Old schools in Syria .. edifices for creativity and culture

Damascus, ST-  Syria has embraced throughout the ages many schools that formed scientific and cultural edifices that have enriched Arab and Islamic heritage and were one of the cultural centers in the Levant for everyone seeking to obtain knowledge and  a higher education.

According to the scholar and researcher Ali al-Aqbani , Damascus contains  most of the ancient Syrian schools. They were built in the  Ayyubid and Mamluk eras. He  noted  that these schools are distinguished by their  unique architectural character, in addition to  being museums of the types of calligraphy and writing that prevailed at that era.

Al-Aqbani explains that the ancient  Syrian Islamic schools differ in their architectural style, but they have the same planning and division system, as most of them consist of teaching rooms, teachers and students’ rooms, oratory, place of ablution and pools of water.  In addition  most of these schools contain  a tomb of the person who established this school.

Al-Aqbani noted that the Nuriya school is the first school built in  Syria by Nur al-Din Mahmoud Zanki in Bab al-Faraj in Damascus in 568 Hijra , 1127 AD . It  remained standing even after his death and  he was buried in it. Today, al-Nuriya school has turned into a mosque.

Al-Aqbani explains  that the number of old schools in the city of Damascus alone reached, about the beginning of the tenth century, about 100, including Qaymariya, Nujaibi, Ghazaliya, Tadmuriya, Adeliya , al-Sadraniya..and al-Zahiriya. The role of these schools was not limited to education only, but rather they were a place for a judge to consider some jurisprudence issues when other judges differed in their view points.

In Aleppo, according to Al-Aqbani, we find Al-Mamoun High School, which was built  in 1892. Idlib countryside is  also full of many ancient archaeological schools that contributed in  the revival and development of this province, including Al-Mutanabbi High School, which is one of the largest schools in  Idlib. It was  built in the late twenties of the last century and it  was characterized by its spacious and large internal halls.

As for the Syrian coast, Lattakia contains many old and important schools, including Al-Baath School, and its construction dated  back to the 1920s. Its name was then Fatima Al-Zahra. In Tartus and its countryside, we find El-Thawra Elementary School in Draikish and it was  built in 1920s.

M.Wassouf