It's fair to say that not all global coffee chains incorporate priceless historical artifacts into their interiors, but one particular outlet in London has done just that.
A Starbucks branch on Vigo Street, in London's upperclass West End, is bucking the idea that all of the coffee chain's outlets are bland and similar, with a hand-carved mahogany ceiling, which was imported from Damascus back in 1903 and bears the seal of the Ottoman sultan of the time.
The exquisite wooden carved ceiling was made 116 years ago in Damascus, Syria(Photo courtesy of @hashimk95 via Twitter)
Back in the day, the building now used to house the coffee giant's local branch was a place dedicated to the sale of oriental carpets and was decorated to suit what was popularly imagined as the sumptuousness of the East, with intricately hand-carved ornamentation in fine woods and marble.
