Syria Week opens at Doha cultural event

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Feb 01 2010

Syria Week opens at Doha cultural event

By Ourouba Hussein/Staff Reporter

The first “cultural week” of the year-long Doha Capital of Arab Culture 2010 festival started yesterday with Syria opening a visual arts exhibition at the Waqif Gallery at the Souq Waqif.

The exhibition will be followed by other forms of Syrian cultural events.

Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage HE Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and Syrian Minister of Culture Riad Agha and Ambassador Riad Osmat opened the exhibition, which will run until February 7.

The exposition includes a book, plastic art, Arabic calligraphy, photography, hand-made carpet and handicrafts exhibitions.

The book exhibition features 1,000 titles produced by the Syrian minister and the Arab Writers’ General Union. The displayed books, which are not on sale, include a rich content on arts, Syrian writers, famous actors and figures as well as analyses.

“All exhibited books were displayed in Doha’s last book fair,” a Syrian representative said, adding “we only aim to introduce the production of the Ministry of Culture to the Qatari community”.

The art exhibition features a selection of the Syrian modern plastic arts, with mostly oil on canvas on display.

Syria’s main ancient kingdoms, such as Ugarit, which was situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean between 15th and 12th centuries BC, as well as cities of Ebla, Mari and Kotna, are highlighted in the photography exhibition.

The hand-made carpet exhibition features the deep-rooted Syrian heritage. They are known for the beauty of their sketches and illustrations, as well as high quality wool and dyes.

The handicrafts exhibition includes a variety of Mosaic boards, carved copper utensils, as well as bags and decorations.

After touring the exhibition, al-Kuwari said that Syria was selected to mark the first cultural week according to their high cultural abilities and potentials.

Agha said that Souq Waqif was a depiction of the Arab and Islamic early architecture, forming a perfect venue for such cultural events.

He said that Syria and Qatar would maintain cultural co-operation, even after the conclusion of the Syrian Cultural Week.

The Syrian cultural week is to also include films, seminars on Arab drama and women in the 21st century, as well as poetry recitals, dance and fashion performances

Gulf Times.