Author: Sophie Yeo / Source: Atlas Obscura
In Mafraq, Jordan, a group of Syrian refugees is studying the art of stonemasonry. They gather each day at 5 a.m. to learn how to hammer pieces of rock into the kinds of beautiful ornaments that once adorned the buildings of Aleppo, before the war reduced them to rubble.
The center where they train is just 12 miles south of the Syrian border. It is close enough that you can sometimes hear the low rumbling of bombs across the border. In time, these refugees hope to cross back over this border and start to restore their country’s cultural heritage.
The 42-week course began in September 2017. It is run by the World Monuments Fund, in partnership with the Petra National Trust, and is managed by a small team of architects with a background of conservation in the Middle East.
“In the future, it may be possible to return to Syria,” says Mahmoud Rafeeq Al Qasem, 40, a former timber trader from Homs. “There were many things that were destroyed; many monuments have been damaged. I could take part in rebuilding my country.”
Al Qasem is one of the 28 refugees taking part in the program – a group that includes both men and women. There are also seven Jordanians, included to combat the perception that local people are being shunned in favor of the country’s massive influx of Syrians.
This somewhat disparate collection of people—among them a former Syrian Army soldier, a taxi driver, a housewife, and a pipeline construction worker—spend their days either absorbing theory in a classroom or chipping away at blocks of limestone in an open courtyard.
They study geometry and visit the ancient sites of Jordan, such as the ruins of the Roman city of Jerash, take lectures from local professors on geology and the history of Islamic architecture, and learn how to craft ornamentation out of rock and clay.
Since the war began in 2011, more than 5.6 million people have fled Syria. In Mafraq alone, there are almost 80,000 registered Syrian refugees, with another 80,000 at the Zaatari refugee camp…
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