Traditional glassblowing in Syria is a centuries-old artisanal craft with origins dating back more than two thousand years, to the time of the Phoenicians.

It has been especially practiced in key cultural centers like Damascus and Aleppo, where it developed into one of the country’s important plastic arts.

The craft was traditionally passed down through family generations, preserving distinctive techniques such as melting recycled glass at high temperatures, shaping it by blowing and rotating, and applying unique decorations using white, brown, and other colored oxides.

Syrian glassblowers create a variety of objects, including hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative cups, often reflecting Islamic motifs and the rich artistic heritage of the region.

In Damascus, traditional glassblowing is closely linked with other historic artisanal trades, collectively shaping the city's cultural identity.

The Sulaymaniyah Tekke, a 16th-century complex in Damascus, historically functioned as a hub for many handicraft artisans, including glassblowers, highlighting the craft's social and economic role in the community.

However, this heritage site and many artisan markets face modern threats such as urban redevelopment and economic hardship, impacting the sustainability of the craft and artisans’ livelihoods.

The cultural importance of Syrian glassblowing lies not only in its artistic and historical value but also as a living tradition that fosters community identity and continuity across generations.

Despite its long history, the number of artisans practicing traditional glassblowing in Syria has declined significantly due to ongoing conflict, economic pressures, displacement, and a diminishing transmission of skills to younger generations.

Some artisans strive to revive and sustain the craft, emphasizing its role in cultural preservation and the need to maintain this intangible heritage.

Traditional glassblowing in Syria is a centuries-old artisanal craft with origins dating back more than two thousand years, to the time of the Phoenicians.

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Content: Bella Hadid flashes her toned figure in shorts and a cropped sports top while showing off her creative side as she learns the art of glassblowing

It appears Bella Hadid has found a new hobby that showcases her artistic side.

On Sunday, the catwalk queen took to her Instagram page and posted a step-by-step video of herself making her own glass piece, using classic glassblowing technique in a workshop.

Considering the extreme temperatures it takes to make glass from beginning to end, Bella opted to keep her cloths to a minimum and wore skimpy white shorts with a cropped purple sports top.

Showing her creative side: Bella Hadid, 25, learned the classic art of glassblowing to make her own glass piece and posting a video on her Instagram page on Sunday

Glass is made from the process of heating sand to an extremely high temperature so that it turns into a moldable liquid. When it solidifies, a piece of glass is formed in whatever shape the creator has molded it into.

In the video, viewers will find Bella at the stage where she's working to shape the molten red hot material.

She can be seen sitting down and jabbing a long, sharp wrench-like tool with her scorching hot material, which was attached to a hollow blow pole about three feet long.

She was concerned with safety and wore goggles to protect her eyes.

Shaping: The video shows Bella at the stage where she's working to shape the molten red hot material that is attached to a blow pole

Working it: An instructor can be heard voicing a couple of tips as she spins that object around to the point where a small hole begins to form

Dose of heat: By the end of the first clip, Bella gets up and gives the hot material another dose of intense heat by placing it into a fiery furnace

An instructor can be heard voicing a couple of tips as she spins that object round and round to the point where a small hole begins to form.

By the end of the first clip, Bella gets up and gives the hot material another dose of intense heat by placing it into the fiery furnace.

For the next phase, the instructor assists Bella and slowly spins the blow pole while she sands down the still-molten red piece with two black blocks.

The heat is so intense that you can see steam floating into the air as they continue the sanding-down process.

Honing it: For the next phase, the instructor assists Bella and slowly spins the blow pole while she sands down the still molten red piece with two black blocks

Team work: Bella and the instructor work together to begin molding the molten hot object into shape with those two black blocks

Trippy: Bella gave her 53.7 million Instagram fans and followers a look at how her glass piece is looking at this stage of the process

More intense heat: At one point, the Washington, DC, native can be seen kneeling down using a small propane tank to heat up the object to make a few more changes

At one point, the Washington, DC, native can be seen kneeling down using a small propane tank to heat up the object to make a few more changes.

'Oh yeah, that's the one right there,' a man's voice from behind the camera can be heard saying as they continue to spin the object while jabbing it with that sharp tool.

As the process continues, Bella sits down, spinning the blow pole back and forth as it rests in a round plate that she holds with her right hand.

