2023-07-16 16:23:00
“It has become ashes and rubble”… A huge fire destroys a market in the heart of Damascus
The heat, which deprived the residents of Damascus of sleep on Saturday/Sunday night, clashed with the fires that broke out in the ancient Sarouja neighborhood, to start the morning of the capital with horrific images of a large fire that broke out in a house on Al-Thawra Street behind the real estate interests, and spread to devour part of the market and several ancient houses.
Within three hours, from three in the morning until six in the morning, the area turned into rubble and ashes, bringing to mind a similar fire that devoured Al-Asrouniya market behind the Umayyad Mosque in April 2016 and turned 80 shops into ashes, and damaged a hundred other shops. At the time, it was said that the fire was fabricated by parties with ambitions to buy the shops adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque and the shrine of Mrs. Ruqaya.
Fires and high temperatures
With temperatures rising to 42 degrees Celsius in Damascus, and electricity cuts for long hours, the rates of fires increased throughout the country, especially in forest areas. On Saturday, Damascus alone witnessed eight fires in separate places that affected four houses, in the industrial area, the Al-Tijara neighborhood, the Mazzeh Jabal neighborhood, and the Al-Midan neighborhood.
Extinguishing a fire in the Sarouja market neighborhood in Damascus (SANA)
All this, amid government warnings of high temperatures and the need to take the necessary precautions, such as not filling car fuel tanks completely, avoiding placing gas cylinders in the sun, not leaving homes at noon, and others.
According to eyewitnesses, a fire broke out at dawn on Sunday in one of the old Arab houses in the “Sarouja – Sheikh Mujahid” neighborhood, behind the real estate interests on Al-Thawra Street. And rare for the city of Damascus and Ghouta and the general of Syria.
Big damage
It took more than four hours to put out the fire, with the participation of 20 vehicles from the Damascus Fire Brigade, the Civil Defense, and the people who reported significant material damage to the old Arab houses, with minor human injuries.
And Prime Minister Hussein Arnous, at five o’clock on Sunday morning, inspected the work to put out the fire. At the site were the governor of Damascus, Muhammad Tariq Kreishati, the commander of the Damascus police, and many civil defense, firefighting and police officers and personnel.
The Black Mosque, Sarouja Market (Wikipedia)
Those interested in the ancient city of Damascus had called more than once for an “urgent restoration” of the house of Abd al-Rahman Pasha al-Youssef, the emir of Hajj al-Shami during the Ottoman Empire, and the richest of the people of the Levant in his time, due to the distinction of the house that was decorated at the end of the nineteenth century with rare works of painting, engraving and gilding. It is considered one of the architectural treasures of Damascus.
The Damascene researcher and historian, Sami Moubayed, wrote on his Facebook account that his office, located in the Sarouja market, “was not affected by the big fire… As for the house of my late grandfather, Abd al-Rahman Pasha al-Youssef, it was badly damaged.”
An ancient neighborhood
The Sarouja market, as an old neighborhood, occupies a special place among Syrians, especially Damascenes, because of its cultural, social and historical specificity. It is the first expansion of historic Damascus outside the wall in the thirteenth century AD.
Sarouja neighborhood dates back to the era of the Mamluk Prince Saif al-Din Tankz, and the name of the neighborhood was attributed to one of its military commanders, Sarim al-Din Saruja, who died in the year 743 AH – 1342 AD. The neighborhood includes Mamluk schools, mosques, and baths, some of which are still standing, including the Rose Mosque, the Rose Bath, the Moradia School, the Minister Mosque, and others, despite the neighborhood being vandalized during the conflicts of the princes in the Mamluk period, especially after Tamerlane burned Damascus in 803 AH.
Sarouja Market is a tourist and dramatic landmark in Syria (Ministry of Tourism)
With the beginning of the Ottoman rule, the Saruja neighborhood, which was distinguished by a large market, spacious houses, bathrooms, and luxurious mosques, returned to glamor, so it was called (Little Istanbul), after the Ottoman aristocracy that inhabited the neighborhood.
Sources in Damascus, following up on the file of archaeological sites, told Asharq Al-Awsat that, “In 1970, Regulation Law No. 44 was issued under the name (Al-Bahsa Organization), the entrance to Sarouja, west of Souq al-Hal, and east of Marjah.”
Archaeological properties such as the Rose Mosque, Al-Jawza Bath, and Al-Shamiya School were identified. Then the shares of the region were compulsorily distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Cities Planning and Urbanization Law No. 9 of 1974, and this region was registered in the Land Registry after the compulsory distribution became peremptory.
A picture of the Sarouja market neighborhood after putting out its fires
Building permits were then granted for a number of switches generated by the regulatory photographer that exceeded 50 percent of the number of switches, and were built according to the approved regulatory photographer. However, in 1988, Decision No. 15 / MT was issued, which decided to stop granting Musawwarat al-Wajib and demolition licenses or any other executive works that affect the urban fabric in the Sarouja area covered by Musawwar 44, until the completion of the study of the area and until further notice. Parts of the neighborhood were demolished along with the Al-Bahsa neighborhood, and modern concrete buildings and towers were erected next to areas marked with archaeological signs and left to neglect and the factors of time to erode them.
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