Natural Silk
The Silk Road was the main travel route for imports and exports between Eastern and Western civilization. This route created an important crossroads in Damascus, Syria, where a number of goods and materials were traded. one of the most significant products to pass through Syria was silk. Originally cultivated in the Far East and transported throughout Europe and the Middle East via the Silk Road, this economical industry was quickly picked up in Syria. Damascus soon filled with special workshops in which high quality silk was produced before it was sold in Europe.
After the fall of the Byzantine empire, the silk industry began to decline in Syria. The industry saw a huge international expansion, which caused the demand and the prices of silk to decrease drastically, no longer making it a profitable venture. This decline was again furthered by the introduction of the mechanical loom into the textile industry. Demand immediately went to materials that could easily be manipulated by mechanical looms. Silk, unfortunately, did not fall under this category. Fortunately, the traditional methods of producing silk remained an important piece of culture in many regions of Syria, and has been well preserved over the years.
Today, the center of the Syrian silk industry can be found in the city of Latakia. Here, traditional methods are often used when producing silk. In the spring, silk worms are cultivated throughout Syria, but especially along the Orontes River. once ready, the cocoons are gathered and boiled until silk threads unravel from them. These threads are reeled from the silk and made into silk skeins and packed into bundles. Many of these raw silk bundles are sent to local silk mills, while the rest is wound by hand on traditional spinning wheels and then dyed and woven on a loom.
