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Building in Damascus, Syria From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Presidential Palace (Arabic: قصر الشعب, lit. 'the People's Palace') is the chief official residence of the President of Syria. It is located in the west of Damascus, on Mount Mezzeh, north of Mezzeh neighborhood, next to Mount Qasioun, and overlooks the city. The main building covers 31,500 square metres (340,000 square feet). The entire plateau of Mount Mezzeh is part of the palace compound and is surrounded by a security wall and guard watchtowers. In front of the building is a large fountain and the palace itself largely consists of empty rooms clad in Carrara marble.[3][4]
| Presidential Palace | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Alternative names | New Shaab Palace, Qasr ash-Shaab, People's Palace |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Structuralistic |
| Town or city | Damascus |
| Country | Syria |
| Construction started | 1985 |
| Completed | 1990 |
| Cost | $1 billion[1] |
| Client | Hafez al-Assad |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Kenzo Tange,[2] Wojciech Zabłocki |
| Engineer | Oger Liban |
Japanese architect Kenzo Tange is credited with the design. He reputedly resigned from the project before construction of the palace began.[5] The front brass gates were created by the noted Syrian-Jewish metalwork artist Maurice Nseiri.[6]
The palace premises covers about 510,000 square meters (5,500,000 feet) and also includes a private presidential hospital and the headquarters of the Republican Guard. Hafez al-Assad first commissioned the plans for the building in 1979.[citation needed] Udo Kultermann has characterised the building as "a feudalistic architecture".[7]
The palace was frequently used for hosting government delegations and foreign government visitors.[8][9] On 27 October 1994, Bill Clinton met with Hafez al-Assad at the palace to negotiate a peace plan between Syria and Israel.[10][11][12]
On 8 December 2024, during the Syrian opposition offensives, anti-Assad forces entered the palace.[13] According to Rami Abdel Rahman (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights), Bashar al-Assad had "left Syria via Damascus International Airport".[14][15][16]
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