Damascus-SANA
A knowledge tank of old periodicals of Syrian, Arab and foreign newspapers and magazines preserved with great care and in a modern scientific style within the Al-Assad National Library in Damascus, distributed between 1993 Arab magazines, 1145 foreign magazines, 302 Arab newspapers and 28 foreign newspapers.
Excerpts from this huge press archive. Intellectuals, journalists and visitors were in direct contact with him through the exhibition “Old Periodicals Preserved in the Archives of the Library” which is held in the Exhibition Hall with the aim of shedding light on the role of newspapers and magazines in preserving the Syrian heritage and placing it within the reach of researchers, students and the young generation to enrich their research and informing them of the content of newspapers and magazines that documented important historical periods from the nineteenth century to today.
The exhibition includes displaying a range of specialized magazines, including social and economic sciences, general knowledge, legal, sports, cultural, artistic, media, military, security, scientific, literary, educational and sports, of the most important periodicals issued in Syria and abroad, in Brazil and Argentina.
In the exhibition we find samples of Al-Muqtataf newspaper published in 1876 and periodicals issued in Palestine before its occupation, such as Arab Economics issued in Jerusalem in 1936 and Al-Huquq, the Judicial Journal issued in Haifa in 1925. The Arab Society Journal in 1924 and another by the Egyptian writer Taha Hussein entitled Hafez and Shawky, published by the Apollo Journal in 1933.
The great Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani also attended the exhibition through a poem published by the Literature Journal in 1957 entitled “From a Syrian Poet to an American Citizen,” and the national leader Fakhri al-Baroudi through an article entitled The Role of Popular Literature in the Ride of Arab Nationalism, which was published in 1959 in the Journal of Culture, which was presented from its archives. Also, an article published in 1960 by the Syrian thinker Zaki Al-Arsuzi entitled “The Arabic Word” and an article by the late musician Salhi Al-Wadi, which was published in the Knowledge Journal in 1962 entitled “The Problem of a Quarter of Arabic Music.”
In a statement to Sana Bayn, Director General of the Library, Iyad Morshed, that the exhibition highlights the importance of periodicals in preserving the national cultural heritage and is an opportunity to show what the library contains of old magazines and newspapers that preserved the history of Syria and the region and provided important information in the cultural, intellectual, social, industrial, agricultural and other fields that show the movement’s leadership The social and cultural movement of progress in the Syrian society, which was devoted to intellectual and cognitive pens and Qaqamat in various disciplines.
The head of the periodicals department in the library, Zubaydah Saqallah, explained that the exhibition is a small picture of the treasures contained in the library that are placed at the disposal of generations and preserved with the latest technical means, including microfilm photography. Scientifically, to address the problems of paper that erodes with time, through the restoration department, which works to restore them through heat treatment. Some periodicals are also kept within technical folders that preserve them as much as possible.
Rasha Mahfoud