The Telegraph Column, located in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, is a commemorative monument celebrating the completion of the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

line between that city and

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

sites, in the former

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. It was designed by

Raimondo D'Aronco Raimondo Tommaso D’Aronco (1857–1932) was an Italian people, Italian architect renowned for his building designs in the style of Art Nouveau. He was the chief palace architect to the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II in Istanbul f ...

History

Monuments such as this and the Jezreel Valley Railway monument in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

were designed to commemorate the "charitable works" of

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

for his people; the railway would be used to carry pilgrims to the

and the telegraph would allow rapid communication between the two locations.

Description

The monument consists of a cast-iron column on stone base adorned with representations of telegraph lines and insulators running along the pole. The notable feature of the monument is the mosque on top of the column, "in the place on the upper part of the capital traditionally reserved for emperors, kings, saints, war heroes �� and explorers ��and other great men, a clear statement that a Western model was not always acceptable without fundamental change". The mosque at the top of the column is a scale replica of the

Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque The Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque ( tr, Yıldız Hamidiye Camii), also called the Yıldız Mosque ( tr, Yıldız Camii, links=no), is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in Yıldız neighbourhood of Beşiktaş district in Istanbul, Turkey, on the way ...

at the entrance of the

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace ( tr, Yıldız Sarayı, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the sultan and his court in the late 19th ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Inscriptions on the base in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

explain how it is now the Sultan-caliph that makes decisions on such matters as telegraphs, railroads and highways, instead of Europeans. The current monument is designed in an Art-Nouveau styling and breaks from an earlier design that would have used an obelisk on a pedestal with four fountains. Opened in the early 1900s, it "is an elegant, bulbous column festooned with faux telegraph wires". The use of architecture atop the column instead of a figurative statue serves as a unique indication of Ottoman power. The monument is a focal point of Marjeh Square in Damascus. It served as a symbol of the municipal administration until circa 2010.

References

{{Reflist Monuments and memorials in Damascus Art Nouveau sculptures and memorials Tourist attractions in Damascus Monuments and memorials completed in the 1900s