After his long-awaited silkworms, which were missed by the war years, and he used to raise, care for them and extract silk from them, Muhammad Saud decided to keep his workshop and equipment and convert it into a museum in the center of Syria, in the hope that it will revive again.
Muhammad Saud (65 years old) divided his house into two parts, a section dedicated to his residence with his family, while the other, the oldest, was converted into a large museum, which summarizes all the stages of the silk industry in which his town is known as Deir Mama in the countryside of Hama (center).
In the large courtyard of the house, Saud left some silk cocoons that resembled small eggs in containers, and a large wooden wheel spinning by hand, through which silk threads were made after being assembled.
He says, "There are only three families in Syria who practice this craft, and today I fight alone in my town in order to keep it alive."
"France Press" Saud met 10 years ago, at which time he spoke of 48 families in 16 villages working on raising silkworms. His family's production in 2010 amounted to more than 35 kilograms, before it almost completely stopped at the end of 2011 with the start of the conflict in Syria. The country produced 3.1 tons of silk in 2010.
The man used to work with his wife and three sons to plant the mulberry trees on which the silkworms lived, then to produce cocoons to extract silk threads from them, and to sew them on an old wooden spindle, so that he could finally produce pieces of cloth or clothes made entirely of natural silk.
"I decided to turn my house into a museum when I realized that it included all stages of the silk industry, so that it would become a tourist point visited by everyone who seeks and loves silk," he added.
Muhammad sits behind a wooden spindle (loom), weaving with his hands in front of the camera some of the silk threads he kept, and the walls around him are decorated with silk fabrics of his weaving. With high skill, he wraps the thread on his hands, stirring his fingers and legs over the wooden spindle symmetrically, and completes a piece of cloth that he started months ago.
Clinically dead
The town of Deir Mama is one of the most famous Syrian towns whose inhabitants before the war were working in a stage of the silk industry, and it was famous for growing mulberry trees in large areas, and it became a destination for natural silk lovers. Although he opened the doors of his museum for free, and hung a painting reading "Welcome to the Silk Fair", but no one knocked on the door during the years of the war that destroyed the country's economy, and tourist groups were the most prominent exchange markets for natural silk products.
Muhammad, or Abu Ali, as his acquaintances like to call him, turns old pictures taken with foreign visitors, and articles written about him. "My main reliance was on tourists," he says. "They are the ones who can afford to pay for silk ..." Today I only have memories. ”
Amid dozens of fabrics piled on top of each other, he explains that "silk is a luxury compared to the reality of the crisis we are living in, and the high price of it prevents the purchase of it."
He explains that the craft "is like a sick man we hoped would be recovered, but the war came and a mercy shot was fired at us, before you fired it on our profession." "I fight alone to revive this profession ... after she is clinically dead," he says with a sigh. "We need the hand of heaven to extend to us to save this profession."
I'm afraid to forget
The hand-woven Damascus brocade of natural silk and gold thread is one of the most popular fabrics in the world, especially after the former Syrian president, Shukri Al-Quwatli, gave a piece of it in 1947 to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, it is narrated in Syria that she used it to make her wedding dress.
Murhaf Rahim, the researcher on intangible heritage and head of the Tourism Projects Implementation Authority branch, asserts that "the problem is not in production, as there are hundreds of ready-made pieces waiting for their customers."
He says, "The problem boils down to the process of disposal and marketing, as silk clothes are not a priority today for Syrians," adding, "Before the war, the tourists consumed the bulk of the production, and we used to export large quantities to Lebanon and the Arab Gulf."
In the town of Deir Mama, Amal, the wife of Muhammad, who began weeks ago knitting a piece of silk in order not to forget the technique of sewing, says, “I spin to amuse, and my fingers remain soft. I fear that I will forget sewing over time.”
The woman, who put a white silk shawl on her shoulders, sadly refers to the generosity of the raspberry standing near her home, explaining, "We are the only ones who are still planting berries, but this year we fed the goatskin paper."
The Damascus brocade, which is hand woven from natural silk and gold threads, is one of the most famous fabrics in the world, especially after the former Syrian President, Shukri Al-Quwatli, gave a piece of it in 1947 to Queen Elizabeth II, it is narrated in Syria that she used it in making her wedding dress.