Global Arab Network | Syria: Brocade & Damasko - Ancient Professions Bequeathed by Families

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Syria: Brocade & Damasko - Ancient Professions Bequeathed by Families

- Mokhtar Thabet

Wednesday, 16 June 2010 00:47

Damascus, (SANA)-''I have been practicing this profession for more than 30 years and my family for more than a decade… Some tourists even ask me about silk textile made in Damascus, silver trays and carpets'', says Sobhi al-Khayyat, an Orientals shop keeper.

Old Damascus is an attractive destination for tourists who want to purchase Syrian handicrafts known as Orientals, a profession bequeathed by families down the generations, mainly the copper industry, engraving and inlaying silver since the Mamluk era.

Al-Khayyat said tourists keep most of the handicrafts such as Damasko silk, Brocaded silk, Alaghabani and the hand-made glass.

He put the number of Orientals shops at 200 distributed in old Damascus. Keepers of the workshops involved in this industry monopolize it, keeping it within certain families, given that they exist only in Damascus as is the case with the Mosaic industry ''engraving wood and inlaying it with shells''.

''We have been working in mosaic for more than 100 years. Tourists from Morocco and Europe are attracted to this industry…Some Gulf tourists obtain the Damascene mosaic'', said the Antique House shop keeper Samir Sinan. Sinan added that the history of mosaic industry dates back to 600 years.

He added that the Turks and the Damascenes manufactured the mosaic that currently exists in Istanbul and Hagia Sophia. Some pieces were sold in the best world auctions, says Sinan, and the greatest masterpieces auctions depend on the Damascene mosaic.

Owner of a natural silk brocade factory, Abdulkarim al-Assil, said the natural silk brocade is only made in Damascus, adding that Queen of Britain Elizabeth once made her wedding dress of the Damascene brocade.

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