The Places that Remain: Of Ruins and Memory Research & Cut-out Book
Places bear significance to us as we associate them with memories and meanings, thus, going beyond being mere backdrops for our daily life experiences. The way places and memories are interwoven not only connects us to the past but also informs our present and future. An exemplary case study is the study of ruins, particularly the Mausolea of the Seven Maidens (al-Saba’ Banat), and how they are perceived as sites of memory. Ruins house manifold narratives about their past, present, and future. One keeps wondering what events have taken place there. What brought them to how they are now? and how will they stand immortal in the future, in the face of time?
The notable thing about the Mausolea of the Seven Maidens is how they have lost their certainty over time with the absence of a concrete account of their history. However, presence seems to linger there through the narratives and myths being associated with them. People, living in this area, believe in their divine power ranging from healing women’s infertility to seeing angels praying there at dawn. Therefore, the paper combines both the individual memory connected to the personal lived experience of these ruins, as well as, the collective memory transmitted from one generation to another, eventually, leading to the creation of myths. It also questions how this collective memory and myth-making affect the identity of people living there. I explore these different aspects of the ruins of the Mausolea through a hermeneutical phenomenological and an orientalist approach.