“This is what I miss most, that sense of living steeped in the depths of history, embraced by it, which all my friends there [in Damascus] still experience every day. The city is so alive, so vibrant, and yet wears its deep culture so lightly. I never feel that in the same way anywhere else.”

Q1/ You lived in Damascus for a number of years, can you tell us how you came to live there?

In 2003 I was commissioned to write the Bradt Guide to Syria, so was making regular research trips round the country. By chance on one of those trips I met a Syrian architect who specialised in restoring Ottoman courtyard houses. He told me it was now possible for foreigners to buy property in Syria, and that many old houses were falling down from neglect. It seemed like the chance of a lifetime to buy and restore a chunk of a UNESCO World Heritage site, so I made several more trips to look for a suitable and affordable house. After viewing about 30, I chose my house, Bait Baroudi, in the Old City of Damascus. It was semi-derelict and took more than three years to restore.

Q2/ What did you find most interesting about living in Damascus, and what do you miss most now that you have left?

What I love most about Damascus is the almost careless way the modern city blends with the Old City, layer upon layer of history interwoven. Because it has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years – arguably for longer than any other city in the world – none of the ancient ruins have been excavated, they just pop up unexpectedly, almost randomly, among the more modern buildings. So after walking along the Ottoman Souk Al-Hamadiye with its bustling shops and ice-cream parlour, you suddenly come upon columns from the Temple of Jupiter in front of what is now the Umayyad Mosque, formerly the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. This is what I miss most, that sense of living steeped in the depths of history, embraced by it, which all my friends there still experience every day. The city is so alive, so vibrant, and yet wears its deep culture so lightly. I never feel that in the same way anywhere else.

Q3/ Can you tell us briefly about your book My House In Damascus, what it covers and the circumstances that led you to write it? 

I wrote the first draft of My House in Damascus back in 2010, and submitted it to publishers in March 2011 just days before the Syrian Revolution began. My timing was terrible. Everyone told me, “You can’t write a book like this now.” So I rewrote the story many times, incorporating the revolution, explaining how it evolved and how it lost its way. I wanted to help outsiders who had not had the benefit of my first-hand experience, to understand the many complexities of Syrian society, along with much background about Islamic philosophy, art and architecture. I was determined to explain the country differently, still using the house as the central character, to show how Syria works from the inside. That was always my motivation even before the revolution – afterwards it became even more so.

Q4/ Syria is home to six World Heritage Sites and Damascus has some 125 historical monuments. Can you tell us about any damage you noted to the city/its monuments during your recent visit to Damascus? 

Damage in Damascus is mainly limited to the rebellious residential suburbs like Midan in the south and Al-Qaboun in the east. In Jobar just east of the Old City, the ancient synagogue has been destroyed in bombing. Otherwise, random mortar shells sometimes land in the Old City. In November 2013, one hit the mosaics on the courtyard facade of the Umayyad Mosque, and another blew a hole in the citadel – the damage has since been repaired. The Damascus National Museum is closed for its own protection, but other historical monuments like the Azem Palace and the Ananias chapel remain open to visitors and well-tended.

Want to find out more? Join Diana Darke in conversation with Zahed Taj-Eddin at our free talk and book launch event My House in Damascus, 1 April 2015 at The Mosaic Rooms. 

Front Line, 2007, Hrair Sarkissian. Image courtesy of the artist and Kalfayan Galleries, Greece

Q1/ You are an award winning FT journalist, the author of Inside Putin’s Russia and co-chairman of Pushkin House, can you tell us how you came to be interested in Russia and the Southern Caucasus?

I studied Russian at school, first travelled there in the early 1990s and lived and worked there for the Financial Times during 1998-2004. I wrote a book on the period (Inside Putin’s Russia, Granta/OUP). It was always fascinating to travel to the Caucasus, the Mediterranean of the region. I loved the people, the culture, the climate, the food; and was deeply touched by the post-Soviet tensions through which they have lived.

Q2/ Can you tell us briefly about Nagorno-Karabakh – where is it located / some background on the regions conflict?

Nagorno-Karabakh is a Armenian dominated zone that in Soviet times came under the jurisdiction of what is now Azerbaijan. Conflict broke out in 1988 and it broke away, but a military stand-off and periodic clashes remain today. The politics play out not just between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also Turkey and Russia. I hope to explore the issues in much more detail at the Mosaic Room discussion on March 19th.

Q3/ Why is now a particularly important time to be discussing Nagorno-Karabakh? 

It is one of a number of “frozen conflicts” – now increasingly heating up – along Russia’s southern and western borders that are a product of the late- and post-Soviet era: the others are Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. Russian influence is important, and their peoples and economies are isolated by isolation and lack of international recognition or trade. Topically but sadly, it appears as though parts of eastern Ukraine may end up in a similar situation.

Q4/ What are you working on right now – any news on upcoming books or events you can share with us?

Professionally, I am developing a series of products for the Financial Times that pick the most important news and analysis from the FT and across the web, and distribute it in whichever ways people want – by email, the web, social media, video and so on. In my spare time, I chair Pushkin House, an independent Russian cultural centre in London. We have just unveiled a very strong short list for the Pushkin House Russian book prize of non fiction books in English about the Russian-speaking world as part of our mandate to encourage intelligence discussion of the region: http://www.pushkinhouse.org/new-page/.

Andrew Jack will chair a discussion between Marina Nagai, Dr Hratch Tchilingirian and Dennis Sammut on the issues facing Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday 19 March, 7pm at The Mosaic Rooms. FREE, RSVP HERE.