A Syrian man returning to his home in Damascus discovered that a private library he had sealed inside a wall 15 years earlier was still intact, according to an account shared by Yeni Şafak. The collection had remained hidden since he left Syria for Kuwait.
The man concealed the books because they reportedly included works banned under the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Rather than leave the volumes exposed, he placed them inside a concealed space in the wall and sealed it before departing. The books then remained there for 15 years.
When he returned to Damascus, he reopened the hidden space and found the library as he had left it. The account described the discovery as a deeply emotional moment that reunited him with books tied to his home and to the period before he left Syria.
Books preserved behind the wall
The library was not simply abandoned. The man deliberately hid the collection because he believed keeping the books in the open could put them at risk. Their survival behind the wall allowed him to recover a private collection that had been separated from him for more than a decade.
Yeni Şafak said the discovery brought the man immense joy. The report did not identify him by name, list the titles in the library or specify the exact date of his return. It also did not explain how the hidden compartment was built or provide a detailed assessment of the books’ physical condition.
The available account establishes three central facts: the books were hidden inside a wall in the man’s Damascus home; the collection was concealed before he left for Kuwait; and the library was still intact when he returned 15 years later. It does not independently document the titles, the precise location of the house or whether every book remained completely undamaged.
The story was shared by Yeni Şafak, a Turkish newspaper and digital news organization, through its official X account. The post provides no further identifying information about the Syrian man or the contents of his library. For now, the confirmed outcome is simple: a collection hidden for 15 years survived behind the wall and was recovered by its owner after his return to Damascus.
