LONDON – UK-based Syrian sculptor Zahed Tajeddin worries about the heritage sites back in his home country. “Syria is like an open-air museum,” he says. “There are on record more than 10,000 archaeological sites.”
Six of Syria’s most important and symbolic sites are UNESCO listed. All of them have been damaged by gunfire, rockets and mortars.
The country’s mosques in particular, with their high vantage points and fortress-like architecture, have become all too attractive to both government and rebel forces, leaving sacred places like the Grand Mosque of Aleppo bearing a closer resemblance to a construction site, filled with rubble and minarets tumbled to the ground.
Government forces have based their troops in the minarets still standing, Tajeddin tells Rudaw, with snipers on guard at the top of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus exchanging gunfire, destroying the historic building and its gold-painted facade.
“The rebels took over the Al-Madiq Castle near Apamea, a Greek-Roman town and beautiful archaeological site. They took it over because it’s on high ground. The government bombarded it and now it’s become like a frontline. Everyday there’s an exchange of rockets and firing.”
Syria’s biggest city, Aleppo, has for centuries been a hub for trade. Today, it makes headlines for its role as a frontline in the revolution. Situated strategically at the end of the “Silk Road,” it has attracted merchants for centuries, beginning with those travelling along the route from China, Mesopotamia, Europe, the Fertile Crescent and Egypt.
From the 13th century until now, Aleppo’s souks have been the lifeblood of the city. The 13-kilometer covered market is one of the largest in the world, with thousands of traders earning their daily bread selling everything from spices to copper and clothing.
But, three years of shelling and crossfire have ravaged the bazaar, taking out swathes of shops and forcing more than a thousand traders to walk away from their livelihoods.
London-based Tajeddin has teamed up with British author Diana Darke and the Global Heritage Fund to raise awareness of the risks to Syria’s substantial and symbolic historical sites. The Fund works to protect, preserve and sustain significant and endangered cultural heritage sites in the developing world.
Darke, an Arabist, restored a home in Damascus and recently wrote a book from her unique perspective of the conflict.
“All the houses in Damascus are packed with people who have lost their homes,” Darke says, including her own, which has housed refugees and friends throughout the revolution. It’s that very desperation which comes from losing a home and an income, which has contributed to the vulnerability of the precious antiquities that have fallen prey to looting.
Darke explains, “If you’ve just lost your livelihood and you can make a bit of money from something you’ve dug up from the ground, who wouldn’t? Everyone has to do what they can to survive in war.”
Much of the damage to the artefacts and buildings can be repaired; many have already weathered natural disasters, and wear-and-tear. But plundering is another story.
“People don’t even know what’s there,” Darke says, making it easy for opportunistic treasure-seekers to conduct illegal digs.
At the Lebanese border crossing, smugglers attempt to take valuable antiquities out of Syria to sell on the European and American markets. Tajeddin says two truckloads were recently stopped and sent back, but countless others have made it through, fuelling the appetite for those willing to take the risk, and also providing a hefty sum for professionals like the jihadist Islamic State (ISIS).
It’s been reported that trafficked antiquities earned the extremist faction $36 million from just one pillaged area.
UNESCO, the UN arm that aims to safeguard cultural sites around the world, is cracking down on border crossings of illicit ancient objects. It has petitioned the UN Security Council to de-militarize cultural sites and outlaw the sale of Syrian antiquities.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon claims the illicit trade is happening at “unprecedented levels.” And, there are now plans to establish a UNESCO monitoring station in Beirut to assess the condition of Syria’s most valuable buildings and artefacts, and share information among stakeholders.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement, “protecting culture today is essential for building peace tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Tajeddin says young Syrian archaeologists are working independently to do just that, by photographing each of the country’s sacred sites, hoping to serve as a guide for the eventual restoration of Syria’s treasured monuments to history.
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