Al-Jizdan neighborhood in Hama, houses and shops carved in the rocks
Hama – North-Press Agency
Sam Al-Ahmed
The city of Hama in the center of Syria has many archeological sites that have been deeply rooted in the eras of history, including ancient baths and markets for handicrafts that remained standing and resilient over time, despite the succession of events.
“Jizdan” neighborhood is one of the most important and unique heritage sites, located west of Assi (Orontes) River, which divides the city of Hama into two parts, “Al-Hadher”, on the east of Al Assi, and “Al-Souq” on the west.
The name of the neighborhood “Jizdan” (wallet in English), came from the way its houses and shops engraved and preserved in rocks.
A Rocky Hill
A hundred years ago, the people of the neighborhood dug their houses and shops in the rocky hill to turn it into a residential neighborhood, as there’s a wide road in the middle of the neighborhood with shops made from rocks on both sides.
One of the shops carved in the rocks is a bakery for making a hand-made bread, its owner Mazid Qanbar, tells North-Press about the history of the bakery and the neighborhood, which are engraved in the rocky hill, saying that the entire neighborhood and the bakery were dug in 1911.
The neighborhood, which was a rugged rocky hill, prevents the inhabitants of the western outskirts of Hama of reaching areas of (Al Souq, the river, and Al-Hadher), as they traveled long distances to reach the center of the city to meet their needs.
So, the residents decided to make a short road by their personal efforts and with simple tools.
The bakery, which dates back to the age of the building of the neighborhood, according to Mazid, has a number of shops and workshops on both of its sides, which are full of originality and folklore, and it also inspires the ancient Hamawi heritage such as making carved wood, mosaic, pottery, and other professions and handicrafts, which have been there for decades and are still reserved by the hands of their sons who have inherited these professions from parents and grandparents.
The bakery that the man inherited from his father and grandfather is considered to be a destination for Hama’s people to buy the Hamawi’s hand-made bread, according to what Dr. Muhammad Ghanameh says, a customer of the bakery, “I go to the bakery every morning for the delicious and tasty (Tanoor) bread, which is famous for its tastes and smell, that cannot be found in ordinary bread,” he said.
While Journalist Habib Salman, a resident of the neighborhood, says that Jizdan neighborhood is similar to other neighborhoods in Hama, “where there’s the Quran as well as Crosses,” the Muslims and Christians live side by side and share joy and worries.
Jizdan neighborhood briefly tells the story of human struggle with the harshness of nature and the adaptation to the difficult conditions manifested in the values of goodness and beauty.