Munib al-Dardari (1912-1995)
Munib al-Dardari was born in Damascus in 1912 and died in 1995. He obtained his high school certificate from Damascus, then left for France to attend the School of Engineering in Strasbourg, from which he graduated in 1936.01 Upon his return to Damascus, al-Dardari established his private firm where he continued to work until his retirement in 1985. In this firm, he designed and worked on many projects across the then-modern Damascene neighborhoods, including Sha’alan, alAbed Street, Abu Ramanneh, and Ayn al-Kirish. Al-Dardari participated in the establishment of the Syrian Engineers’ Association in 1943 alongside Khalil al-Farra and other Syrian engineers, which was the base and foundation for the creation of the Engineers’ Unions in Syria after the legislative decree regulating the profession in Syria in 1950.02 He was a member of the al-Mouwasat Syrian Society established in 1936, where he worked on designing al-Mouwasat Hospital and later supervised its construction works. He later became President of that Society until he passed away.03 In 1951, he served as Vice-President of the Municipal Council of Damascus.04 He was appointed Director-General of Damascus Electricity Corporation and Chairman of its Board of Directors. During his tenure as chairman, he oversaw a project to generate electricity with hydro-turbines from the Tekiah dam in Wadi Barda along with generating electricity from steam power in AlHameh district, as well as a project to install street lights in all the villages of Eastern and Western Ghouta in the countryside of Damascus.05
Associated Projects:
- Al-Mouwasat Hospital building | 1943 | Built
- Al-Mujtahid Hospital building
01 Dalīl al-Muhandisīn (The Engineers Guide),” The Arab Engineer, June 1961. 76.
02 Jamʿiyyat al-Muhansīn al-Sūriyyūn (Syrian Engineers Association), “Al-Qanūn al-Asāsiyy li-Jamʿiyyat al-Muhansīn al-Sūriyyūn (The Fundemenetal law of the Syrian Engineers Association),” (Ibn Zaidun Press, 1943). And “Aʿdaʾ Naqābat al-al-Muhandisīn bi Dimashq, (Members of the Engineers Association of Damascus,” Engineers Association Magazine, 31 January 1955. 54.
03 Aza Ali Akbik, “Al-Muhandis Munib al-Dardari (Engineer Munib al-Dardari),” Syrian Modern History, September 28, 2018, accessed June 1, 2024, LINK.
04 MHD Samir Al-Moudarres, “Shakhsiyyat al-ʿadad al-Handasiyya al-Muhandis al-Istishariyy Khalil al-Farra [the Issue’s Engineer Persona the Consultant Engineer Khalil al-Farra],” The Arab Engineer, May 1978.
05 Akbik, “Al-Muhandis Munib al-Dardari (Engineer Munib al-Dardari).”