Day 20 Museums Bad and Worse

THE SYNOPSIS:  The report on Mohamed's aunt and my impressions of the National Museum of Art and the National History Museum.  Where Aunts have better museums than nations...I know some of you questioned my judgment in meeting up with Mohamed the suitor again to visit his “aunt”.  But I trusted him.  For just one split second, my heart sank, when I entered a very dark hallway in a very old house and a big iron door slammed shut behind me.  I am doomed! …  But then I put faith in my instincts again and walked up the stairs, hopefully, to meet Mohamed’s aunt and not a hoard of gangsters.And there she was!  A flashy elderly lady, likely in her 60s’, fashion designer, is living by herself in a 200 year old house which has been in her family’s possession ever since it was built.  She lives with 10 Persian cats and more stuff than you can imagine.  Her house is like a museum.  The apartment seemed huge mainly because of high ceilings of easily 12 if not 15 feet.  One of those mansions!  She proudly told me that her “palace” -  her house actually has that title – is unique in architectural terms as it combines Turkish and Italian elements.  It was dark so I missed out on balcony, yard, and those elements.  But the rest was plenty.  High ceilings like this mean of course, that the space can hardly be heated.  Since it got very cold around here (below freezing), she huddled next to a brick stove that stood in the middle of her entrance/reception room, obviously a later addition to the house.She welcomed me to some delicious flower tea which she grows in her garden and was happy to show me around in her eclectic home and talk about her fashion shows which she holds from New York to Europe to the Bosra Roman theater in front of illustrious audiences such as ambassadors, celebrities, and rich folks.  We watched a 20 minute promotional video and I have to say her clothes are cool.  All one of a kind, mainly made with very soft leather that flows like fabric.  I did not ask what each of them goes for, it was obviously a different class from where I shop.Here she is, a modern business woman living in this eclectic environment where the dusty, the shiny, the valuable, the kitsch, the cats and herself all happily live together.  This was a cool visit.  We stayed for about an hour.  Mohamed, ever the gentleman, brought me back to my hotel and as a thanks for this wonderful look behind the scenes,  I invited him to have dinner today;  it’s going to be my last day in Damascus and eating by myself every day has been one of the lonelier experiences on this trip.Today, I put the two main museums of the capital on the agenda; the National Museum of Art (NMA) and the Historical Museum of Damascus (HM).Here is the diplomatic report of the visits:The NMA holds some fine pieces of sculptures from the classical (Greeco-Roman) period and some quite important indigenous pieces from the Sumerian period.  A fine collection of furniture from some of those Damascene courtyard villas rounds up the collection.The HM must be closed for renovation.  Nothing was open.  But since it is housed in one of those famed courtyard villas – in fact it is perhaps, the largest one I have seen so far with a total of five yards – I was free to roam around and got to enjoy some typical Syrian architecture.Here is the report without the makeup:The NMA is hopelessly outdated in its display of some fine pieces of art which do not get the recognition or the attention or the display they deserve.  However, most of the pieces on display seem rather provincial.   A hospital-style atmosphere spoils everything:  White, unimaginative straight hallways, dusty display cases, flickering, if not burnt-out neon lights, show cases with fallen objects, haphazard labeling – some French and Arabic, some English and Arabic, some only Arabic, some missing labels all together notably in the hodge-podge sculpture garden.  All of this makes a visit rather superficial and unremarkable.   The reconstructed room of Dura Europos, the earliest synagogue known, was closed!  I had to plead with a guard to let me in which thankfully he did.  The room was poorly lit; not because it was closed, but just because that’s how it is…  The guard made up for it by explaining each scene for me.  Photography was not allowed anywhere, but again, guards would look the other way after some negotiation but not at the Dura Europos room.I have already given up on the notion that anything but prehistoric, local, classical and Islamic art matter here.  Perhaps, it is an unfair assumption to think of our museum concept – global and educational  and in more recent times utterly enjoyable as museums add events, lectures, and interactive displays to their repertoire– as the standard.  But for a national museum this was a thorough disappointment.Worse for the HM.  If it indeed was under construction there should have been a sign.  I came some distance to see it.   This is the HM of the capital city and it seemed dirty, abandoned, and neglected.  The courtyard villa that made up in part for my time, was run down, dirty, and full of trash.  Some real trash, some just discarded old office furniture crammed into one of the Iwans (huge arched openings) that are so impressive in these court designs.  This was a shame.  I hope it does not reflect a general museum-culture attitude.  I will keep my mind open.I had to think of the Beirut museum which was bombed so badly.  In certain ways it had to rebuild up to modern standards and did so beautifully.  Despite the limited range of cultures on display, the display itself was professionally done, well labeled and educational.I am glad I had the time to have this experience today.  But if I had to do Syria in less time I would recommend to focus on the archaeological sites and skip the museums.Right next to the NMA there is an old madrassa by Sinan.  Sinan is the Bramante of the Ottoman empire; in other words their star architect.  He worked for the sultan in Istanbul and is responsible for various important mosques throughout the empire as well as the palace and the harem in Istanbul.  I could not enter his mosque, but was pleased to see that the old madrassa was used as a souq very successfully.  Here the old and the new worked together hand in hand.Good night.