Aleppo Archives - Page 4 of 5 - The Aleppo Project

Restoring Public Services to Aleppo—Our first data snapshot

by The Aleppo Project on December 18, 2015

We know that many Syrians who have been forced from their homes are passionate about their country and are already playing a role in its future. When refugees and people who were forced to leave eventually return home, they often suffer a second displacement when they are pushed aside by reconstruction processes that ignore their needs and plans. By gathering information from as wide a range of people as possible, we hope to challenge many of the assumptions about how reconstruction should be managed.

Over the next several months, we will post data snapshots highlighting different visions for Aleppo’s future. Our first snapshot is about restoring public services to rebel-held areas of the city.

The Road To al-Jamiliyeh

by Armenak Tokmajyan on December 16, 2015

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We often think of cities as their streets and buildings but they are also a collection of journeys. These can be the daily commute or a trip to a market, journeys so routine, so automatic that we barely register them. But when you leave a city and cannot return, those urban trails take on a deeper significance; the stops along the way take on an importance in your memory that they lacked before.

The reconstruction of Beirut: Lessons for Aleppo

by The Aleppo Project on November 24, 2015

There are many lessons for Aleppo from what happened in Beirut:

• Rebuilding driven by the few for the few will fail.
• The core values must be accountability and transparency.
• Aleppo should not focus on investor-led fantasies of what the city might be but concentrate on rebuilding families, their businesses and the local economy.
• Economic resilience should be a key part of any reconstruction.
• Rebuilding the city centre is essential, but so is an integrated plan for the whole city.
• Reconstruction will not mend deep political divisions, but can be used to rebuild common public spaces that promote reconciliation.
• Democratic control may mean reconstruction takes longer, but it will be done better and is less likely to deepen social divisions.

Haj Abdo alFawwal by Angélique Sanossian

Friday’s Fool

by Yahya Al-Abdullah on November 13, 2015

Before 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.

"Aleppo Soap Storage" by Toni Yammine

Aleppo Soap

by The Aleppo Project on November 6, 2015

Europe 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.

Cultural 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.

Interview with Aleppian photographer Karam Al-Masri

by The Aleppo Project on October 19, 2015

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A Syrian man carries the body of a child following a reported military strike by government forces in the rebel-controlled Bustan al-Qasr district of the northern city of Aleppo on June 20, 2015.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian rescue workers look up to the sky in search of warplanes, on June 14, 2015, in the Jallum neighbourhood in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, following a reported barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces. Regime barrel bombs -- crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives -- have often struck schools, hospitals, and markets in Syria, despite condemnation by rights groups.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A man stands on a pick-up truck loaded with the belongings of a family moving from one district to a safer one on June 8, 2015 in the rebel-held side of Syria's northern city of Aleppo. A couple and their five children were killed overnight in Aleppo province in strikes by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, a monitor said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian men help an injured person after a reported barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces hit an open market in the northern city of Aleppo, on June 3, 2015, killing and injuring people. Regime barrel bombs -- crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives -- have often struck schools, hospitals, and markets in Syria.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian children play on a swing as they gather to celebrate the first day of Eid al-Fitr, that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan in the city of Aleppo on July 28, 2014. Six children were among at least 15 civilians killed in overnight bomb attacks by government and rebel forces in the divided city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Syrian demonstrators rally in support of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) calling for them to unite behind a unified command system in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 11, 2014. Syria's government has responded with "constructive interest" to a UN proposal to suspend fighting in the second city of Aleppo, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A man holds his phone in an attempt to get a better phone signal in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 26, 2014. According to Fabrice Balanche, a French university lecturer and specialist on Syria, only around one million residents remain out of Aleppo's pre-war population of 2.5 million.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Rebel fighters fire a machine gun on the frontline during the battle against pro-government forces for control of the Handarat region, located just north of Aleppo, on December 18, 2014. Handarat has been divided since a rebel offensive in summer 2012 between loyalist sectors in the west of the city and insurgent-held territory in the east.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

Men ride a motorcycle through a hole in a wall as they escape sniper fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 30, 2015. The ancient city of Aleppo has been fought over mercilessly since a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

AFP Photo by KARAM AL-MASRI

A young boy walks past a makeshift barricade made of wreckages of buses to obstruct the view of regime snipers and to keep people safe, on March 14, 2015 in the rebel-held side of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Syria's conflict enters its fifth year on March 15, 2015 with the regime emboldened by shifting international attention and a growing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the rise of the Islamic State group.

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.

The 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.

“This is how we are going to build Syria”

by Channel 4 on October 13, 2015

Mohamed Qutaish, a 13-year-old from Aleppo exhibits the model of the city he constructed. “This is how we are going to build Syria.” We love Mohamed’s vision for the city, particularly his focus on trees, lakes and public transport.

Source: Channel 4 News, United Kingdom.

Drought in Syria

by The Aleppo Project on October 10, 2015

When the drought in Syria started in 2008, the United Nations issued an appeal for funding for food aid for the many farmers whose crops had failed and animals had either been sold or died. In August the next year, with the drought getting worse and lasting longer than any other on record, another international appeal for help was announced. By the end of 2009, it had raised just 14 percent of what was needed.

Aleppo

Restoring Public Services to Aleppo—Our first data snapshot

The Road To al-Jamiliyeh

The reconstruction of Beirut: Lessons for Aleppo

Friday’s Fool

Aleppo Soap

Cultural Marriage: The Syrian Eagle and the Armenian Star

Interview with Aleppian photographer Karam Al-Masri

The story of a traditional Aleppian house

“This is how we are going to build Syria”

Drought in Syria

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