DAMASCUS - HIDDEN TREASURES OF THE OLD CITY

Damascus, reputed to be the world’s oldest continually inhabited city, has enjoyed a history of immense grandeur, enormous political and mercantile power, and great cultural and artistic achievement.

In addition to some of Islam’s most magnificent architecture, such as the Umayyad Mosque, the city boasts a heritage of fairy-tale palaces and sumptuous private houses. Sadly, many of them are in urgent need of restoration.

Brigid Keenan and Tim Beddow were given unprecedented access to the inner, 'hidden' city, which has resulted in a book that is of immense importance to all concerned with the heritage of architecture in the Islamic world.

The superb photographs include façades, courtyards, alleyways and fountains, and the breathtaking interiors that often lie behind the unassuming walls of the old town, with exquisite details in stone, wood, paint, marble, plaster, glass and mother-of-pearl.

The whole, published with the generous support of Wafic Rida Saïd, forms a convincing and elegiac plea for the preservation of the heart of this historic ancient capital.