I have been promising myself for at leas the last 7 years to start photographic the old signs of downtown Amman. But I never got around to doing that.

The beautiful old signs of Amman are disappearing fast. The shops that one day used to be proud establishments have closed. The doctors and the lawyers whose offices where above those shops have either passed away or moved on.

A recent walk through downtown Amman has reminded me of my neglected project. I also found that downtown Amman is even dirtier than I remember it. What a shame.

I quickly snapped photos of two signs that caught my eye. What’s fascinating is how both the Arabic calligraphy and the English lettering of some of the old signs of Amman were of high quality.

I urge everyone who has an interest in this subject to document the signs of downtown Amman. It would also be interesting to document any information about the names of the sign makers of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Who where those people who could do this excellent lettering?

old amman sign

old amman sign
old amman sign

old ammman sign

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5 responses to “When did Amman’s shop signs loose their beautiful lettering”

  1. Moey Avatar
    Moey

    Nice signs!

  2. omar Avatar
    omar

    this is amazingly interesting and inspiring!

    quoting my blog’s “interests”:

    “…Portfolio Books, Old Arabic Shop signs, Packaging, CMYK, Arabic Typo…”

  3. CW Avatar
    CW

    thanx for the fantastic share, i wish so much these buildings and signs would be treated with more respect and love,they are the core that could give this city an identity…

  4. CW Avatar
    CW

    by the way..you might find this (http://www.publicartvienna.at/files_e/19.html) interesting, its an art project done in a street in vienna, where all the signs were covered with one color just to increase the awareness of the amount of signs (esp. commercial ones) in public spaces…

  5. Idealist too! Avatar
    Idealist too!

    Nice blog! I hope to see more pictures like this in your future blogs. Please continue to raise your citizens’ awareness about this as CW states that “they are the core that could give this city an identity.”