'It's a perfect shape,' the instructors says in encouragement.

'Here it is, ladies and gentlemen,' the man continues just as Bella gets up to blow into the pole to expand the molten hot material out to form some sort of glassware or vase.

Example: The catwalk queen drew out the shape of her piece she was trying to attain with chalk

Rounding it out: As the process continues, Bella sits down and spins the blow pole back and forth as it rests in a round plate that she holds with her right hand

Major phase: 'Here it is, ladies and gentlemen,' the man from behind the camera continues as Bella starts blowing into the pole

Expanding: Bella then process of blowing into the pole to expand the molten material out to form some sort of glassware

Old technique: Glassblowing is the practice of shaping a mass of glass that has been softened by heat by blowing air into it through a tube, or in this case a pole

The final clips shows a closeup of Bella spinning the glass while adding a few intricate touches to the piece with a prong-like tool.

Glassblowing is the practice of shaping a mass of glass that has been softened by heat by blowing air into it through a tube

It was was invented by Syrian craftsmen in the area of Sidon, Aleppo, Hama and Palmyra in the 1st century BC, according to Britannica.

The technique has remained essentially the same to the present day.

Ancient art form: Glassblowing was was invented by Syrian craftsmen in the area of Sidon, Aleppo, Hama and Palmyra in the 1st century bc, according to Britannica

Lovin' it: The glassblowing technique has remained basically the same to the present day

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Bella Hadid flashes her toned figure in shorts and a crop top while learning the art of glassblowing

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It has been especially practiced in key cultural centers like Damascus and Aleppo, where it developed into one of the country’s important plastic arts.

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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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Umm Elias Museum of Traditional Crafts in the Damascus neighborhood of Hanania

The craft was traditionally passed down through family generations, preserving distinctive techniques such as melting recycled glass at high temperatures, shaping it by blowing and rotating, and applying unique decorations using white, brown, and other colored oxides.

Syrian glassblowers create a variety of objects, including hookah bottles, vases, plates, and decorative cups, often reflecting Islamic motifs and the rich artistic heritage of the region.

In Damascus, traditional glassblowing is closely linked with other historic artisanal trades, collectively shaping the city's cultural identity.

Title:

Content: Red Sea Festival in Jeddah
Arab culture in 2023.
Achievements and Creations
The year 2023 witnessed a large number of important cultural events in the Arab world. In addition to the periodic film, theater and visual festivals and book fairs, there was a real presence of creative ideas and new initiatives not witnessed in the cultural arena in previous years.
The sixth edition of the Cultural Summit was held in Manarat Al Saadiyat under the theme ‘ A Matter of Time ’, to explore how culture is changing the world ’ s perception of time, alongside the Al Hosn Festival, which documents the heritage of this ancient city.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, one of the top 10 literary festivals around the world, also kicked off in Dubai, UAE, and hosted more than 260 writers, creators and thought leaders from around the world and the Arab world in more than 300 events covering all topics, such as literature, arts, culture and more.
Saudi Arabia launched the Culture Index in the Islamic World project, which monitors the transformation of the cultural landscape and its development and documents its achievements in Islamic countries within four dimensions and axes: “Culture for Economic Development, Culture for Environment, Climate and Resilience, Culture for Social Development, and Culture for Openness and Diversity. ”
Red Sea Film Festival selects 17 films for its official competition
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RIFF), the first international film festival in Saudi Arabia, was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in early December. In addition to film screenings and competitions, the festival will feature “Talent Days ”, which will provide specialized discussion sessions and orientation workshops for filmmakers who are passionate about learning the craft and enhancing their skills and artistic tools.
In the context of cinema, the year 2023 witnessed Arab participation in a number of film festivals, most notably the Cannes Film Festival, which witnessed the culmination of three Arab films in the "Some Look" competition dedicated to encouraging young talents in the field of film.
The Moroccan film "Hunting Dogs" by Kamal Lazrak won the jury award, the Moroccan director Asma Al-Mader won the directing award for her documentary "White Lie", while the Sudanese film "Goodbye Julia" by Mohamed Kordafani won the freedom award, the first participation of a Sudanese film in this prestigious festival.
At the Berlin Film Festival, the Lebanese film “Yarqa ” for the sisters Michel and Manuel Ksarwani won the“ Golden Bear for Best Short Film ”, while the Yemeni director Amr Jamal ’ s “The Tired ” won the Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the same festival.
In the field of literature, the winning of the Iraqi novelist Firat al-Ani Award for Arabic Literature, presented by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation and the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, for his novel “I Remember Fallujah ”. Similarly, the Omani novelist Zahran Al Qasimi won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction“ Poker ” for his novel “Taghriba Al Qaffer ”. The novel.
In an earlier interview with Erm News...
How did Zahran Al Qasimi predict that his novel would win poker?
Continuing the literary prizes, Ashraf Ashmawy of Egypt won two prizes from Katara of Qatar, while Mohammed Al Yahyaei of Oman won the prize for his novel “The War ”.
As for the intangible cultural heritage, the inclusion of the Syrian glass blowing element on UNESCO ’ s lists of urgent conservation is a milestone achieved by Damascus.
The losses of Arab creators remain a milestone in the scene, including, for example, the Lebanese composer Elie Choueiri, the Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa, and the pioneer of children ’ s literature in Egypt Yacoub Sharouni.
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The Sulaymaniyah Tekke, a 16th-century complex in Damascus, historically functioned as a hub for many handicraft artisans, including glassblowers, highlighting the craft's social and economic role in the community.

