The Carlton Hotel…a story of heritage desecrated by savage mentality

The Carlton Hotel…a story of heritage desecrated by savage mentality  May 13, 2014

Aleppo, (SANA) Once a home to a hospital over 100 years ago providing free of charge services to whoever in need, the Carlton Hotel, now turned into piles of debris, attests to the brutality of the terrorist groups and their backers who seem determined to make the Syrians bow to terrorism but to no avail. Moving from a hospital into a Nursing school and finally into a 4-star hotel, the journey of the Carlton came to a disastrous end on May 8 as it was blasted out and flattened when terrorists detonated explosives in a tunnel they had dug underneath archeological sites. The explosion, which was claimed by a terrorist group, ripped through the onetime luxury hotel, near the landmark medieval Citadel of Aleppo and Aleppo’s walled Old City, both deemed UNESCO World Heritage sites. Trampling upon the cultural and historic value of the hotel, the terrorists cold-bloodily planned and carried out the attack feeling completely at ease and further heartened by the silence of the international community which continues to drag on over more than three years of the crisis in Syria. According to historical sources and references, the battered hotel dated back to 1819 as a state-run hospital, to be later dubbed “Hospital of Strangers” where foreigners and people in need used to be hospitalized for free. Funded by donations, it took 48 years for the hospital to be in its pre-hotel shape in 1897. It was inaugurated by the Ottoman Wali Jamil Basha in 1900 to treat strangers and poor people and came to be known “The National Hospital”. Tens of years later, exactly in 1989, it was turned into a health institute before it was invested as an luxurious hotel capitalizing on its captivating view and special location. The Ottoman-style Carlton Hotel was literally at the heart of a touristic spot surrounded by most renown archeological milestones and tourist facilities in the province, most importantly Aleppo Citadel and the archeological al-Shouneh khan. Behind the hotel lay the Mamluk 300-year-old al-Naser Khan among other archeologically inns and motels, which all sustained significant damage due to the terrorist explosions. The Carlton enjoys a strategic position as it is 20 minute drive from Aleppo International Airport and only a few meters away from the Umayyad Mosque, Arts Museum and traditional popular hammams (baths). The explosion of the Carlton Hotel was not the first of terrorist groups’ attempts to attack the cultural and religious heritage of Aleppo city. The famous souk (market), the oldest in the world was once set ablaze and the Umayyad Mosque was targeted as well. The Carlton Hotel itself had come under the threat of destruction twice before but the attempts were thwarted by the Syrian army. Gripped by grief, yet unsurprised by the attack on the Hotel being aware of the mentality and motives of the perpetrators, the Syrians have vowed not to be intimidated by the savagery of the terrorists, nor to allow takfiri and obscurantist thinking permeate their society. Side by side with the army, the Syrians seem more determined to eliminate terrorism, restore their heritage and rebuild their country’s future. H. Said