In the aim of harmony building, dialogue, developing the capacities of youth and raising awareness of the intercultural and inter-religious patrimony of the Sham region, three partners: COSV (Comitato di Coordinamento delle Organizzazioni per il Servizio Volontario, Milan, Italy), Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi (The Monastery of St. Moses the Abyssinian, Syriac Catholic Monastery, Nebek, Syria) and Tanween Arabian Cultural Centre (Prague, Czech Republic) are launching an architecture and decoration competition in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

If you are a young artist or architect from a European or Arab Mediterranean country, you may compete on developing a concept of a place of hospitality for travelers and pilgrims through Sham Region (Sham is the old name for Damascus), a place to be called Sham Spiritual Oasis. It will serve as a visitor center, a place of spiritual growth and an occasion of initiation to accept the other, and will be located in the Visitors’ Center or Deir Mar Musa’s Protected Area.

Best designs and texts will be presented through two exhibitions realized in Damascus and Deir Mar Musa. It might be possible, at a later stage, for the competition organizers to take the exhibition on tour through Europe and Mediterranean countries. The opening of the first exhibition held in Damascus will be preceded by a conference in which winners get to present their design concepts and vision to the public. Local stakeholders will be invited to the opening of the second exhibition in Deir Mar Musa to share their opinions and exigencies.