Explore the Old City of Aleppo
Come with Tamim to a World Heritage Site
Khaldoun Fansa is an Aleppo native who was displaced by the Syrian Civil War. For many years he worked as an architect who managed restoration of Aleppo's Old City for private owners as well acting as a consultant for the Aga Khan Trust. Visit the Old City of Aleppo is Fansa's effort to keep Syrian culture alive in a difficult time and to prepare for the day when the cannons are silent and women and men of good will can begin to rebuild their city and their lives.
Visit the Old City of Aleppo is a book for children as well as a book for adults who may choose to read aloud to a child. The narrative follows young Tamim and his father on their explorations of the Old City, pre civil war.
Accent pages provide insights from 5,000 years of culture and history reflected in the houses, covered markets, and narrow alleyways. Aleppo was a major trading center built of Roman stone that continued to flourish in the time of Marco Polo and later served as the favored British trading route to India. Aleppo's Old city is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Khaldoun Fansa is a consulting architect, who managed restoration projects in the Old City of Aleppo. He was one of the founders of “the Old City of Aleppo Rehabilitation Project” and was selected by GTZ to establish and manage the “Residents Lending Fund" between 1993 and 2001.
Fansa was a contributor to the German exhibitions “Damascus—Aleppo: 5000 Years of Civic Development” in 2000, and “Saladin and The Crusaders” in 2006. Mr Fansa presented and published several papers related to the Old City of Aleppo and worked as a consultant to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as a manager of the Preservation Work in the Citadel of Aleppo and the Citadel of Masyaf, between 2000 and 2008.
Khaldoun Fansa was a founding member of “Aleppo Citadel Friend Society” in 2006.
Abdalla Asaad is an artist and illustrator based in Homs, Syria where he has lived and worked through the devastation of the Syrian Civil War. Asaad has a PhD in Art Criticism. He has participated in many art exhibitions locally and internationally. His graphic work includes poster designs for festivals, cartoons for Al-Domari Magazine, and comics for Usama children’s magazine and other newspapers in Syria. Mr. Asaad is the Plastic Arts Professor in Al-Kalmoun University in central Syria.
