Damascus, October 18, 1925: When the Syrian Revolutionaries Attacked the Azm Palace

History in general has always been a carefully chosen collection of lies and half-truths designated to promote and embellish an agreed upon narrative -however mythical- and discard or if need be justify inconvenient details using on an ad hoc basis all sorts of convoluted and preposterous arguments.

Before approaching the theme of this post I would like to cite an anecdote in the form of an illustrated tale I read many years ago in tintin,  a once popular Belgian comic magazine among the youth. This tale was published in issue number 42 in the year 1969 under the title Le pavé des martyrs.  In this colorful story, the author -Monsieur Yves Duval- had Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi, the Muslim conqueror,  instruct his soldiers to slaughter all captive women and children in order to circumvent the need to feed "useless mouths". This nonsense is of course directed at the European youths, the aim here is to glorify the exploits of Charles Martel and demonize the savage Muslims. I say this not to exonerate al-Ghafiqi,  for great conquerors -regardless of rhetoric- are more often then not neither decent nor compassionate. It simply makes no sense whatsoever, even for Hulagu or Genghis Khan, to sacrifice the precious war trophies that are young and healthy women and children. To make a long story short the French narrative is every bit as exaggerated and phony as the Arab one. An honest look at what really took place in the 730's before and after the Battle of Poitiers requires looking at both narratives, analyzing the data, and subjecting them to a careful cross-examination. 

Fast forward to 1925, the French Mandate, and the Great Syrian Revolution. Far from me is to defend the French policy or practice in Syria,  what I rather aim at is to faithfully translate the French point of view as articulated by the orientalist Eustache de Lorey at the time (see free link below). It thus becomes possible to compare the Syrian narrative (an unprovoked barbaric aggression against Damascus with hardly a context provided) with its French counterpart. Before I yield to Monsieur de Lorey I would like to briefly address few facts:

1. The Azm Palace was not usurped by the French. It was purchased for a considerable sum of money by the French government from 68 owners of the Azm family. The smaller wing of the edifice (Salamlik) was designated as the residence of the High Commissioner,  the larger (Haramlik) was allocated for the headquarters of the French Institute for Archaeology and Muslim Art founded by General Henri Gouraud.

2. Gouraud is known from an official as well as popular Syrian perspective as the author of the infamous ultimatum against the nascent Syrian kingdom. He went on to face and defeat the troops and voluntaries lead by Yussuf al-Azma to subsequently enter Damascus. One of the first things he did -so goes the popular narrative- is to head straight to the Mausoleum of Saladin and triumphantly state "we are back, O' Saladin!". Some even claim that he kicked the tomb out of sheer spite.

3. Gouraud was a soldier alright but also a writer and an academician. It was he who urged Father Henri Lammens to write a book about Syria's history that remains a valuable reference today all reservations about the work and its author notwithstanding.

4. Monsieur de Lorey was a respectable scholar credited with uncovering and restoring the mosaics of the Omayyad Mosque.

I will now quote verbatim (translated from French of course) what de Lorey had to say. I promote not his version of the events as it ultimately remains up to readers to compare Syrian versus French and come-up with their own conclusions. 

"From the beginning of the insurrection on October 18, armed bands carried an attack against the Residence as they were under the impression that the High Commissioner was on the premises. The guards were violently assaulted with grenades and forced to retreat into the haramlik's courtyard (the French Institute) by the insurgents who immediately managed to dominate the terraces. 

Around 6:00 o'clock on Monday, a group of rebels returned to attack the Residence and managed to force the palace's door. The Residence was looted and sprayed with petrol and put on fire as told by the very son of Hassan al-Kharrat, the chief of the gang, who participated in the attack. The painted woodwork that adorned the halls, the thin walls, and the chains of wood linking the masonry helped to rapidly spread the fire that soon gained the door and the wooden pavilion where the Institute's director resided. 

The guards were delivered on Tuesday October 20th. At the time they left -the beginning of the afternoon- all rooms of the palace were intact except the Residence and the pavilion. Most rooms were even closed but the evacuation of the palace left them without protection and the looting commenced in the afternoon. During the night of 21-22, the fire that has continued to simmer reached the great hall of ceremony at the Haramlik. 

Started in the afternoon of the 20th after the abandonment of the palace, looting was mainly effected in the morning of the 21st. The burnt door allowed free access to the Institute's locales, those were vandalized and their doors forced. 

In the offices, the files were thrown to the floor, trampled under foot, and torn apart. It was later discovered that thieves had carried administrative papers thinking they were precious documents. The archaeological notes, impressions collections, drawings, met the same fate. The furniture of the salons, the precious carpets, the divans, the objects of art all were equally stolen. Even the electrical wires were pulled out. 

The library in particular suffered significant damage. The bound and illustrated books of archaeology were carried away by preference. Many portfolios of plates and books were intentionally torn apart or thrown in the basins  in disdain. 

In the museum the iridescent glass, chiseled copper, money disappeared. A remarkable libation cup from Tafas, precious ancient silks, collections of Damascene ceramics excavated in Hanania & Bab Sharqi were despoiled of their prettiest pieces. The altar dedicated to the god Manaf (?! perhaps the goddess Manat) was thrown off its pedestal. They even broke the relief of stucco from Rey which was the most important human representation by a Muslim artist to reach us. It was 75 cm high and features a round-faced person of an Iranian look, standing, armed with a mace. He wore a custom that consisted of a striped turban and caftan the right arm of which surrounded with Kufic inscriptions. The long waistcoat was most interesting for studying the tissues of early Islam as the relief seemed to fix its date in the 9th or tenth century of the Common Era. 

Also regretted is the loss of photographic equipment, plate collection that grouped more than 2000 photos of monuments of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and High Mesopotamia." 

http://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1925_num_6_4_3127?q=de%20lorey