My Memories of an Aleppo That’s No Longer There

French Horwitz
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read

Yesterday, The Washington Post published a heart-wrenching article by @JwanahQ about returning to her home town of Aleppo, Syria for the first time since war broke out in 2011. While there have been countless stories written about the senseless loss of life (an estimated 400,000 people) and destruction caused by the now six-year long civil war, her personal story has stuck with me like no other has.

In particular, she describes returning to the Old City, which is considered to be one of the oldest continually inhabited urban areas in the world. She went with her father to check on the condition his office, where he spent much of his career as an architect working to preserve this historic quarter. Here’s a link to the article — I’ll let her tell you the rest:

Though it’s been over 25 years, I remember the Old City well. I was sent to Syria to scout out locations for a long-forgotten NBC documentary series and spent over a week touring the country accompanied by a Syrian photographer who served as my fixer — and unbeknownst to me until the day I left, a minder from the secret police who tailed us the whole way. We circled the entire country, visiting most of the major cities and archeological sites in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Palmyra, Lattakia, Deir ez-Zur but the place that truly won my heart was Aleppo.

Temple of Bel, Palmyra — destroyed by ISIS in 2015

The first stop was the Al-Madina Souq, built in the 14th Century. As we walked in, the smell of exotic spices filled the air — it was strong and intoxicating and I knew we had come to the right place.

Souq Corridor

We traversed the twisted and turning corridors, which seemed to go on for miles, eating pretty much everything in sight. I spent what seemed like hours drinking tea with a rug merchant, who ultimately sold me a beautiful oriental carpet. However my favorite shop was that of a fabric printer, who hand printed patterns on cloth using tools and methods, which seemed date back for hundreds of years.

Cloth Printer, Al-Madina Souq, Aleppo

He sold me the cloth you see in the picture above, as well as the hand-carved woodblock stamps he used (he was surprised I was interested in those too).

After hours of shopping, we walked over to the 1000-plus year-old Citadel — a structure that dominated the city skyline.

Citadel entrance

We climbed up and around the structure, which I think had recently undergone a massive conservation project that made it look like what it must have looked like hundreds/thousands of years ago — impressive! The next day we were off — headed north to the seaside town of Latakia, where today Russia maintains a massive airbase. I was sad to leave, but like most of this trip I was there just to document potential shooting locations and not have fun — imagine getting paid to sightsee!

Today, the Old City is in ruins — the souq is abandoned, much like a good portion of the area, after suffering a major fire some years ago. Looking at the pictures of the destruction in this article (link below) from just over a year ago is heartbreaking. What was once a beautiful, ancient city is now in ruins.

This was one of the first of the many amazing adventures in my career and I’m glad I was given the opportunity to see this majestic place. My hope is that the war ends soon and Aleppo’s former inhabitants return and rebuild, and most importantly get to live in peace. The city has been sacked and rebuilt several times in its history — though probably not to this extent — but one can hope.

French Horwitz

Written by

Creative Consultant | Family, Food, Wine, Song, Travel and Arsenal | New York, NY

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