The beauty of damask art

The Damascenes were distinguished by damask art hundreds of years ago, and they created their designs and various drawings on the ceilings and walls of their homes and mosques. This craft was the mirror of the civilizations that passed through Syria, and reflected the systems of life, living, customs and traditions of successive historical stages. What made this craft distinct is that it is handmade in all its details

What people call damask art in Syria?

Damascene houses are decorated with wooden decorations called “Ajami” or “Damascus paint“.

Elham Aziz Mahfoud, director of the Museum of Arabic Calligraphy in Damascus, said that the “Ajami” are colorful panels with prominent decorative themes that cover the walls and ceilings, as the ceiling decorated with plant and geometric units and different shapes looks like a Persian carpet spread on the ceiling.

Azem Palace – damask art

When was the beginning of the damask art?

The beginning of this art goes back to the era of the Umayyad Caliph “Al-Walid bin Abdul-Malik”, who received artists from the countries of “Ajam and Iraq”, which made an opportunity for Damascene artists to quote the secrets of this craft, so they developed it with a Damascene flavour, established workshops for it and mastered its colors and drawings.

Are there workshops in Damascus that work in damask art?

Dozens of workshops in Damascus are still practicing and preserving damask art and bequeathing it to their children, those Damascene motifs, whose fame reached to American “Metropolitan” Museum, which includes a Damascene hall for this art, and the New York University library, which is decorated with this original art, except for the existing Aleppo room. In “Berlin“, in addition to all the archaeologically recorded Damascene houses, such as the “Akkad House“, “Al-Sibai’ House”, the “Al-Azm Palace” and others.

Aleppo room in berlin

What does Ajami art consist of?

It consists of several materials of plaster, asbestos, zinc and red glue extracted from the bones of the lambs, and previously they used to add eggs, and after preparing this dough, it is placed with a brush or a special tool on the prepared and treated wood from decay and completely dry, and most of the wood used is walnut and Cottonwood, and previously the wood was covered with gauze It establishes and then designs the plant drawings and geometrical drawings and other, and they are marked and identified, and an insulating layer is placed for protection.

Islamic mosaic art- damask art

How are the colors chosen for damask art?

Color in damask art

The inscriptions, drawings and colors are chosen in accordance with the surface to be worked. Colors are used only if the graphics do not need engraved decoration. If the inscriptions are prominent, the design must be given to the technical carpenter who specializes in Arab heritage works. Then prepare the wood with glue, asbestos and zinc, and weave the surfaces until they become smooth and ready to start floral or geometric decorative designs or various writings such as poetry or Quranic ayah by printing drawings and decorations on the surfaces to be decorated. pulverized coal, where the pulverized coal atoms take their place through the holes of the drawings perforated with a needle or a pin over the lines of the decorations of the decorative designs by chamfering and wiping on the surface of the design paper, then we start with the embossed materials for the decorations, then color them and paint them with waters of gold or silver, then we start cutting; That is, defining the aspects of the decorations and underlining them in proportion to each other, and the process of coloring in this artistic profession has a special character. Each craftsman has his own way and taste in coloring.

Damask art is more details, it is made with love, accuracy and responsibility