Recycled materials in Damascus wins Guinness world record

A mural made by a volunteer team in Damascus set a Guinness record for the largest mural made of recycled materials. The mural was executed on the wall of Nahla Zeidan School in Mazzeh highway, under the supervision of head teacher of artistic education at the Damascus Education Directorate Moaffak Makhoul. Makhoul told SANA that the team decided to present a new form of street art, beginning work on the mural which measures 720 square meters in October 2013, and four months ago they began contacting Guinness and sending them images and documents on this project, and so the mural was approved and won the record for largest mural made of recycled materials. Pictures of the mural were uploaded on the official Guinness Facebook page, and the team received the certificate for the record on March 29th. Makhoul said that the goal of creating this mural was to bring color and happiness to people during these difficult times, and that the main idea was that the country needs a touch of love. He said the team used various materials including broken housewares, metal pipes, ceramic pieces, mirror fragments and so on. In addition to Makhoul, yhe team consists of art teachers in Damascus schools including Nasser Naba'a, Ali Sleiman, Raja'a Wabi, Safa'a Wabi, and Huzaifa Otri, in addition to assistants Adnan al-Abdullah, Hossein Mustafa, and Mahmoud al-Sbaineh. Education Minister Hazwan al-Waz visited the school to check up on the mural, congratulating the team for winning the record, noting that similar murals should be done later by teachers across the country.