Damascene Ajami Rooms: Forgotten Jewels of Interior Design

The Old Cities of Damascus and Aleppo are two of the very few cities in the world that still retain a large proportion of historic vernacular structures. In Damascus, around three to four thousand old houses still exist, often hanging over streets and intricately woven into each other. These historic private houses of the Old City are the real treasures of Damascus. Plain and insignificant from the outside, the interiors of these houses often reveal a breathtaking beauty.

While the varied decoration of their courtyard and reception rooms manifests the wide-ranging and admirable skills of the local craftsmen, the painted and metal-leafed wooden panels stand out as a particularly prominent feature. Every reception room has a wooden ceiling and in many rooms wooden panels also adorn the walls. The wooden elements are decorated with a relief technique which in Damascus is called al-'ajamí, an Arabic term used to describe the technique and the ornaments as well as the interior as a whole. In Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Sidon, and Antakya, several amazing al-'ajamí- interiors remain intact in-situ. Others are located in museums in Europe and North America.