1955 Samara Pictorial Tourist Map of Damascus, Syria

This is a 1955 Yūsuf Samārah pictorial tourist map of Damascus, Syria, issued to promote and capitalize on the 2nd Damascus International Fair.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces Damascus from Syrian University to the al-Sheikh Raslan Mosque and from Alshahbandar Square to just south of the Chapel of Saint Paul. Significant sites are illustrated pictorially, including Syrian University and the Chapel of Saint Paul, along with the Palace of Justice, the Umayyad Mosque (one of the oldest and largest mosques in the world), Parliament, the Mariamite Cathedral, and the Mausoleum of Saladin. Other buildings are marked by their footprint, including several mosques, the telephone and telegraph exchange, and the Citadel. On the verso, printed photographs highlight key locations, among them Umayyad Mosque, the Mausoleum of Saladin, the Garden of Zenobia, and St. John the Baptist's Mausoleum. An index lists hotels, taxis, banks, cinemas, nightclubs, restaurants, and airlines and travel offices. A small 2nd Damascus International Fair advertisement also appears on the verso.

The Damascus International Fair

The first Damascus International Fair was held in Umayyad Square in September 1954. Twenty-six countries participated, and over 1,000,000 people visited. After the first fair's success, it was made into an annual event promoted as 'the Syrian economy's window to the world.' Annual fairs followed until the 2012 outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. After a lull of five years, they were revived in 2017 with a new 1.2 million-square-meter fairground.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Yūsuf Samārah and published in 1955 for the 2nd Damascus International Fair. We note 8 examples cataloged in OCLC, which are part of the collections at Harvard University, the Library of Congress, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the University of California Berkeley, Leiden University, and the Bibliotheek Universiteit van Amsterdam.