LEBANON: Tailors keep Lebanese tradition alive at 700-year-old market

Tailors in Khan al-Khayyatin or "Tailor's Quarter" keep up the age-old tradition of making Lebanese traditional garments which are rarely found in other parts of Lebanon and the Middle East. At a time when Western fashion is the most popular form of dress in the East, tailors at Khan al-Khayyatin, a tailor's market dating back to the Byzantine and Mamlouki epochs, are still attached to the traditional Arab and Lebanese national customs. The narrow path in the 700 year-old khan (market) is packed up with small shops that put on show traditional garments that are rarely found in local and Arab shops. Tailors, working with their sewing machines, are also scattered along the khan's sidewalks. Abd al-Sattar has been a regular visitor to Khan al-Khayyatin for the past 40 years. He said that he has been friends with a large number of tailors who worked in the khan, and thus witnessed a change in their work and designs as years passed by. "This khan used to be full of tailors who used to sew women's clothing, Lebanese traditional trousers, and frocks. There still is a reasonable number of tailors who work on traditional designs, and there are tailors that work on modern attires such as pyjamas, shirts and suits. Nowadays, there is a variety in the style of clothing tailored in this khan as opposed to the past when this khan used to display women's clothing and traditional Arab and Lebanese attires," said Abd al-Sattar. The tailors at Khan al-Khayyatin still use antique sewing machines as a way of keeping the traditional spirit in all aspects of their work. Salem al-Abbout, who has been a tailor for 15 years, said that traditional clothing found in the khan are not commonly found in other Lebanese shops and markets. "People shop at the khan because we have the traditional Arab and Lebanese attire that you rarely find in other shops," said al-Abbout. Meanwhile the Spanish government, in collaboration with Municipality of Tripoli, is financially supporting a project of restoring the ancient khan. Architect Wassim Naghi, representative of the renovating company Tarmim, said that this khan is very unique in its style of construction and that this style is rarely found in any khan in the Arab world. "The thing that distinguishes this khan from the others is its style of construction, for it has a longitudinal shape unlike other khans which are of a square or rectangular shape with an interior courtyard. Khan al-Khayyatin is considered to be a longitudinal shaped shopping precinct, and the Spanish government thought that it's the building that most needs renovation," said architect Naghi. In the past, Khan al-Khayyatin used to serve as a hotel and a shopping centre, however this ancient shopping precinct now attracts a good number of shoppers who vary in age. "The traditional aspects of our country are receding, and this place (khan) is displaying our legacies so if we don't keep on coming to these traditional places and supporting them, then we may lose them," said Manal, who is a regular shopper at Khan al-Khayyatin.

ITN Source | May 9, 2007

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