The Damascene Experience
How Mechanisms of Appropriation and Manipulation Shaped the Tourist Image of Old Damascus
Rama Najmeh
This case study is available in Arabic only
5 minute read – April 2, 2026
Home / Publications / The Damascene Experience: How Mechanisms of Appropriation and Manipulation Shaped the Tourist Image of Old Damascus
This case study was prepared as part of the Invisible Violence Forum During the Syrian Conflict, held in Berlin on January 22–23, 2025. The forum was organized by a number of Syrian organizations working in the public sphere, with the aim of shedding light on the manifestations of structural and symbolic violence in the Syrian context and analyzing their expressions and impacts from an intersectional perspective.
The Invisible Violence Forum in Berlin brought together the following organizations: Ettijahat – Independent Culture,
Al-Jumhuriya, Syrian Center for Policy Research, Syria Untold, Dawlaty, Syrian Female Journalists Network, Women for Common Spaces.
The views expressed in this case study are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the institutions that organized this forum.
All intellectual property rights are reserved to the institutions leading this initiative and to the contributors to this paper. This content may be reused or reproduced in whole or in part under the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND), provided that the source is properly cited, the material is not used for commercial purposes, and no modifications are made.
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In Old Damascus, the stone alleyways, houses with inner courtyards and fountains, and wooden doors appear as if they were a preserved scene from a distant past. In the restaurants and cafés that have spread inside traditional houses, visitors are offered what is now called the “Damascene experience”: a mixture of nostalgia, hospitality, and an imagined image of the city’s past. But behind this image, one that lacks a third dimension—layers have accumulated over the past decades that have reshaped the meaning of the place itself. How did Old Damascus become a touristic and elite space? And how did urban policies, cultural investment, television drama, and even social elites contribute to reshaping the memory of the city and its inhabitants?
This study attempts to deconstruct this process and to examine the ways in which the image of Old Damascus was produced as a fixed and sacred heritage, while the real city continued to change beneath the surface of this “invisible” image.
How was “Old Damascus” photographed, edited, printed, and distributed as a two-dimensional image—framed within a commercial and consumerist lens – frozen in time, static, peaceful, mysterious, and museum-like?
– April 2, 2026
The Damascene Experience
How Mechanisms of Appropriation and Manipulation Shaped the Tourist Image of Old Damascus
Rama Najmeh
This case study is available in Arabic only
The Damascene Experience
How Mechanisms of Appropriation and Manipulation Shaped the Tourist Image of Old Damascus
Rama Najmeh
This case study is available in Arabic only
5 minute read – April 2, 2026
This case study was prepared as part of the Invisible Violence Forum During the Syrian Conflict, held in Berlin on January 22–23, 2025. The forum was organized by a number of Syrian organizations working in the public sphere, with the aim of shedding light on the manifestations of structural and symbolic violence in the Syrian context and analyzing their expressions and impacts from an intersectional perspective.
The Invisible Violence Forum in Berlin brought together the following organizations: Ettijahat – Independent Culture,
Al-Jumhuriya, Syrian Center for Policy Research, Syria Untold, Dawlaty, Syrian Female Journalists Network, Women for Common Spaces.
The views expressed in this case study are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the institutions that organized this forum.
All intellectual property rights are reserved to the institutions leading this initiative and to the contributors to this paper. This content may be reused or reproduced in whole or in part under the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND), provided that the source is properly cited, the material is not used for commercial purposes, and no modifications are made.
********
In Old Damascus, the stone alleyways, houses with inner courtyards and fountains, and wooden doors appear as if they were a preserved scene from a distant past. In the restaurants and cafés that have spread inside traditional houses, visitors are offered what is now called the “Damascene experience”: a mixture of nostalgia, hospitality, and an imagined image of the city’s past. But behind this image, one that lacks a third dimension—layers have accumulated over the past decades that have reshaped the meaning of the place itself. How did Old Damascus become a touristic and elite space? And how did urban policies, cultural investment, television drama, and even social elites contribute to reshaping the memory of the city and its inhabitants?
This study attempts to deconstruct this process and to examine the ways in which the image of Old Damascus was produced as a fixed and sacred heritage, while the real city continued to change beneath the surface of this “invisible” image.
How was “Old Damascus” photographed, edited, printed, and distributed as a two-dimensional image—framed within a commercial and consumerist lens – frozen in time, static, peaceful, mysterious, and museum-like?