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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

However, this heritage site and many artisan markets face modern threats such as urban redevelopment and economic hardship, impacting the sustainability of the craft and artisans’ livelihoods.

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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

The cultural importance of Syrian glassblowing lies not only in its artistic and historical value but also as a living tradition that fosters community identity and continuity across generations.

Title:

Content: A year of hard work to document and preserve the Syrian tangible and intangible heritage locally and internationally
Damascus-Sana
The Syrian heritage, both tangible and intangible, forms an important pillar within the World Heritage system, and is a key factor in strengthening the cultural identity of the Syrian people, building the present and protecting the future.
During 2022, the Ministry of Culture and its concerned institutions, in particular the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums and the Directorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage, focused on organizing a series of events and seminars and signing a series of agreements related to the importance and mechanisms of preserving this heritage in its various components.
Among the most important Syrian activities and works related to tangible and intangible heritage during 2022 are:
During the year, Syria held several discussions on the loan of Syrian artifacts damaged during the terrorist war on Syria for restoration and display in the Sultanate of Oman, and signed a joint statement on cooperation to preserve cultural heritage with the People ’ s Republic of China.
Syria participated in the International Forum of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Russian city of Kazan, and the Scientific Conference on Archaeology in the Hungarian capital, and participated in a virtual lecture within the international conference on the protection of the Syrian cultural heritage after the war.
– The archaeological missions returned to excavations in 2022, including the joint Syrian-Italian archaeological mission, which began its work for the first season at the archaeological site of Amrit, and the discovery of a funerary burial and some archaeological finds and discoveries dating back to the Roman era in Amrit by the joint excavation team between the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums and the Department of Tartus Antiquities.
– The national expertise of the Directorate General of Antiquities worked to expand the work to discover the entire rare archaeological mosaic painting in the city of Rastan, which dates back to the Roman era, and reached a length of 20 meters and a width of 6 meters.
– Completion of the restoration work of the Arc de Triomphe in the ancient city of Palmyra, which was destroyed by terrorist organizations in 2015, and the second phase of the restoration project began with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Directorate of Antiquities, the Syrian Secretariat and the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Russian Federation.
– Holding a workshop “Restoring Syrian Heritage and Reviving Local Communities ” at Expo 2020 Dubai, in which local, Arab and international bodies specialized in antiquities participated.
– In the National Museum in Damascus and in tribute to the lives and sacrifices of about 27 martyrs who rose during the terrorist war on Syria in defense of the Syrian cultural heritage, an exhibition of recovered archaeological treasures 3 entitled (Salute to the martyrs of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums) was opened within the days of Syrian culture.
– The opening of a painting exhibition entitled “Restoration of Syrian Heritage by Theo Vitit ’ s Vision ” at the National Museum in Damascus, which is a painting of restoration and excavation works in Syrian archaeological sites, painted by the Dutch artist and archaeologist Theo Vitit in 2018 and 2021, and was presented in the Netherlands to introduce the Western community to what happened to the Syrian cultural heritage.
In Damascus Castle, the first national screening of the film Siriacus Section, directed by Olivier Bourgeois, was launched in 2022 in cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, and the Syrian Trust for Development. The film, which won more than 17 international awards, talks about the solidarity of a small group of archaeologists and museum curators with the escalation of the terrorist war on Aleppo in 2015. The National Museum of Aleppo.
The Directorate of Antiquities, in cooperation with the European Center for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments and the Department of Antiquities at the University of Damascus, organized a digital exhibition on historical mosaics in Syria, entitled “Syria is still the source of arts ”.
