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The Forgotten Of Aleppo's Hotel Baron

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  • The Forgotten Of Aleppo's Hotel Baron

    THE FORGOTTEN OF ALEPPO'S HOTEL BARON
    By Flavia Amabile

    http://hetq.am/eng/articles/20010/the-forgotten-of-aleppos-hotel-baron.html
    12:42, October 30, 2012

    'Madame Flavia, Syria is finished, Aleppo is finished'. Armen
    Mazloumian pauses, maybe following a flashing thought. An ominous
    silence's spreading all around: in Aleppo Baron Street has always been
    a busy road, crowded and jammed night and day, in the very heart of
    Aleppo, a five minute walk from the suq. Today it is a still street,
    totally mute but for the frequent clashes in the surroundings and
    for the noise of the loyalist troops headquartered nearby to protect
    the area.

    The Baron's Hotel stands there, in the middle of the street as it does
    since 1911, when it opened its doors. Founded by Armen Mazloumian,
    the grandfather of the present owner, it gave its name to the street, a
    tribute and a homage since everyone knows it: Barons' history mirrors
    Syria's history. And everyone looks at the future of the hotel to
    understand the future of the country. It was a place of culture and
    power when Syria was a place of culture and power. T.H. Lawrence
    would have never slept anywhere else when he came back from his tours
    officially devoted to archaeological sites, actually following his
    role as intelligence officer and military adviser in the Middle East.

    The souvenirs of his stay at Baron's lie in the hall on the right
    just after the entrance: sheets of paper of a wrong bill, letters,
    and pictures. Now the hall is closed, windows glasses were broken one
    week ago by the last grenade that went off in the street. It's almost
    two years since when someone nosed around the precious showcase to
    look at the tiny calligraphy of the Englishman that wanted to lead
    the Arab revolt.

    The opposite door opens on the Baron's bar, a kind of a tale among
    travelers in the past. Everyone stopped and astonished at its amazing
    British countryside furniture. No one ever saw anything of the kind
    in the very heart of Middle East.

    Sunk in the armchair in the right corner Agatha Christie wrote "Murder
    on The Orient-Express" during the 30s. In the following years people
    came from every corner of the world to grip that peculiar touch
    of the room. Today the most famous lounge hall among travelers and
    archaeologists of last century is closed, barred, and its windows blown
    to pieces too. 'No one has ever tried to attack us - Armen Mazloumian
    tells - loyalist troops defend the street'. But who will protect
    them from bomb blasts? 'Half of Alep fled to escape the fighting,
    the suq was pillaged and sacked, the Citadel damaged'. Who had the
    chance fled months ago when borders were open and streets safe. Armen
    remained. The hotel leans entirely on his shoulder. Koko, his father,
    the man that turned the Baron's into one of the most charming hotels in
    Middle East, passed away. Sally, his mother, is a 92 years old lady ,
    mostly spent reaching for a dream never come true.

    In 1945 she was a young, beautiful fleeing to leave London bombs
    behind. She was looking for a free and safe land and happened in Alep
    where she hoped to begin a new life, unaware that she'd meet again
    the nightmare from which she was running away 60 years before.

    It's not easy to live these days in this sad town, once one of the
    main center of trades on the Silk Road. Sally doesn't get out since
    long. Armen is an aging man, some serious diseases affect him and his
    medicines stock is running out. He too doesn't go out, his legs can't
    run anymore and flee to safety in case of bombings. A young boy helps
    him wandering in quest for food in the few stores still open. Armen
    can hardly go upstairs, to the first floor.

    The most imposing rooms are located there, the ones furnished with
    the fine hand-woven carpets collected by his grandfather in the
    beginning of XX century. Those are the rooms where guests such as
    Charles De Gaulle and Rockefeller slept. And the rooms where thousands
    of Armenians were saved in those years during the genocide committed
    by the Young Turks. And where were kept important documents definitely
    supporting the historical reconstruction of the Armenian genocide. For
    more than a century Middle East history has been parading on the
    Baron Hotel's terrace and its fate depicted Syria's destiny.

    In the next future Armen most urgent worry is to find some wooden
    planks to protect the hotel's windows from grenades that will surely
    blast or where to find fuel to face the coming winter. This is Baron's
    destiny now, served with the unpleasant feeling that this could be
    the last chapter of Baron's and Syria book. "Madame Flavia, it's all
    finished", he repeats and the same unsetting silence spreads again
    all around.

    (La STAMPA, October 25, 2012)

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