Location & Aims: The Opera is located in a lively area in Damascus; Umayyad Square, on Shukri al-Kuatli St. It holds the High Institute for Music and Theater Arts, that is annually graduating a staff of actors and musicians. Dar Al Assad for Culture & Arts aim at performing the following functions: * To spread, develop and enhance music and theater cultures, and revive the cultural, public, and artistic national heritage.* To inform the society of Arab as well as international arts of music and theatre, and promote the public sense of artistic appreciation.* To encourage national creativeness on artistic, social and cultural levels.* To upgrade arts of music, theater, and artistic dance, participate to spreading them to the public, and inform society of the best products in this field. Location & Aims: Dar Al Assad for Culture & Arts was inaugurated by President Bashar Al Assad and First Lady Mrs. Asma' Al Assad with presence of the Malaysian King Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-pertuan Agong XII and Queen Seri Paduka Baginda Raja Permaisuri Agong. A crowd of ministers, diplomats, artists, media persons and figures of culture, also attended the ceremony. Inauguration activities took place between the 7th of May and the 3rd of June 2004 and included a dancing performance entitled "A Starry Night" by ENANA Dance Theatre Group on the open-air theatre. Moreover, the Opera Theater hosted first concerts presented by The National Orchestra of Arabic Music with the Arab Choir, and the National Symphony Orchestra with the full Coral. Programming system at Dar Al-Assad for Culture & Arts: Programming system in Dar Al-Assad for Culture & Arts is a quarterly one based on the following: 1. Business year is divided into three quarters: * Fall (September, October, and November)* Winter (December, January, and February)* Spring (March, April, May, and June) Dar Al-Assad for Culture & Arts holds its activities during July and August to perform maintenance, service, cleaning and development of equipment and premises, as well as to have some summer vacation. 2. Programming of the quarter takes place during the first two months of the previous quarter. Program of the quarter is issued one month before. Tickets are sold in Dar Al-Assad for Culture & Arts as following: * Opera Theatre: First class: 200 SP Second class: 150 SP Third class: 100 SP * Drama Theatre: First Class: 200 SP Second Class: 150 SP * Multi-Purpose Hall: First Class: 200 SP Second Class: 150 SP - Tickets are sold exclusively at Dar Al-Assad' box office from Sunday to Thursday: - From 9:30 am till 14:30 pm.- From 18:00 pm till 19.30 pm.- The current tariff is subject to change upon issuance of the new legislation of the General Association of Dar Al-Assad for Culture & Arts.
Al-ASSAD library is considered "The national library" of "Syrian Arab Republic". It was inaugurated on November 16, 1984 under the leader president HAFEZ AL-ASSAD's auspices. The library lies in the west part of Damascus city and overlooks into [UMAWYEEN square]. The library covers an area of [22000 m sq], and it is surrounded by a landscape ground (gardens) which extends on a space of [6.000 m sq]. The complex (buildings) of the library comprises of nine floors. Being "The national library" of the Syrian Arab Republic, AL-ASSAD library's first task is to gather all books and daily issues in addition to all kinds of literature connected with our "ancestral cultural legacy", then to sort out these materials to serve researchers and scholars and benefit them. The library has interest also in modern cultural legacy of all its kinds. As for our ancient cultural legacy (scripts) the library tries to gather all what is available of these scripts to preserve them by conserving maintenance and storing in suitable "warehouses". The library opens at nine o'clock in the morning and the closedown is at eight in the evening. Readers can make use of the library contents between these two dates. The library can accommodate "750" readers in its reading halls. Regulations do not permit borrowing books and other written materials outside the library, only you can borrow books and use them inside library only. Regulations dictate that the lending to visitors and frequenters system is internal where readers use books inside the halls of the library. There is no external borrowing system, but Al-Assad library may borrow books from other libraries and lend to them according to external borrowing system between Al-Assad library and other libraries. If any reader wants a book not available, the library borrowing directorate gets this book from other library and the applicant of the stated book would bear the cost of posting the book and returning it and pay (1000 sp) as a pawn. Regulations do not permit borrowing books and other written materials outside the library, only you can borrow books and use them inside library only. The halls of the Library:1. Literature, languages and religion hall.2. The hall of social sciences, arts, general information.3. Theoretical and applied sciences hall.4. General hall containing books an all academic subjects for first year university students.5. A hall containing the Syrian legislations and laws6. Arabic and foreign ancient journals, magazines, daily and weekly.7. The recently issued Arabic and foreign journals, magazines hall.8. The UN hall: This hall contains managerial and scientific reports issued by "the United Nations" and its organizations.9. The computer hall: This hall contains many computer sets to be used by visitors to the library.10. The hall of the blind: It contains instruments for the blind and those who have poor sight, besides instruments to help the hearing sense, and materials recorded in Braille language for the blind.11. The hall of scripts and rare books, where there is a special warehouses with specific physical conditions to protect them from decay.12. The hall of audible and visible instruments (tape - video tape - films --- etc). This hall is responsible for preserving the Syrian legacy. Among the contents, there are the Syrian films in video-tapes, scientific films on video tapes also, paintings, master pieces of works of art of Syrian painters, films about paintings and galleries.
