Damascene Chandeliers& Lanterns

The prestigious ancient Damascus will stay forever the light of liberty and freedom, the flare scholars of the world set alight by yielding from its heritage, embodied in antique chandeliers in its streets.  Sparkling  Damascus had remain lit since the dawn of history while most nations were sleeping in total darkness. Today we will shed  light on traditional craft of Damascene light lamps, lanterns, and chandeliers.

The fire flame is the oldest kind of light, but it needed to be maintained. Thus was born the so called lantern, surrounding the flame which has the property of melting and dying out. Lantern has a wick dipped in oil liquid to keep it burning,  the wick was surrounded by a protective glass. Lanterns used to illuminate homes and streets at night, a special worker had been designated to preserved, ignite, extinguish its light every night and was called “Domari”.

A chandelier consists of several lanterns surrounded by metal sheet, which was not made to be put on walls like lanterns but as a ceiling decoration. The Domari used to link the chandelier on a metal roller to reach the ceiling and lit it. The metal roller  was decorated by a material called “Alooblin”, to pull a rope pulley and guide the chandelier back to the ceiling.

Damascene chandeliers still adorn temples and palaces all over the world. For thousands of years ago the mechanism of action of these chandeliers were maintaining the traditional form of Damascus ancient heritage, from which derives the basic form of the piece. For instance, copper plates are cut on the required sizes, then collected by oxygen welding to produce the final form, where aging process begins by adding plastic material painted with a lacquer layer in order to protect it from weather.

Regarding tools used in the process of decoration, there are many chisels used for formation;  some are made of steel, others are molds for circles having wide or narrow head, and there is also a sanding chisel which is used to crimp the copper to sand shape.

Copper is the basic material in Damascene chandeliers manufacture.  There is no better to tell us about harmony between the metal and the craftsman, than Damascus craftsmen chair Mr.ahmad al as’ad “ the Syrian craftsman has done an exclusively creative practice, particularly through metal formation phase since copper cannot be used alone as found in nature but should be mixed with certain proportions of tin. Copper smelting is difficult and old Damascus craftsman need to get the tin from the island of Crete and mix it with copper to form “Alkhrasen” article which was the old Arabic name for copper.”  In the Bronze age, copper represented by its bronze alloy is the first metal used by man in the Syrian Levant.  Copper was associated with utilitarian aspect of humans, thus craftsmen began to manufacture from this golden metal what they needed like lanterns, weapons, flasks, cups and jewelry confirmed by collections of copper presented in the National museum of Damascus.

 “Damascene Lanterns carry the old soul of pursued and is renewable, since Eastern copperplate is a culture of thousands of years absent in our country.” said Irene from California

Islamic decoration reflected in its current form on copper and applied art emerged from inestimable splendor and perfection; since the metal’s properties has shown an aesthetic and artistic value.  in addition copper industry precision to link utilitarian side with decorative one use. The collection “amulets and promises” located in the national museum of Damascus is only a guide to the Syrian craftsman to handle this artefact throughout prehistory ages.

  Haifaa Mafalani