Syria's pavilion at Expo 2020 represents one of the most important windows into human history, showcasing a rich civilization marked by significant milestones in human progress, including the first crop, alphabet, musical notation, and poetry. Visitors to the pavilion can see a replica of the Ugaritic alphabet, widely agreed to be the first alphabet in history, dating back to around 1400 BC. The Ugaritic alphabet was used to record the Ugaritic language, a Northwest Semitic language discovered at the archaeological site of Ugarit in Syria in 1928.
The Ugaritic alphabet provides the earliest evidence of the alphabetical arrangement of writing and the oldest alphabets of the Levant and Southern Semitic, which influenced the development of later alphabets including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, as well as the Ge'ez alphabet (Old Ethiopian) among others. The Syrian pavilion at Expo 2020 allows visitors to learn about the different stages of the development of writing and the alphabet in various regions of Syria, and how this alphabet has impacted the world, leading up to the Arabic language, which has influenced many languages globally.
Additionally, visitors to the Syrian pavilion can discover the oldest discovered musical notation in the world and participate in an interactive experience with video, sound, and light to play and sing this piece composed in Ugarit around 3500 years ago. This experience aims to communicate with all visitors from around the world through a universal language, music, that unites humanity.
In another section of the pavilion, there is a collective exhibition of Syrian painters themed "I Am Syrian," where each painting represents a facet of Syria. The exhibition is based on the idea that "Every Syrian person is part of a collective consciousness that we are all similar and interconnected, and together we will build a brighter future for Syria and the world." The artists will sign all the paintings with a single signature, "I Am Syrian," expressing the blending of individual identity in favor of the collective.
