World War 1, Middle East, Damascus, 10 Australian Light Horse, 1918

1918
Overview

Mounted 10 Light Horse troopers riding past the Telegraph Column in Damascus. The Telegraph Column monument is a focal point of Marjeh Square in Damascus. It is a commemorative monument celebrating the completion of the telegraph line between Damascus and Hajj sites. It was designed by Raimondo D'Aronco.

Historical information

Monuments such as this and the Jezreel Valley Railway monument in Haifa were designed to commemorate the "charitable works" of Abdul Hamid II for his people; the railway would be used to carry pilgrims to the Hajj and the telegraph would allow rapid communication between the two locations.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-32-P1900.35
Item type
Inscriptions and markings

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 at the entrance of the Yıldız Palace in Istanbul. Inscriptions on the base in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish explain how it is now the Sultan-caliph that makes decisions on such matters as telegraphs, railroads and highways, instead of Europeans. The monument is a focal point of Marjeh Square in Damascus.

Year
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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