“Unfortunately, the Syrian government was unable to carry out all of these recommendations. There was no prior appointment of staff, no prior formulation of a budget and the objectives of the Library remained undefined. Also, M. Clavel (Director of the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne in Switzerland) was unable to undertake fully the duties of a librarian consultant as the Jury had envisaged”.
The above quote is taken from a report by A.E. Jeffries, a UNESCO envoy to the Syrian government, published in May 1984 – just four months before the grand opening of Syria’s largest library. Construction began on the Al-Assad National Library in December 1979 after its design was approved by Polish engineer Jan-Jacques Meissner, as selected by the joint international commission comprising UNESCO, the International Union of Architects, and the Syrian state.
The joint committee compiled a set of recommendations and procedures concerning the library’s architectural design, its service strategy for patrons, and the essential allocation of budget and professional staff prior to its inauguration. However, the Syrian government ignored all these recommendations, including those pertaining to design and execution. The government dismissed the Polish engineer overseeing the project and replaced him with Syrian engineer Ragheb al-Aswad, a consulting architect for Hafez al-Assad, who disregarded the committee’s advice on incorporating elements of Arab architecture into the building.
According to the UN advisor’s report, only one appointment was made in advance – that of the librarian, Ghassan Lahham, who would later become the librarian of the Presidential Palace and Minister of Presidential Palace Affairs. No funds were designated from the public treasury for the library, nor was there a systematic plan to develop its content and informational identity.
The same report notes that throughout the construction phase, the Ministry of Culture failed to inform any stakeholders that the nation’s largest library would be named after the president’s family, a common practice in projects undertaken by the regime of Assad Senior – as demonstrated by projects such as President Hafez al-Assad Bridge, Al-Assad University Hospital, Bassel al-Assad University City, President Hafez al-Assad Mosque, Bassel al-Assad Labor City, and many more buildings and facilities. Consequently, the national library in Syria was named after Assad, transforming from a public national library into a library symbolizing the president, his party, and his government.
Construction and Location
The library is located on the western side of Umayyad Square and is surrounded by numerous government and security facilities, including the Air Command headquarters, the Ministry of Defense, the Chief of Staff’s offices, the General Authority for Radio and Television, and another cultural venue carrying Assad’s name: the opera house. Observers of the architectural semiotics of Umayyad Square might note that this iconic Damascus landmark has evolved, perhaps intentionally, into an eclectic yet cohesive reflection of the Assad family’s governance style. Notably, the library is adjacent to the intelligence headquarters, the opera house overlooks the Ministry of Defense, and the Criminal Security Department is located behind the radio and television building.
Inside the library, numerous statues of Hafez al-Assad are displayed, varying in shape, size, and material, ranging from bronze to marble: some depict only his head, others his entire figure. At the main entrance, a prominent bronze statue presents a full-bodied Hafez al-Assad seated on a chair, elevated on a large bronze cube. Inscribed on the cube are the words:
“In order to preserve the cultural heritage for future generations and to consolidate the foundations of culture and science, His Excellency President Hafez al-Assad ordered the construction of Al-Assad National Library.”
The dedication to Assad is not limited to the library’s naming or the statues. Poetic verses by the Iraqi poet Mahdi al-Jawahiri, lauding the Assad Senior, are engraved within:
O incubator of creative thought, as if the flower has been woven into an elegant carpet,
Your hands are graced by a book, gathered from fragments into a cohesive whole.
A Totalitarian Library for a Totalitarian Society
The legislative decree that established the library included a mandate requiring all public libraries in Syria to transfer heritage manuscripts, volumes, and valuable books to the Al-Assad Library. This directive was contrary to the advice of a UN expert, who highlighted, in a submitted report, that this approach was outdated and not employed by any leading national libraries. Instead, the UN expert recommended that building the library’s collection should focus on specific values, themes, and specializations rather than adopting a comprehensive approach. Despite this, the Al-Assad Library appropriated collections from other heritage libraries, such as the Waqf Library in Aleppo and the Dhahiri Library in Damascus. This policy resulted in significant losses for Aleppo, including the majority of its documents and manuscripts, ultimately leading to the closure of the Waqf Library in 1994 as a result of its diminished role and the loss of its distinguished books.
The relationship between the library and the city it serves is supposed to be interactive; the library ideally preserves the city’s history and makes its records and writings accessible. Typically, this relationship encourages local donations to enrich city-specific archives and heritage. However, the centralized and all-encompassing nature of the Al-Assad Library has undermined the connection between individual libraries and their local communities.
The library’s catalog expanded haphazardly, ignoring the Joint Committee’s recommendation for a well-planned public relations campaign, a budget for annual title acquisitions, and a strategic approach to title selection. Instead, Article 17 of Legislative Decree No. 17 in 1983 imposed a legal deposit requirement, obliging publishers and authors to submit five copies of each book, publication, or periodical to the library at no charge. Violations of this mandate are subject to fines ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 lira.
With no clear standards or methodological approach to building its catalog, the number of books in Al-Assad Library had reached approximately one million by 2020. Continuing in this direction, at the start of the year, the Syrian People’s Assembly passed a new legal deposit law for books and works, requiring every Syrian publisher, or any entity importing publications from abroad, to deposit two copies in the Al-Assad Library archives.
A Library Resigned
In 2022, UNESCO and the International Federation of Libraries and Institutes issued a statement outlining the role of the public library:
“The public library is the local centre of information, making all kinds of knowledge and information readily available to its users. It is an essential component of knowledge societies, continuously adapting to new means of communication to fulfil their mandate of providing universal access to and enabling meaningful use of information for all people. It provides publicly accessible space for the production of knowledge, sharing and exchange of information and culture, and promotion of civic engagement.”
Of course, the role of the Al-Assad Library starkly contrasts with this ideal. Since 1985, the library has organized the Damascus International Book Fair, the largest book fair in Syria, featuring local and Arab publishers. Yet the library administration censors the content of books at the fair, with numerous instances of books being withdrawn from publishers and banned from public display. This shift from disseminating knowledge to censoring it aligns closely with the political and propaganda agendas of the Syrian regime.
Former library director Iyad Murshid highlighted the restrictive nature of this approach in 2019, stating, “The fair will activate the role of the reader in reporting any ‘abuse’ found in the content of the books at the fair,” ensuring immediate accountability for offending publishers, who were to be barred from future events.
The quality of services and facilities a public library provides is essential for its role in cultural and academic life, with readers central to its value and impact. At Al-Assad Library, there are numerous complaints about the services, such as delays in accessing books, the need for administrative approval to view certain books – often withheld without explanation – and restrictions on photography, mobile phone usage, and the requirement for special permission to use personal computers.
Aside from censorship, Al-Assad Library actively promotes political propaganda for the Syrian regime. A brief review of the library’s online presence shows that the majority of its content highlights activities involving the Syrian President and his wife, followed by the Arab Socialist Baath Party and the Ministry of Culture. Cultural life and library-related content are in comparison deprioritized.
On its website, under the “Our Picks” section, the library focuses on a single topic each year. For instance, in 2021, the featured content was the book cover of Glimpses of Aleppo, and in 2020, it was an excerpt from the manuscript of Bird Letters. The library’s activities also include events unrelated to its primary mission, such as commemorating the anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani, hosting conferences on eyelid surgery, and facilitating Damascus Dental Health Days, often serving as a venue for Arab Socialist Baath Party leadership meetings.
This profile of Al-Assad Library reveals how it has transformed from Syria’s foremost public library into a propaganda dissemination tool for the regime, and showcases how its primary role has shifted away from being a serious intellectual and cultural institution to serving the interests of a dictatorship.
