Currency - Syria- 1000 Pounds - Year 1997

Item code: 135/SY-2

Year	1997
Obverse	Umayyad mosque in the old city of Damascus. Portrait of Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000). Ugaritic clay tablet from the ancient city of Ebla. Old Islamic Dinar coin. Ancient portico support columns.
Reverse	Oil workers and oil industry. Ship. Combine harvester. Small outline map of Syria in a circle above the oil refinery.
Size	154 x 74 mm
Watermark	Portrait of Hafez al-Assad.
Governor	Dr. Mohammad Bashar Kabbara (1995-2004)

Obverse Description:

Umayyad Mosque

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. The mosque is also believed by Muslims to be the place where Prophet Easa (A) will return at the End of Days. The mausoleum containing the tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.

Damascus was captured by Muslim Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid in 634. Decades later, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, which chose Damascus to be the administrative capital of the Muslim world.

Following the uprising that ended Umayyad rule in 750, the Abbasid dynasty came to power and moved the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad. However, the Abbasids did consider the mosque to be a major symbol of Islam's triumph, and thus it was spared the systematic eradication of the Umayyad legacy in the city. The Sunni Muslim Seljuk Turks gained control of the city in 1078 and restored the nominal rule of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Seljuk king Tutush (r. 1079–1095) initiated the repair of damage caused by the 1069 fire.

Umayyad Mosque Yard 

The Umayyad Mosque underwent major restorations in 1929 during French Mandate rule over Syria and in 1954 and 1963 under the Syrian Republic. In the 1980s and in the early 1990s, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad ordered a wide-scale renovation of the mosque. The methods and concepts of al-Assad's restoration project were heavily criticized by UNESCO, but the general approach in Syria was that the mosque was more of a symbolic monument rather than a historical one and thus, its renovation could only enhance the mosque's symbolism.

Reverse Description

Petroleum industry in Syria

Oil Field in Syria

The petroleum industry in Syria forms a major part of the economy of Syria. According to the International Monetary Fund, oil sales for 2010 were projected to generate $3.2 billion for the Syrian government and account for 25.1% of the state's revenue. Syria is a relatively small oil producer, accounting for just 0.5 percent of the global production in 2010. Although Syria is not a major oil exporter by Middle Eastern standards, oil is a major pillar of the economy. 

Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Syria had 2,500,000,000 barrels (400,000,000 m3) of petroleum reserves as of 1 January 2010. Syria's known oil reserves are mainly in the eastern part of the country in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate near its border with Iraq and along the Euphrates River; a number of smaller fields are located in the center of the country. 

History

Syrian oil exploration first began in 1933 during the French Mandate, by the Iraq Petroleum Company (a consortium made up of Shell, BP, Exxon-Mobil, Total, and Gulbekian). In 1949 James W. Menhall, an independent oil producer from Illinois, was approached by Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli to come to Syria to prospect for oil, after the IPC had drilled eleven wells and given up hope of finding any oil in Syria. In September 1956, Menhall discovered the Karatchok oil field with over 1 billion barrels of reserves. Six consecutive wells were drilled, each producing in excess of 4,000 barrels (640 m3). Menhall was just commencing preparations to drill the adjoining Rumeilan oil field (with over 500 million barrels of reserves) when, on 5 October 1958, President Nasser of Egypt, as President of the United Arab Republic, expropriated Menhall's concession and confiscated his equipment and three drilling rigs without compensation. The Syrian government, under the Baath Party leadership, has since refused to consider any compensation. The Syrian oil industry took off in 1968, when the Karatchok oil field began production after a pipeline connecting it to the Homs refinery was completed, although Syria did not begin exporting oil until the mid-1980s.

A pumpjack in Syria's Rumeilan oil fields 

Return to Syrian Bank Note Page