Uncovering Roots Returns with a New Season - Launching with “The Baron Hotel”

After the success of its widely shared The Lost Voice: Aurora Mardiganian mini series - a moving exploration of an Armenian Genocide survivor turned hollywood star - the podcast Uncovering Roots returns with a brand-new season. The first episode, titled “The Baron Hotel,” is a beautiful audio portrait of one of Syria’s most iconic and storied buildings.

Co-produced by Maxim Saakyan and Syrian-Armenian researcher Zila Demirjian, The Baron Hotel tells the story of Aleppo’s once-legendary hotel. A space that hosted kings, revolutionaries, archaeologists, and refugees, and which now stands damaged and deserted after more than a century of history.

At the centre of the story is Mary Momdjian, granddaughter of the hotel’s original founder, whose voice carries listeners through intimate family memories, wartime upheavals, and the slow disappearance of a world. Her reflections, paired with original sound design, archival recordings, and field interviews with Aleppo-based historians and filmmakers, paint a layered portrait of a building that witnessed, and at times sheltered, so much.

“The Baron has been a witness to so many turning points in history,” says Zila. “When spaces like this disappear, it’s not just history we lose. It’s belonging, continuity and culture.”

The Baron Hotel is the first in a new season of Uncovering Roots that will travel across the region, featuring stories from Lebanon, Armenia, Palestine, and other places in the SWANA region, where land, history, and identity are deeply intertwined.

Following a series of successful, sold-out events in London, there are also plans to expand with more listening parties and community gatherings across the globe.