The idea for this work was born years ago, on the day Boutros Al-Maari published a collection of monotype paintings of various Syrian cities. These paintings captured our attention and awakened a long-standing sorrow and a renewed sense of wonder within us. Since then, the question arose: What is the most beautiful form that would do justice to these cities painted with nostalgia? The thought remained suspended, while Syria was passing through a grueling phase—its cities changing, and memory bearing more and more burdens.

In Hamburg, where the artist lives and escapes into his work to avoid the news of the country he carries in his heart, the idea kept growing like a small window looking out onto the distant homeland.

From this longing, and from the warmth of Damascus that he carries with him into the cold nights of exile, these pages were born. This is a book that celebrates Syria—its cities, its memory, and its soul—written by friends, each about their own city, and adorned by the artist with his drawings.

It is a tribute of love to a country we carry wherever we go, and a mirror of a nostalgia that never fades.