– The beginning of the year witnessed the return of five Syrian destructive artifacts to the National Museum in Damascus at the initiative of the management of the Naboo Museum in Beirut, and the pieces are various funerary destructive statues from the collections of the Naboo Museum previously purchased from European auction houses.
The second leg of the Syrian Antiquities Exhibition, entitled “The Wonderful Syria ”, was opened in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, southwest China, which lasted until May. During this period, special scientific seminars and cultural events were held in connection with the exhibition, in which the Department of Antiquities and Museums participated with 195 important artifacts and collections of Syrian museums.
In 2022, the Directorate of Intangible Cultural Heritage has been active in most governorates, focusing on monitoring, studying and documenting the national intangible heritage and preparing the necessary plans to search for, study and inventory the elements of this heritage and include them in the national register, in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental institutions, local communities and international organizations.
The Directorate of Heritage organized a workshop on Syrian intangible cultural heritage at Al-Assad National Library, in preparation for the development of a national strategy for intangible cultural heritage in Syria.
– The project (Windows 5) was organized, whose musical evenings varied between documentation and promotion of Syrian heritage songs, and many heritage festivals were held in the provinces.
– The project of documenting the elements of the Syrian intangible heritage in ancient Homs, implemented by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Syrian Secretariat and civil society, was launched in 2022 to preserve the elements of this heritage, and work continued on the project of documenting the elements of the intangible heritage in Tartus province.
Within the framework of the implementation of the plan to preserve the element of the theater of shadow imagination Karkouz and Aiwaz after registration on the list of urgent conservation of the world humanitarian heritage at UNESCO, the Syrian Secretariat for Development continued the third professional training after Damascus and Suwayda, for youth cadres in the city of Aleppo.
The Syrian Secretariat for Development has developed the “Living Heritage ” program with the local community in Aleppo governorate, the main axes for the preservation of the Aleppo cod, which was registered on the Representative List of Human Heritage at UNESCO by the end of 2021 with the participation of a group of governmental and civil authorities, artists, musicians, researchers and interested in the Arab, musical and art of cod.
At the international level:
Syria has been elected vice-president of the ninth session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for a two-year term 2022-2024.
Syria participated in the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, Mondiacult 2022, in Mexico.
– In 2022, a scientific research by the son of the city of Aleppo, Antoine Makdis, related to how to recover from the effects of war through independent cultural production based on intangible cultural heritage won the first place in the competition of the Foundation of Santgrata, specialized in the Italian cultural economy.
– An integrated archaeological project in the Baal Shemin Temple in Palmyra has been shortlisted for the third cycle of ICCROM Sharjah Award for the Conservation and Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Arab Region 2020-2022.
Rasha Mahfoudh and Mays Al-Ani
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Despite its long history, the number of artisans practicing traditional glassblowing in Syria has declined significantly due to ongoing conflict, economic pressures, displacement, and a diminishing transmission of skills to younger generations.

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From bangles to bottles: the changing face of Firozabad’s glass industry

April 28, 2024 06:15 pm | Updated 06:15 pm IST

Firozabad, which was once the largest producer of glass bangles in the world, has shrunk its production by about 50% in the last decade, resulting from a dip in demand due to a cultural shift among women and a mandated change to cleaner fuel and its rising costs. The Hindu explores how manufacturers have shifted to the mechanised production of glass bottles in order to keep thriving

In the back lanes of Firozabad’s Imam Bara bangle mandi (market) in western Uttar Pradesh, a dozen clay bhattis (furnaces) burn inside the Nadar Bux & Co. glass factory. Built by Aijaz Azeem’s grandfather in 1948, it has a capacity to hold 80 kg of recyclable waste glass piled in glistening mounds — golden-brown, yellow, red — along with a concoction of sand, soda, chemicals, and colouring agents. The bhattis burn round the clock at 1,200 degrees Celsius. Azeem, who is in his sixties, says, “People of my generation just took on what our parents had started. My children don’t want to work here. There just isn’t enough money anymore.”

