Thousands of people gathered in Aleppo on Saturday to celebrate naming the city as the Capital of Islamic Culture, Dalia Haidar reports.
Aleppo is preparing itself for an unusual day. On Saturday morning, Aleppo will turn into a metropolitan city, as hundreds of people from different religions and nationalities, who came to celebrate naming Aleppo as the city of Islamic Culture of year 2006, will be arriving at its airport.
Just few days before the festival, Aleppo looked so cheerful and busy.
"It is never dark at night; all the streets are lightened and so clean, I can’t believe how much the city changed," said Yousef 26, a taxi driver who was extremely impressed by the new look of his city.
Actually, it wasn't just the streets, but logos of the event that show mosques and churches aside were painted in a green color on all the shops shutters of the city.
In 2004 both Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) and the Islamic Organization for Culture, Education and Science (IOCES) have chosen Aleppo, Syria's second city after Damascus, as the Capital of Islamic Culture for year 2006, following Mecca in Saudi Arabia which was the capital of Islamic Culture for the year 2005.
Isfahan, in Iran was also chosen by (ICO) and (IOCES) to be the Non-Arab world's Capital of Islamic Culture for this year.
All through the year 2006, Aleppo will hold different activities among them, restoring 20 historical sites which started with the inauguration of the Grand Umayyad mosque, printing more than 100 books on Aleppo, organizing exhibitions, TV and Radio programs and issuing a special magazine for the event.
Mouhammad Kejje, a prominent historian and the main organizer of the event, says that one of the reasons of naming Aleppo, the capital of Islamic Culture, is the religious coherence and peaceful coexistence between Christians, Moslems and other different minorities.
Since the First World War in 1914, hundreds of people, including Armenians, Arabs, Kurds and Syriacs, fled from the neighboring countries to Aleppo, where they started their businesses and still live in harmony with both Moslem and Christian Syrians alike.
"In the same building there are residents from all the sects, ethics and religions, they are all living under the umbrella of the Arabic Culture and human coherence," said Muhammad Kejjeh.
"I believe that this is the essence of Aleppo," he added.
Aleppo is also considered as a model of Islamic historical cities with its ancestral Islamic architecture dating back to the year 16 Hegira (637 AD approximately).
The history of the Ummayad and Abbassid eras (the reigns of the Hamdanides, Seljukides, Zenkides and Ayyoubides), the Mamlouk and Ottomans eras, is all crafted in its great castle, gates, covered "souks", khans, mosques, churches, hospitals, schools and public baths (hammamat El-Souk) as called in Arabic.
Aleppo produced through out its history a rich cultural heritage, particularly in the Court of Saif Addawlah Al Hamadani. For more than two thousand years, Aleppo was the most significant commercial stopover on the Silk Road and other international trade routes.
More than 500 millions S.P were spent on the preparations for the festival from different private and governmental sectors; the governor of Aleppo told Syria News that he expects the value of sponsoring to reach 1 billion SP by the end of the year.
Aleppo is still trying, through this festival, to attract more investors and businessmen according to Riad Na'asan Agha, Minister of Culture.
"We want to benefit from the celebration to shed light on the need to invest in the city," said Na'asan Agha in a press conference.
"It is really depressing that you go to visit the citadel and there is no hotel beside it to stay at," he added.
Some of the hotels were fully booked one week before the opening ceremony. Reservations by foreign delegations were 40% up this year, according to Ahmad Abu Amsha – the reception director at Dar Zamaria hotel in Aleppo.
"We have so many reservations for March 18. Most visitors are from the Islamic countries in addition to Syrians from all over the country" he said.
Still, Tamer Al-Hejje – the Governor of Aleppo is not satisfied.
"I am still worried; I have been following up with preparations on a daily basis, I hope that everything goes well," he said.
"I am so excited to see how Aleppo will be crowned as Syria's bride," Al-Hejje added.
Likewise, Syrians are so enthusiastic to see how their city will once again be the center of the Islamic world.
Dalia Haidar - Syria News
تحيات عطرة لكل متصفحي الموقع في هذه الفترة ، بانتظار مشاركاتكم وآرائكم التي تغني على الدوام موقعكم...
