Syrian Jewels: Damascene Interiors in Context by Anke Scharrahs

Speaker: Anke Scharrahs, Shangri La Scholar-in-Residence
Where: Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
Damascus is one of the oldest and continuously inhabited cities in the world. Preserved in the Old City of Damascus are approximately three to four thousand historic, private houses of the late 17th through 19th centuries, ranging from small and simple residences to large opulent mansions. The interior spaces of these private houses were adorned with sophisticated decoration including opus sectile, tinted plaster, polychrome stone reliefs, murals, mother-of-pearl inlays, tiles, polychrome wooden paneling and ceilings, mirrors, stained glass and gypsum windows and textiles. The most lavishly adorned rooms of Arab homes were used as receptions rooms for guests, reflecting the cultivation and taste as well as the wealth and social status of the owner-builder. The complex decoration in such interiors has been subject of extensive study and documentation by Scharrahs, revealing the almost-forgotten original color scheme and interior and intended appearance, now often obscured by deterioration or later alterations. This lecture will introduce some of the hidden jewels or original interior decoration in Damascene homes and give an insight into the current situation of using and living in these houses.
Anke Scharrahs is a conservator specializing in polychrome wooden surfaces with a special interest in Islamic art. She trained at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in Germany and has been engaged in research and conservation of Syrian-Ottoman interiors for 15 years, both in museum collections and in historic houses in Germany, New York and Damascus. She is the author of the book Ajami Interiors: Forgotten Jewels of Interior Design published in 2013.

[@aidadalatisyriatraditional6875]

You presented my city Damascus and our splendid courtyard houses beautifully. Thank you

[@eddnash]

what a wonderful presentation

[@akazaynab]

This is the most beautiful kind of style I've ever seen, the furniture and the building itself flow like a poem, I want my future house like this!

[@r.a.8503]

Why do westerns see Damascus or Syria as a desert country ..this is absolutely wrong , Syria was never a desert country, Damascus,and the sounding other cities were always rich with its soil, and big Verity of greens and roses, lots of plants were stolen from Damascus to Europe and Turkey , Syria is Mediterranean country very much like Greece, Italy,Spain ..

[@hobonickel840]

makes me sad that some want to destroy this city to fulfill a prophesy ... Isaiah 17