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In the rudimentary factory, open from all four sides, men called gulliwalas carry red hot gobs of glass on long metallic pipes. They walk them across the mud-and-brick floor of the karkhana casually, either taking the glass to the fire or carrying it away to dump onto the small glass hills. Amid the din, rhythmic bustle and heat, some pull out the molten glass from inside the furnace and hand it over to the karigars, who wrap it like a thick wire around a muttha (iron rod) and skilfully rotate it on a motor to form glass coils. Each muttha will yield 368 bangles. Every day, Azeem’s factory churns out 38,000 to 64,000 bangles, going over 1.5 lakh bangles during festivals.

Watch | The changing face of Firozabad’s glass industry

A man warms a roti on the hot coils that will later become red bangles at a bride’s wedding or a Karva Chauth celebration. Bangles are everywhere: they hang from wires on dusty windows, they are placed as weights over matkas, or lie on the ground in shards. A lone woman worker, Bijrani, swiftly clears the floor of the broken pieces to be put back in the furnace for recycling.

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Changing times

Until about two decades ago, Firozabad was known as Suhaagnagari (suhaag meaning a sign of being married; nagari, a town). Before glass bangles from Firozabad began featuring on global online stores like Etsy in a rebrand that deemed them ‘cool’, they were, in the Indian tradition, a sign of being married, with the maximum number being worn by brides and newly-married women.

Today, the city of 20 lakh people is called the Kaanchnagari (glass town), as the demand for glass bangles has dipped to one-fifth from the early 80s. Simultaneously, there was a rise in the production of glass bottles, mainly for alcohol, and other glassware like lights and home accessories.

Given the sector’s unorganised nature, there is a lack of official data, but according to a member of the Uttar Pradesh Glass Manufacturers’ Federation, trade estimates indicate that Firozabad’s bangle industry may now be less than ₹1,000 crore. On the other hand, the turnover of the entire glass industry is pegged at more than ₹15,000 crore, according to a member of All India Glass Manufactures Federation (AIGMF).

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The number of bhattis that handcraft bangles or use the mouth-blown process to mould decorative glass and tableware has reduced from 180-odd to 60 today, according to Devendra Sah, former director of Centre for Development of Glass Industry (CDGI). “The manual art industry is dying out and other businesses of glass products have come up,” he says, adding that there are three reasons for this. One, technology has allowed mass production of glass bottles, yielding a higher income, while bangles still need to be handmade. Secondly, traders and manufacturers say that as women’s incomes go up, their preference for glass jewellery has been replaced by more expensive metal ornaments. The third is a more complex reason.

Technological changes

Azeem’s bhattis are about 40 km from Agra, where in the 80s, people began to see the yellowing of the Taj Mahal. Conservationists began to report ‘marble cancer’ — the erosion of the stone through acid rain.

In 1986, lawyer and environmentalist M.C. Mehta filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court (SC), seeking protection of the Taj Mahal from environmental pollution. In December 1996, the SC directed industries in the 10,400 sq km Taj Trapezium Zone (encompassing Mathura-Firozabad-Makhanpur-Agra) to shut down, relocate, or opt for a technology upgrade in order to prevent the yellowing of the monument’s marble structure. This impacted over 1,000 small to big karkhanas. The technology upgrade involved switching the running of furnaces from firewood and coal to natural gas.

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With the government mandating gas furnaces and the SC deciding on a sanctioned quota (4,000 metric cube to 30,000 metric cube per day depending on the unit size) at a subsidised rate from GAIL, the bhattis were compelled to switch to this cleaner fuel by 2006. Gas, as a fuel, was more expensive than coal or wood, and the whole industry came to be more government-regulated. A fallout of this was that the small, individual bangle bhatti owners no longer found their businesses viable and began to shut down.

In Nagla Bhau industrial estate, several old families of Firozabad came together to form Rachna Industries in partnership. Here, they provide bhattis on rent in eight-hour shifts to manufacturers of crockery, lamps, and other glassware, using the traditional mouth-blown process. About 50 skilled karigars stand in a circle on a raised platform, raising metal pipes with a stream of molten glass at the end. They blow air into the hollow pipe at the other end, then drop the glass into an iron mould to take the shape of a vase or a bell jar.

