Aleppo: A City and Its Architecture

Lecture

Aleppo: A City and Its Architecture

Date: Sun, Nov 13, 2016 02:00PM
Price: $50, $45 Friends, $25 students and seniors

Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has dominated recent headlines with news of war, refugees, and the ongoing destruction of the city. Yet Aleppo has a long history of music, architecture, and cuisine that was shaped by its location as a crossroad of civilizations along the ancient trade routes for merchants from Asia, Europe, and North Africa.

To celebrate Aleppo’s heritage and learn about the current situation there, join us for an afternoon dedicated to Aleppo. After a performance by the Nai Syrian Children’s Choir celebrating the city’s musical traditions, historian Ross Burns — former Ambassador from Australia to Syria and Lebanon, author of Aleppo: A History and creator of the website Monuments of Syria: A Window on Syria’s Past — will give an illustrated talk about Aleppo’s social and political background and how the war has affected the city’s historic landscape. This will be followed by a reception and a visit to our new exhibition Syria: a Living History.

Event registration includes Museum Admission, musical performance, lecture, and reception on November 13th.

Program Details

1:45 pm Doors open
2–2:05 pm Opening Remarks
2:05–2:25 pm Nai Syrian Children's Choir performance
2:25–3:20 pm Ross Burns' lecture Aleppo: A City Architecture
3:20–3:30 pm Q & A
3:30–4 pm Reception with light refreshments
4–5 pm Syria: A Living History visit (with exhibition interpreters in the gallery

Download the Recommended Reading List

Speaker bio

Dr. Ross Burns is the author of three books on the archaeology and history of Syria with a fourth to be released in October 2016. After graduating from Sydney University, he spent almost forty years in the Australian Foreign Service, with assignments in several Middle Eastern countries, including assuming the position of Ambassador to Syria in the mid-1980s. Since retiring from diplomatic life in 2003, he furthered his education by preparing a doctorate at Macquarie University in Sydney on the archaeology of Roman cities of the Eastern Empire.

Nai Syrian Children’s Choir was formed in April 2016 by a team of passionate staff and volunteer musicians at CultureLink, a Toronto-based charity non-profit. The choir provides a unique opportunity for recently arrived Syrian children to learn to express their grief, yearning, love, and hope through song. The children perform their own interpretations of ancient and contemporary Syrian songs, such as “Ha La La La La Laya” and “Lama Bada Yatathna.”

Photo(s) by Ross Burns

Related Programming

EXHIBITION
Syria: A Living History

October 15, 2016 to February 26, 2017

ANNUAL LECTURE
Heritage and Conflict: Syria’s Battle to Save Its Past

Sunday, October 16, 2 pm

CURATOR'S TOUR
Syria: A Living History

Tuesday, October 18, 6:30–7:30 pm

WORKSHOP
Writing at the Aga Khan Museum

Sunday, October 23, 11am–4 pm

SYMPOSIUM
Syria's Art and Architecture: A Multicultural History

Saturday, October 29, 9:30 am–4 pm and Sunday, October 30, 10 am–12 pm
Co-organized with Professor Nasser Rabbat, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT

Showcase Performance
CLASSICAL MUSIC SERIES Arias and Maqams with Lubana Al Quntar

Saturday, October 29, 8 pm

FILM
50 Feet from Syria

Sunday, November 6, 2 pm

LECTURE
Modern History: Syria

Thursday, November 10, 1–2 pm

SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE
Oh My Sweet Land by Amir Nizar Zuabi

Friday, November 18–Sunday, November 20, 6 pm

SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE
Home Within with Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad

Saturday, November 26, 8 pm and Sunday, November 27, 2 pm

FILM
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Sunday, December 4, 2 pm

SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE
Arabica Coffee House Concert with the Al Qahwa Ensemble

Sunday, December 11, 6 pm



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