Syrian woman Da’a Ni’emeh has 30- experience in restoring antiquities

With the aim of preserving  the  cultural and historical deep-rooted Syrian heritage , the experienced  Syrian woman Da’ad Ni’emeh has been exerting relentless efforts for thirty years  in the field of restoring antiquities that passed through over the ages.

Ni’emeh  is a graduate of the first batch of the Technical Institute of Archeology and Museums and has been working at the National Museum in Damascus since 1989. During these years, she worked at all restoration laboratories, including the restoration of metals, cuneiform figures, pottery, glass, murals, icons and organic materials.

The  restoration  and reviving  antiquities, according to the veteran woman, is a sacred profession which is based on emotional relationship with  these artifacts that are  considered historical documents which  must be presented in the most beautiful way to  the whole world.

In an interview with  the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA),  Ni’ehmeh praised the restoration laboratories of  the National Museum in Damascus, as they have  distinguished  cadres trained by experts through missions sent outside Syria.

The Syrian woman , who is  the wife of one of the Syrian Arab Army’s martyrs, added that the restoration process  needs great efforts  against huge destruction, which  Syrian antiquities were exposed to during the years of the terrorist war on Syria .

Talking  about the pieces that influenced her during her  work, Ni’ehmeh  said: “It is the restoration of a molded human skull dating back to the eighth millennium BC, after the discovery of two important sites, Tell Aswad and Tell al-Ramad , where molded skulls that were found needed special techniques in restoration.”

She stressed  that the skilled restorer is able to restore what successive civilizations left in the hope that we will be able to restore life to Syria after the war it was subjected to, and that is only by promoting a culture of construction away from destruction.

The experienced woman expressed her wish to devote herself to documenting and publishing, and to write her own experience as  she had sufficient knowledge of  science and profession of restoration, in addition to the fact that she had benefited from the experience of ancient restorers.

She stressed  that Syria’s strong  will of life was and still the home  of successive civilizations which  must be preserved, immortalized and passed on to future generations.

Rawaa Ghanam