Rajesh Sharma, with his grandfather Srichandra Yadav, is one of those who shut down his family-owned coal-based bangle bhatti and shifted to the rented gas furnace, hiring daily-wage workers to make glass products on order for the domestic and global market. “Though small scale, it is easy on us this way, as we now manufacture glass products only when we receive a bulk order. In the off-season, we focus on wheat and potato farming,” he says, seated in his office, where he shows off pictures of glass columns as tall as 10 feet — an order from a wedding decorator.

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“Initially, gas was offered at ₹4 per metric cube under the Administered Pricing Mechanism. The cost of fuel rose to ₹12 per metric cube when GAIL changed its policy to Uniform Pricing in 2012, and the average rate of gas got revised periodically, benefitting bigger units,” says Parsa, a member of CDGI’s governing council. “Between 2022, when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, and now, the cost of gas has touched ₹42 per metric cube, making the bangle business non-profitable,” he adds.

From bhatti to bazaar

Across Firozabad, pushcarts with half-done bangles zig-zag through bylanes. The bangles, which take at least a month to make, are delivered to women workers who do the sikai-judai-sajai (heating, sealing, decorating) in their homes.

Down a narrow gali from the Nagla Bari intersection in Nasir Ganj, Shanin Begum lives with her three children and husband. While he makes ₹300 a day in a glass-bangle factory, she says she earns ₹13 per katta (300 bangles) for the job. “Depending on the trader’s requirement and my time, I finish up to 300 kattas in a month,” she says.

Shanin uses a toothpick to create patterns of dots and lines on each bangle with thick multani mitti paste. The work is time consuming, says Shanin, but she often sits through the night to complete it, or will ask her daughters to help her in the evening. “I want to give my children a decent life,” she says, sitting on the terrace of their two-room home. The larger house is shared with other families; the other women do the same job.

After drying, the bangles are sent back to the bhatti for a final polish before they reach traders’ godowns. Here, they are then bound into a few dozen for sale in the market.

The Imam Bara bangle mandi is a world unto itself. The bangles tinkle and shine against the morning light as the wholesale market opens daily at 6 a.m. Here, a whole guchha (several dozens) can cost as little as ₹100. Buyers come from across the country for bulk purchases, and the cacophony of selling, bargaining, buying and packing falls silent by 10 a.m., after which the streets are taken over by regular life.

The glitter and jingle returns when the churi (bangle) bazaars in Bohran Gali, Purani mandi, Nalband crossing and Suhas Nagar come alive in the evening. “Business is down by more than 50%,” says Rajiv Gupta, a third-generation bangle shop owner, who makes ₹40,000 a month selling bangles from the small shop built by his grandfather in 1940. “The churis, depending on the colour [red and green sell the most] and the work done on them, sell for ₹15 to ₹60 a dozen,” he says, lamenting that young women no longer want to wear them. “They prefer plastic, metal, or lac ones now,” he points out, adding that earlier, glass bangles were a part of the culture of weddings, godh bharais (baby showers), and daily wear.

“We have catered to customers not only across India but also in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and the Indian diaspora across Saudi Arabia, Europe, U.K., and the U.S.,” says his neighbour Mohamed Ali, a bangle seller of 28 years.

Next door, a woman from Ajmer bargains loudly with Jagmohan, who tells her that the price of bangles is already low. “Now, mostly older women follow the tradition of wearing glass bangles on festivals like Karva Chauth, Teej, and Id,” he says.

New businesses for old

Third-generation manufacturers at Pooja Glass Industries, Chaitanya Singh and Ashish Bansal, both in their twenties, explain that as the bangle industry struggled, many glass manufacturers sought to transform their businesses. “We had 10 small bhattis but our families decided to take a leap and invest in fully-automated big furnaces in partnership. It opened our business links with the alcohol, food and cosmetics industries,” says Singh, ambitious for Firozabad’s future. Behind his office chair is an array of bottles, some machine-made, some mouth-blown, many quirky.

Close to midnight, their factory belts out bottles made to hold a variety of wares, from alcohol and water to jams and sauces. One conveyer belt has just nail polish bottles, another goli soda, yet another, bottles of a popular rum brand. The German-imported individual section machine set for six different moulds speedily shapes the glass that drops from furnace to feeder. Within seconds, a finished product emerges, and is cooled and quality-checked.

