Damascus-SANA
The Arab Cultural Center in the Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus organized a symposium and an exhibition on the Al-Aghbani Damascene craft with the participation of craftsmen and researchers in history and heritage.
The symposium dealt with the meanings of this craft, which originated in ancient civilizations, which earned it the character of tradition and made it continue to the present day, in addition to reviewing the types of Aghabani, its drawings, and the way to promote it.
The head of the History Department at Damascus University, Dr. Ammar Al-Nahar, who worked on managing the symposium, spoke about the important place this traditional Damascene craft, which means decoration on cloth, stressing the importance of its preservation, which holds the communities bearing this element and those concerned with it responsible for preserving it from extinction and ensuring its continuity.
The Secretary of the Editor-in-Chief of the Artisan Journal, Khaled Al-Fayyad, and the architect Muhammad Dabour, researchers in the Damascene folklore, stressed during their participation in the symposium the nobility of the Al-Aghbani craft and the importance of strengthening its position, as it is threatened with extinction and must be preserved, given that 85 percent of the stages of its manufacture are manual.
As for the craftsman Anas Ghannam, director of the Aghabani production line at the Syrian Al-Wafaa Development Association, he spoke of it as one of the most important Syrian textile crafts that developed over time and stopped during the war years to be re-worked with the support of the Al-Wafa Association and in cooperation with the women of the city of Douma, with the aim of reviving the Syrian intangible cultural heritage and securing a source Rizk for women.
Ghannam explained that this Damascene craft, like other crafts, needs raw materials of fabrics and threads, whose securing is not without some difficulties, especially in light of the economic sanctions that affect imports, stressing the need to find markets that promote the disposal of Al-Aghbani products, which contributes to the continuation of its production lines.
The exhibition, which was held on the sidelines of the symposium, included models of tablecloths of different sizes, the longest ranging from 1 to 4 meters, characterized by their bright colors, splendor of appearance and mastery.
Amani Farooj
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency
