Riyadh Int’l Book Fair Invigorates Publishing Sector after Pandemichttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3225886/riyadh-int%E2%80%99l-book-fair-invigorates-publishing-sector-after-pandemic
Riyadh Int’l Book Fair Invigorates Publishing Sector after Pandemic
Over 60,000 visitors have flocked to the Riyadh International Book Fair since its opening last week. (Bashir Saleh)
The crowds seen in the first few days of the Riyadh International Book Fair were remarkable, inspiring hope for the future of books, with publishing having been hit, like many other sectors, by the coronavirus pandemic for almost two years.
Indeed, publishing was among the sectors most negatively affected by the pandemic. Some institutions were forced to let employees go and stop printing new material.
Over 60,000 visitors have flocked to the Riyadh International Book Fair since its opening last week.
Saad Ibrahim, the head of marketing at an Egyptian publishing house, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the crisis had been difficult and unprecedented because book fairs are the sector’s lifeblood. This year’s fair in Riyadh, he added, will inspire hope in the return to normality and the market’s revitalization.
Praising the efficacy of the procedures followed under these circumstances, he believes the fair’s success will present a model that others will follow, allowing the sector and the whole world to emerge from this critical phase.
With 36,000 square meters of exhibition wings, this year’s fair was the largest in Saudi history. Over 1,000 publishing houses from over 30 countries took part.
The exhibition was designed to accommodate 15,000 visitors at once, in what was a bet on the people’s keenness to rekindle their relationships with books. It is the first edition to be held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and to be organized by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, the Commission has organized the Publishers Conference 2021, which will run from October 4 - 5.
The first conference of its kind in Saudi Arabia, it seeks to reshape the future of the Arab publishing industry and includes workshops presented by major publishers and leaders within the book industry.
Built 500 years ago, Istanbul's Zeyrek Cinili Hammam recently reopened after a restoration process that took 13 years. (AFP)
For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Türkiye with the advent of running water, many are being restored to revive an ancient ritual bathing tradition.
Often featured in older Turkish films, hammam scenes are highly entertaining, with women not only bathing but enjoying these historical bathhouses as a place to socialize, eat, and even dance.
Last year, the 500-year-old Zeyrek Cinili Hammam -- built during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent by the celebrated Ottoman architect Sinan -- reopened to the public after a painstaking 13-year restoration.
Alongside a functioning hammam, it also houses a museum explaining its history and the Ottoman ritual of bathing.
"The restoration somehow turned into an archaeological dig" that gave insight into how the hammam once looked, museum manager Beril Gur Tanyeli told AFP.
"Around 3,000 pieces of missing tiles were found which helped solve the puzzle of why this hammam was called Cinili" -- Turkish for "covered with tiles".
The beautiful Iznik tiles that once lined its walls were exclusively produced for the hammam, with no other bathhouse having such a rich interior, museum officials say.
Although most were damaged by fires or earthquakes, or sold off to European antique dealers in the 19th century, some are still visible.
The restoration also exposed several Byzantine cisterns beneath the hammam.
"Sinan the Architect is believed to have built the hammam on top of these cisterns to use them as a foundation and as a source of water," Tanyeli said.
Istanbul's celebrated royal architect Sinan designed the Zeyrek Cinili Hammam and built it over several Byzantine cisterns as a water source. (AFP)
- From cleansing to celebration -
In ancient Rome, bathing culture was very important and it was "traditional for traders to wash before entering the city, especially in baths at the (city) entrance," archaeologist Gurol Tali told AFP.
During the Ottoman empire, bathing culture had its golden age, with the ritual symbolizing both bodily cleanliness and purity of soul.
In Islam, a Muslim must wash before praying, in an act known as ablution.
Hammams were also a place for celebrating births and weddings.
"Baths were used not only for cleansing the body but for socializing, relaxing, healing and even celebrating important life events," with special rites for brides, soldiers and those who had undergone circumcision, Tali said.
Since households at the time did not have running water, hammams were an essential part of life until the 19th century, with census figures from 1638 showing there were 14,536 public and private baths in Istanbul, the museum says.
And that tradition has survived until today.
"You come here to get clean and leave handsome," said Zafer Akgul, who was visiting one of the city's hammams in the city with his son, telling AFP he visited often, particularly during religious feasts or for a wedding.
"We don't want this tradition to die."
Alongside the bathhouse, the Zeyrek Cinili Hammam also houses a museum showcasing pieces like these intricately decorated wooden clogs. (AFP)
- 'Passing on cultural heritage' -
That is where Istanbul's ancient hammams can serve a bigger purpose, Tali said.
"Restoring historical baths in Istanbul and putting them to use may be the most effective way to transfer cultural heritage to future generations," he said.
Another nearby bath house from the same era, the Beyazid II Hammam, underwent years of restoration and reopened as a museum in 2015.
One of the largest hammams in the city at the time, some historians believe it was where a notorious male bathing attendant, or "tellak", called Halil plotted an uprising that in 1730 overthrew Sultan Ahmed III.
For Manolya Gokgoz, who does publicity for Cemberlitas Hammam, another 16th-century bathhouse built by the royal architect Sinan, the connection is more personal: her grandmother worked there as a "natir" -- a woman's bathing attendant.
"When I was two or three years old, I would go to the baths in the morning, wash and play by myself until the evening without getting bored," she told AFP.
The museum at the Zeyrek Cinili Hammam celebrates the ancient bathing ritual. (AFP)
For Gokgoz, the tradition lives on -- although mostly among tourists, which for her is a shame.
"In the past, we used to go to the hammam with our mothers and grandmothers. Now 70 percent of our customers are foreign tourists and 30 percent locals," she said.
These days, the hammam experience -- which lets bathers relax in hot, warm or cool pools alongside extras like massages or peeling -- is quite expensive, with the basic service costing around $100.
Celebrities, both Turkish and international, often visit Cemberlitas, with the last being Spanish actor Pedro Alonso -- the character Berlin in the Netflix hit "Money Heist" -- who visited in September.
"Hammam is not a luxury, but a need," Gokgoz said.
"Yes, it's not like in the past because we have hot water at our fingertips, but we need to keep this tradition alive."
