title: Maria Saadeh
text: # Maria Saadeh
  
  Maria Saadeh (Arabic: ماريا سعادة, romanized: Māriyā Saʿādah; born 16 July 1974) is a Syrian architect, politician, and developer. She has worked as a designer.
  
  ## Life
  
  Saadeh was born in Damascus, Syria. Her father died in 1980, when she was aged 6.
  
  In 1997, she was awarded a diploma in Architecture from University of Aleppo. In 1998, she got a diploma in Architectural Design, specializing in the "historical advancement of Syrian Churches Architecture". In 1999, she was awarded a DESS in Conservation and Restoration of Old Monuments and Sites from École de Chaillot [fr] in Paris and the University of Tripoli Lebanon in Tripoli.
  
  In 1999–2000, she established her firm PAA for architecture, interior design and restoration and conservation studies. Between 2001–2011 she taught Architectural Design at the University of Damascus. Between 2006–2010 Saadeh prepared her doctorate study in Contemporary Interventions in Historical Monuments and Sites at the University of Geneva. She worked as an expert in the field of restoration and conservation. She won several local and international competitions and was elected as member of the parliament of Syria from 2012 until 2016. In 2013 she spoke up as a Greek Catholic for the rights of christians in an appeal to the pope. In 2013 she was interviewed by the UK's Channel 4 over the Siege of Eastern Ghouta.
  
  In 2020, she founded her Nonprofit Association for Social Development "Houna Hawyati", focusing on enhancing the Syrian identity on social, economic and cultural levels.
  
  