Thursday, April 30, 2009

Restoration of a Farhi Mansion in Old Damascus

In the Svenska Dagbladet of 29 April 2009, under the tittle Damaskus kulturskatt dammas av Bitte Hammargren reports on the gentrification of old Damascus and in particular one of the 18th century mansions of the Farhis: the largest one also known as Beit Mouallem Raphael Farhi (1774-1844). The household had about 60 to 70 people living there, probably several families related to Raphael.

When Hakam Roukbi, a Syrian architect based in Paris, saw the Frederick Leigh's 1873 painting of the Farhi courtyard (La Ceuillette des Citrons) in the 2000 Damascus book by BrĂ­gida Keenan and Tim Beddow, he decided to restore the Farhi mansion and convert it into a luxury hotel. Opening of the Pacha Palace is due in late 2009 or early 2010.

The Beit Mouallem Farhi is in the Jewish quarter of Old Damascus and was described in many historical reports by foreign visitors such as F. Lowe, secretary of Sir Moses Montefiore,
Lady Hester Stanhope and John Wilson. A description of the Farhi Houses can be found on Les Fleurs website.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've been reading about the restoration, and wonder when the hotel is due to open. We are traveling to Damascus in late May 2010.
Look forward to further information and thankyou
Ms A Gastin