The Sacred Shrine Of Sayeda Zainab

Her shrine in “al Ghoutaò of Damascus is one of the most important Moslem shrines in the world and a wonder of Islamic architecture, visited by hundreds of visitors every day. Historians say that Mr. Mousa Murtadha, grandfather of the custodians of the Shrine of Zainab alKubra constructed the mausoleum from rows of stones, bricks and wood. In 1870 the ceiling crashed down to be renewed with bricks supported by a wooden skeleton by Mr. Salim Murtadha, who gave the custody of the shrine to his son, and then to the oldest of his successors. Now a committee headed jointly by Dr. Hani Murtadha and Eng. Mohammad Ridha Murtadha is sponsoring the site.

 In 1952 Eng. Mohammad Ridha Murtadha prepared a general schema for the shrine of Zainab al Kubra with an area of 150 190 m, and 90 X 90 m for the court yard and 30 X 30 m for the main hall of the shrine. The arcade floor was covered with valuable marble tiles. The shrine has four gates, each is four meters wide with a four meters wide beautiful portico, behind which there are seventy rooms with facades of basalt stones, similar to the facades of old Damascene houses. The roof of the shrine is 10 m high covered with wonderful Iranian china tiles.

The dome is plated with pure gold plates that make it glitter day and night, and add a unique attractive sight to the whole landscape. If architecture is considered a mold for integrated arts, the Sayeda Zainab represents the aesthetic values of modern Islamic architecture. It enriches the Islamic and world heritage, because it combines all the types of beautiful arts; namely photography, ornament, calligraphy, in addition to applied arts like china, mirrors, glass blowing, decorations, carpet weaving, book binding and lighting.

To expand the  shrine, and under recommendations from the Ministry of Waqf and Ministry of Housing and Construction under decree no. 995 of 11 May 1979 and allocated the necessary budgets to start an expansion project which is not fulfilled yet. The committee is operating the shrine as a religious tourist establishment according to a well studied system with the cooperation of a staff of 90 employees, and an annual budget. One of the tasks of the committee is to sponsor and protect the shrine and its financial resources.

Since the shrine is one of the major religious tourist sites in Syria, visited by more than one and a half million visitor annually, care should be given to provide it with all the necessary services and to help execute the expansion plan which will, sure, support the national income and will develop the region of Sayeda Zainab and change it into a civilized town worthy of the religious and tourist shrine of Zainab al Kubra, peace be upon her.

Hifaa Mafalni