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 Mezzehneighborhood, 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]
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 [de] 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]
^Tange, Kenzo. "New Shaab Palace". Aga Khan Visual Archive, Aga Khan University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
^Jack Anderson; Dale Van Atta (11 July 1989). "New Syrian palace under wraps". Washington Merry-Go-Round (syndicated column). Daily Record. p. 4. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
^Kultermann, Udo (1 July 1999). Contemporary Architecture in the Arab States: Renaissance of a Region. McGraw-Hill. ISBN9780070368316. a feudalistic architecture [that] makes little or no attempt to be in harmony with the traditional Islamic way of life.
