Damascus
This traditional Damascene house in the Old City is where the poet Nizar Qabbani (1923–1998), one of the most celebrated Arab poets of the twentieth century,…
This traditional Damascene house in the Old City is where the poet Nizar Qabbani (1923–1998), one of the most celebrated Arab poets of the twentieth century, was born and spent his childhood. Built of banded ablaq stone in the mid-nineteenth century, it is the house whose orange trees, fountain and liwan appear in his writing about Damascus. The house stands in a narrow alley off al-Daqqaqin Street, near Bab al-Saghir, and is still a family home with no sign outside. Visitors who come to see it usually knock and ask permission from the family living there.