Aleppo: Goldsmiths
Date: c. 1671
The Venetian traveller, Ambrosio Bembo (d. 1705), found that during a festival called the Zina, all businesses and shops were closed with the exception of those of the Goldsmiths in the principal bazaar. He also noted that, unlike Venice, the shops were decorated with rugs, tapestries, velvets, and gold silk cloths rather than their own merchandise. Bembo also mentioned that during the festivity, each guild of craftsmen carried a float on which was an artisan practising his craft. He noted that the goldsmith was in the process of setting a gem.
Citation: Bembo, Ambrosio, The Travels and Journal of Ambrosio Bembo, trans. Clara Bargellini and edited and annotated by Anthony Welch (Berkeley and Los Angeles CA: University of California Press, 2007), pp. 77-78.