The painted wooden sign fixed above the shopreads in blue , " Razzouk Tattoo , Tattoo With Heritage Since 1300 . " For more than 720 geezerhood ( and 27 generations),Wassim Razzouk ’s class has continued theancient graphics of tattooingusing woodblocks to stamp the design before putting ink to cutis , and today customers and spiritual pilgrim wait in hours - farseeing lines to receive a tattoo from the world ’s oldest tattooing family . The stage business is the longest - runningtattooshop in the world , so says the 2022 Guinness World Records entrance border and proudly displayed in Razzouk ’s busy tattoo parlor , locate in Jerusalem ’s Old City .
History of Razzouk Tattoo
According to the company ’s website , the Razzouk family line forget Egypt 500 years ago for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and stayed for the business . Razzouk ’s ancestors were Coptic Christians , an ethnoreligious community in Egypt . Tattoos were common in their custom , often in the form of theCoptic cross . For Coptic Christians , it was a lasting exhibit of their faith . In some cases , the tattoo was a bold - faced rebellion against the Islamic ruling business leader after 640 C.E. that actively force conversion . Christians who did not convert toIslamwere tattooed with the cross and require to pay a spiritual taxation .
They convey the custom with them from Egypt , realizing that a tattooing acculturation already existed in Jerusalem . Many pilgrims move around to the Holy Land wished to receive for good ink crosses and other religious motifs to mark the importance of their pilgrimage before going home .
" I have tattooed Christians , Palestinians , Ethiopians , Israelis — believe it or not , I ’ve tattooed an Orthodox Jew with sidelocks , " said Wassim Razzouk , in a 2022interview with The New York Times . " I ’ve tattooed nuns , atheists and bishops . "
Razzouk said he was taught the fine art of tattoo by his father , who was taught by his sire , Yaqoub . Razzouk ’s grandfather wasthe first tattoo artistin Israel to use an electric tattoo political machine — powered by a machine battery — and the first to add colour to tattoo . Razzouk was 33 years one-time when he learned the art in 2007 during a busy Easter season . No congeneric in his generation had taken up the craft . " I knew that if it was n’t for me the tradition would disappear , " he said . He tattooed his first client — 25 pilgrims — in a exclusive session .
Woodblocks: The Original Tattoo Flash
Unlike the handwriting - drawn stencils pop in tattoo in the U.S. , Razzouk often uses woodblocks , C of hand - carved wooden stamps that have been in his category for generations . Painted gently in ink , the woodblocks are pressed against a someone ’s pelt , then Razzouk use the stamp as a guide for many traditional tattoo designs . With the cube , he can take over the same tattoo again and again — like an ancienttattoo flash .
Some of the most pop woodblock tattoo design , like theJerusalem cross , date back to theFirst Crusadein 1096 . A Methedrine character in the shop displays dozens of woodblocks that customers can choose from . Razzouk also has a two - book aggregation of traditional tattoo designs for customer , include different configuration of crosses , Arabic calligraphy , and illustrations of symbolic biblical result like the excruciation and religious figure like the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe . Theoldest stampshe has belong to two woodblocks call " The Ascension , " carved depictions of the minute Christians believe Jesus ascend into heaven after his Christ’s Resurrection . The stamps are 500 years onetime .
The tattoo workshop has germinate over the centuries , incorporating more modern methods and tools to complement traditional woodblock tattoo prowess . In 2022 , Razzouk opened a new living-room in West Jerusalem , ply principally to locals desire more New and sometimes film - pep up tattoo art , freestanding from the other locating that in the first place serves pilgrims looking to commemorate their experience . Traditionally Islam and Judaism prevent tattooing , but Razzouktold The New York Timesthat it had become popular among young Jewish Israelis and Muslims .
The phratry legacy continues as Razzouk train his two sons , Nizar and Anton , in the art of tattooing . Thanks to his contributions to modernize the shop and teach the twenty-eighth generation of Razzouk tattooists , Razzouksaid the craft"will hopefully remain in the family for many centuries to come . "
