in cooperation with the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, the Federation of Artisans in Aleppo and the Syrian Professional Center Association, includes a collection of heritage and artistic works, paintings of Ajami thread, ornaments and handicrafts of wool, orphans, leather, rugs, carpets, bamboo and silver industry.
According to the President of the Union of Artisans in Aleppo, Mohammed Hossam Hallak, in a statement to SANA correspondent, the exhibition aims to highlight the traditional handicrafts and crafts and folklore professions to revive them by training the younger generations and mastering their industry to preserve them.
Mustafa al-Nu, President of the Syrian Professional Center Association, pointed out that the association worked to attract professionals and handicrafts, and provided them with financial grants to encourage them to continue their work, to preserve these crafts from extinction, in addition to training young people wishing to learn these crafts and develop them to suit the times.
The Russian artist Yuri Lishin, famous for the manufacture of blowing on glass, talked about his professionalism for more than 54 years, and his participation in many exhibitions in the world, indicating that his visit to Syria to learn about the glass industry, and participate in workshops on the manufacture of hand glass in Syria.
A number of participants noted the importance of the exhibition, which allows for the marketing of their products, where Zakaria Sultan, who works in the craft of silver and peat breaking, explained that he participates with silver and copper products and accessories made by hand in various forms for swimming pools, steadfastness, image cadres and chandeliers, in addition to grafting copper on wood, calling for providing the necessary support to maintain this profession.
The craftsman Ayman Saeed presented the results of the drawing on wood, which is called Ajami art, and stated that he learned to make this art and plant motifs and painting in Arabic calligraphy in the association, and became a trainer contributing to the revival of heritage, and that the exhibition is an important opportunity to market his products.
Artist Tala Naravyan participated in watercolor, oil and other paintings painted with pencils and charcoal, talking about the Armenian and Arab heritage and the neighborhoods of Aleppo and its citadel, pointing out that she participates to introduce people to the components of the rich Syrian heritage through painting because it constitutes the language of the world.
Samira Misto, who works in the craft of making the ancient traditional macrame, using colored threads and ropes to decorate the Koran, mirrors, clothes and jewelry, pointed out that she is working to develop this profession by adding beads and tree trunks to revive and preserve it.
Qusay Razzouk
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Aleppo Public Park

Currently, the number of craftsmen actively practicing traditional glassblowing is limited but resilient.

Artisans like Yassin Arab and Hussein Najjar have continued their work despite the difficulties, often recovering their workshops after conflict-related interruptions and passing skills from father to son.

Their passion underscores a broader cultural commitment among Syrian artisans to preserve this heritage as a symbol of social and artistic identity .

In conclusion, Syrian traditional glassblowing is a centuries-old artisanal craft integral to Syria's cultural identity and heritage.

Its survival is threatened by recent conflicts, economic pressures, and modern challenges, leading UNESCO to call for urgent safeguarding.

The craft’s rich history, distinctive techniques, and cultural significance make it an emblematic heritage at risk, emphasizing the necessity of international and local efforts to revive and maintain this ancient art form for future generations.

This background provides a valuable context for understanding the upcoming talk and demonstration of Syrian glassblowing techniques.