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Damascus – For years, Rania has been taking out her camera collecting and wandering the alleys of old Damascus, taking pictures of traditional Damascus houses, seeking to document their architecture and identity after several of them were neglected and inverted, and many others were severely damaged. during the war years.
Rania, 35, says: “My documentary idea was inspired by European photographers who were quick to document buildings in their cities during World War II, and engineers were able to reconstruct parts of them later, depending on documents from the photographers. “
Despite his specialization in the field of nutrition, documenting the heritage of Damascus has become a concern for years, especially after he established a Facebook group by the name of “Humans of Damascus” in 2016. The page attracted some 22,000 people interested in Damascene heritage and the thousands of photos that group members documented of their Damascene homes.
Rania believes that “documentation is not limited to experts”, hence her attempt to make the group “look more like a virtual documentary book with the lenses of those who live in these homes.”
The Damascene house usually consists of a narrow entrance called a corridor, which leads to a wide open space with several trees, in the middle of which is a circular lake covered with decorative stone.
On the sides are symmetrical wooden windows and doors for rooms whose ceiling is usually made of wooden columns aligned close to each other or covered with colorful decorations. Often, each house has two rooms, one for summer and one for winter.
Based on various factors, including photographs taken by Rania between 2016 and 2017, the official and private parties are currently cooperating to restore the old Quwatli house, which was inhabited by the former Damascena Quwatli family and from which the former Syrian president descended. Shukri al-Quwatli, who served as president twice between 1943 and 1958.
Inside the spacious house, which has two stories, cellars and a patio, Rania takes notes in a small notebook. And take more photos for every inch of graffiti on your walls and ceiling.
In 2016, the house suffered collapses after its walls were cracked by projectiles that fell in its vicinity, in addition to the weather and neglect.
Rania, who took part in a training course in Italy in 2017 titled “Crimes Against Art and Preservation of Heritage,” explains how during the war years, “the ancient cities of Homs and Aleppo were destroyed without being documented.”
He added: “I was afraid that Old Damascus would suffer the same fate, so I hastened to document its details.”
If the war had previously posed “the main threat to these households,” today it is “threatened with losing its identity by investing in profitable projects, or by carelessness and forgetfulness after the migration of its inhabitants,” according to Rania.
About two decades before the outbreak of the war, 61-year-old Raed Jabri converted the family’s inherited home into a popular restaurant, trying as much as possible to preserve his identity.
He says: “We would have lost the whole house as it was on the verge of collapse and needed large sums to repair it.”
After converting it into a restaurant in the early nineties, which allowed it to obtain stable financial returns, it was gradually restored. And it has become a destination for visitors to Damascus, especially foreign tourists and visitors, who today miss them because of the war.
It says: “The Damascene house is not restricted to its inhabitants, it is a tourist attraction, which was visited by all who went to Damascus to discover its beauty.”
Unlike those who invested their houses in profitable projects or neglected them, Samir Ghadban (50 years old) clings to his damascene house and pays great attention to “preserving it and taking care of its smallest details”, although the matter is expensive.
Ghadban, who has a doctorate in psychology and works in the field of commerce, says: “I have lived here with my wife for 12 years, in the same place where Prince Abdul Qadir al-Jazaery lived,” who was based in Damascus. after the French authorities exiled him out of Algeria in the year 1855, and then he died there. .
He adds, “I have sought to preserve the uniqueness of this house in honor of the people who followed it,” noting that its door is open to “any visitor who wants to see this art.”
