The Aleppo ProjectThe Aleppo Weekly is a compilation of what CCNR staff found to be the week’s most compelling stories, images, videos, and other resources that provide information about the life in the Syrian city, analyze the conflict that is destroying it, and help residents plan for their future. The weekly follows topics of interest to the Center’s researchers, and has a special focus on those displaced from the city and others whose voices are rarely heard when it comes to peacemaking or reconstruction.
read more2015
All posts from 2015
Friday’s Fool
by Yahya Al-Abdullah on November 13, 2015Before the conflict in Syria, on any busy street in Aleppo on a Friday morning you would see a long queue in front of one small shop. Everyone in the line, including children, would be carrying a big bowl and would be waiting to take home fool, the traditional breakfast of choice for the people of Aleppo.
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November 2-8
by The Aleppo Project on November 10, 2015The Aleppo Weekly is a compilation of what the Center for Conflict, Negotiation and Recovery staff found to be the week’s most compelling stories, images, videos, and other resources that provide information about life in the Syrian city, analyze the conflict that is destroying it, and help residents plan for their future. The weekly follows topics of interest to the Center’s researchers, and has a special focus on those displaced from the city and others whose voices are rarely heard when it comes to peacemaking or reconstruction.
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Aleppo Soap
by The Aleppo Project on November 6, 2015Europe owes much to cities like Aleppo. We owe the city for being a storehouse of classical knowledge when much of it disappeared from Europe. We owe it the Old Testament of the King James Bible, thought to be substantially drawn from the Aleppo Codex, a Jewish text that spent eight centuries in the city. On a more mundane level, we all owe something to Aleppo for a product we use every day: soap.
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October 26 – November 1
by The Aleppo Project on November 2, 2015The Aleppo Weekly is a compilation of what the Center for Conflict, Negotiation and Recovery staff found to be the week’s most compelling stories, images, videos, and other resources that provide information about life in the Syrian city, analyze the conflict that is destroying it, and help residents plan for their future. The weekly follows topics of interest to the Center’s researchers, and has a special focus on those displaced from the city and others whose voices are rarely heard when it comes to peacemaking or reconstruction
read moreCultural Marriage: The Syrian Eagle and the Armenian Star
by The Aleppo Project on November 2, 2015
Image 1: Pillowcase with the Syrian Eagle and the eight-edged star
Armenians, like other minorities in Syria, have contributed to and been influenced by Syrian culture, symbols and history. After the Armenian Genocide in 1915, several hundred thousand Armenians deported from Turkey adopted Syria as their new home. Shortly afterwards, in September 1918, the last Ottoman troops left Syria and Faisal Bin Hussain from the Hashemite dynasty became its king. The French mandate ended the independent kingdom of Syria on 24 July 1920. For 26 years, the Syrians struggled to gain their full independence and finally on 17 April 1946, the Syrian Republic emerged. During the early years of independence, a handmade pillowcase was found in Aleppo where the unknown Armenian artist interestingly combined two symbols, one Syrian and one Armenian. As shown in the image (1) below, the finely crafted needlework shows an eagle – the Syrian independence emblem – circled by flowers. Below the eagle, in Arabic script, the artist wrote Al-Jumhuriye al-Suriye, the Syrian Republic. Given the time this piece was made, this is a clear indication of a celebration of independence.
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October 19-25
by The Aleppo Project on October 27, 2015The Aleppo Weekly is a compilation of what the Center for Conflict, Negotiation and Recovery staff found to be the week’s most compelling stories, images, videos, and other resources that provide information about life in the Syrian city, analyze the conflict that is destroying it, and help residents plan for their future. The weekly follows topics of interest to the Center’s researchers, and has a special focus on those displaced from the city and others whose voices are rarely heard when it comes to peacemaking or reconstruction
read moreInterview with Aleppian photographer Karam Al-Masri
by The Aleppo Project on October 19, 2015
Karam al-Masri’s story is both familiar in war torn Aleppo and extraordinary. A second-year law student in 2011, he has emerged as one of the most widely distributed and acclaimed news photographers covering the destruction of the city. His is a common story of the Syrian revolution where many young people had to leave their educations and professions to take part in some way in the uprising. But Karam’s efforts to document the death of Aleppo has brought him to international attention as a photographer for Agence France-Presse.
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October 12-18
by The Aleppo Project on October 18, 2015The Aleppo Weekly is a compilation of what the Center for Conflict, Negotiation and Recovery staff found to be the week’s most compelling stories, images, videos, and other resources that provide information about life in the Syrian city, analyze the conflict that is destroying it, and help residents plan for their future. The weekly follows topics of interest to the Center’s researchers, and has a special focus on those displaced from the city and others whose voices are rarely heard when it comes to peacemaking or reconstruction.
read moreThe story of a traditional Aleppian house
by Dr. Ahmad Adib Shaar on October 16, 2015
When I bought and renovated a house in the Old City of Aleppo, I was asked by the Syrian Engineers Syndicate to assess the experience. I told the cultural committee represented by Mr. Khaldoun Fansa that I would follow an Arab expression that you don’t make a judgment on something for a year and seven months. After that time I gave this lecture to the Syndicate. It has been translated, edited and updated and now also includes the view of two of my children.
I was born in 1950 in what we call an “Arabic house,” a stone building built around a courtyard, sheltered from its neighbors and housing just one family. It was in the Al Bustan area of Aleppo, by the southern gate of the Saray palace and just inside the eastern wall of the old city. We left in 1954 to live in al-Ansari in a house that was similar to an Arabic house in that we lived there alone without neighbors above or below us.
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