10/06/2021 by Nassima Chahboun The city of Taza lies at the saddle between the Atlas and the Rif mountains, in the north of Morocco. The medina (from the Arabic word madinah, meaning “city”) is the historic part that dates back to the pre-Islamic era and represents an urban and architectural palimpsest illustrating the succession of...
19/05/2021 by Shyrine Ziadeh “When I embroider, I feel close to my homeland.” Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, a Palestinian embroiderer Palestinians have a rich and fascinating history in folk arts. Silk thread and embroidery, together with an expanding repertoire of symbols, are known to have made their way from China to the Holy Land along the Silk...
12/05/2021 by Omar Mohammed For centuries, the Old Suqs played a crucial role in developing and preserving a socio-economic system that facilitated coexistence in Mosul. They not only served as the economic core of the city, but they also brought the different groups of Mosul society together in a complex but solid social structure The...
20/04/21 by Jonathan Bentham Nature strives for equilibrium. Every so often, it will go about this with a touch of irony. The Middle East is so often depicted in terms of its crises. Just north of the Arabian Peninsula, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, a civil war rages on in Syria. Another war seethes at the...
13/04/2021 by Sarah Amawi This huge and complex heritage site has witnessed several civilizations throughout history from Romans to Arabs and Persians Palmyra is one of the most iconic world heritage sites. ‘Historically established around the third millennium B.C., acting as a major trading path on the infamous Silk Road’,[1] Palmyra – otherwise known as...
05/01/2021 by Jonathan Bentham The Sultanate of Oman lies at the south-eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Roughly half of its borders are made up of coastline, yet it frequently ranks as one of the driest and most arid countries on Earth. In 2014, the Sultanate of Oman ranked 12th amongst the driest countries in...
23/09/2020 by Yara Ritz, Associate Researcher (Lebanon) Elected general quarters of partying, the neighbourhoods of Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael are revealing examples: it is in these very dynamic districts that people, whether young or less young, Lebanese or foreigners, used to meet and hang out. As a symbol of Beirut’s cosmopolite life, they have nonetheless...
05/10/2020 by Servane Hardouin The murals represented various objects and landscapes seen by the pilgrim on his way to the sacred city; more precisely, they either evoked the pilgrimage directly, or they set its cultural and natural background An interesting feature of Egyptian culture is the hajj murals, colourful paintings decorating the walls of many...
09/09/2020 by Elie Saad, Local observer Paris of the Middle East or a Warzone A melting pot or a racially and sectarian divided city Switzerland of the East or capital of a ponzi scheme At least is was a city… As I am writing this article, trying to force myself to work in order to...
French