From December 2023 to February 2024, Pooja, which is also the main supplier for Seagram, manufactured 75 lakh rum bottles. They have a summer order of 15 million goli soda bottles. They have, in the past, also manufactured from 3 lakh to 50 lakh honey bottles in a day, among other items from their portfolio of 400 products. The bangle business pales in comparison.

Devendra Sah, who in the past has encouraged glass artists like Reshmi Dey, who runs Glass Sutra, and Nandini Datta of Studio Glasshopper to bring innovation to the industry, says more than half of Firozabad’s population is engaged in the glass industry and more than 70% of the workforce has migrated from the bhattis to automated bottle-making units. In the Pooja factory, 2,000 workers are employed in three shifts for the 150-tonne capacity furnace.

“Today, 80% of all utility-based glass products for the domestic market is produced in Firozabad. More than 50% of all glass products, from lanterns and headlight lamps to float glass for cars, filaments for thermos flasks to premium liquor bottles and crockery, are major export items now,” says Bansal, enthusiastic about the new turn the industry has taken.

Ashish says alcohol bottles now constitute 80% of all glass products produced in Firozabad, so the industry is B2B (business-to-business) driven. His uncle Rahul Singh, who buys raw glass in Firozabad and cuts, shapes, and embellishes it in Moradabad, customising bell and candle jars for his clients Anthropologie and Curios overseas, says the export market has grown from ₹200 crore to ₹1,000 crore in the last 12 years.

Challenges remain

Devansh Gupta, managing director of Tiger & Sons Glass, which makes the inner insulated layers of thermos flasks for markets across the world, says there is a shortage of skilled workers, especially glass blowers. Also plaguing the industry is the pricing and shortage of raw materials like silica, quartz, borax, limestone, calcite, feldspar, and dolomite, which come from Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.

The price of soda ash, too, has doubled post-COVID-19. “China, the main competitor in the global market, has reserves of iron-free silica sand (known to produce better quality clear white glass); we don’t. Chinese manufacturers also get better support from their government in terms of bank loan rates,” he explains.

Gupta adds that businesses are impacted by global factors as well, such as economic downturns, wars (like the Israel-Hamas conflict), and natural calamities. “When cargo ships avoid certain routes, transportation costs spike,” he says, referring to the Red Sea-Suez Canal route impacted by Houthi militants, which has forced ships to go around Africa, adding two weeks to travel time.

A core challenge that remains is the consumer’s shift away from glass to plastic. “Be it the fragile bangles or bottles for storing carbonated beverages, water, or pharma products, there is a need to restore the buyers’ confidence in the benefits of using glass,” says the CDGI director Sanjeev Chellamani.

Though many Indian manufacturers hope the cost of fuel becomes an electoral matter, there is hardly any talk of it.

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Some artisans strive to revive and sustain the craft, emphasizing its role in cultural preservation and the need to maintain this intangible heritage.

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Syrian Oud on UNESCO ’ s List of Cultural Heritage
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has inscribed the Syrian oud on its list of intangible cultural heritage for its unique sound and intricately handcrafted curves.
Although the oud machine is present throughout the region, the Syrian oud is known for its pure tones and unique and harmonious sounds.
Tony Tawil, who is one of the makers of the oud, said: "Many composers whose melodies are made on the oud, they do not use a second instrument because the oud plays more than 200 maqām, which gives the mark, half the mark, a quarter of the mark, and half the mark other than the guitar, which gives you the sound and half the sound."
"When we hit the chord, the chord recoil enters the cavity and then comes back out of the holes, the chord must be accurately occupied and the wood is correct and dry until it gives more resonance and the mark comes out pure and there is purity in the chord sound," he said.
But the oud industry was hit hard by the war and economic crisis in the years that followed, with demand for musical instruments declining.
With the oud inscribed on UNESCO ’ s list of intangible cultural heritage, the Syrian Secretariat for Development will cooperate with the International Organization for the Support of Artisans in promoting and selling their products in order to preserve the industry.
Rasha Barhoum, executive assistant of the Living Heritage Program of the Syrian Secretariat for Development, said:
This year the conservation plan will be launched and in the coming years there will certainly be bigger projects. ”
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