[Bilimsel Haber] ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW PUBLICATION ON LATE OTTOMAN DAMASCUS

[Onur İnal]

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW PUBLICATION ON LATE OTTOMAN DAMASCUS

Weber, Stefan, _Zeugnisse kulturellen Wandels. Stadt, Architektur und Gesellschaft des osmanischen Damaskus im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert_, EJOS, IX (2006), No. 1, I-XI + 1-1014. ISSN 0928-6802 (in German, ca. 2000 figures, 19 maps). English book in preparation. 

http://www2.let.uu.nl/Solis/anpt/ejos/EJOS-IX.0.htm

 
Summary: 

Urban Transformation, Architectural Innovation and Cultural Change 
in Late Ottoman Damascus (1808-1918)

Damascus, capital of the Ottoman province of Syria, faced the same developments in the long 19th century, as other peripheral urban centres in the Mediterranean area. In the course of the industrial revolution of Europe, with the advances in traffic and communication, new dimensions of the international exchange of ideas and goods incorporated Damascus into a world-wide net. This globalization led to an increasing orientation of urban and social structures towards supra-regional models. The current work focuses on one of the most important turning points in the history of the Middle East and the responses of a local society to the new challenges.
 
To understand the complexity of this process, this study examines as comprehensively as possible the dynamic character of Damascus as an Arab-Ottoman provincial capital and its society between 1808 and 1918. In addition to basic historical research, the work also approaches its topic through methods of Islamic art and architectural history and building history. The material basis of the research is the city itself with a detailed survey of over a 1000 buildings. The history of these buildings, their transformation and their clients are reconstructed by several means: building phases, ground plans, building materials, decoration, inscriptions and furniture, as well as written sources that include court records, foundation deeds, Ottoman yearbooks, contemporary documents and descriptions. The study also includes historical photographs providing an insight into lost urban textures and private worlds. From a micro-historical approach, actors and their living worlds are the centre of interest.

On the basis of a reform and a modernization program of the Ottoman state, Damascus was widely transformed, particularly after the provincial reforms of 1864, and the municipality was integrated into the administrative structures of the province. Numerous large-scale projects were commissioned by a committee of elected Damascene citizens. Altogether, more than 70 schools, 8 hospitals, 4 stations were opened, comprehensive electrical lighting and modern water pipeline systems were installed throughout the city, in addition to a streetcar system and dozens of new roads. Marja Place, where numerous administrative buildings, city gardens, hotel, cafés and a theatre were located, became a new city centre. Parallel with this almost the entire bazaar of the city was modernized. Formerly narrow bazaar lanes became broad shopping streets. As a combination of bazaar and arcade, the 450m long Suq al-Hamidiya was the most important construction project at the time. The same people who were active in the modernization of the bazaars also restructured their houses according to new principles. Nearly all of the 600 houses examined were built or rebuilt throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the process integrating new forms of dwelling and interior design. 

This investigation demonstrates that in addition to Europe, the Ottoman capital Istanbul was the main source for the development of new patterns. Locally unknown models were integrated into the local context and solutions suitable to local needs were developed. The dimensions of cultural change were various. New forms of living corresponded to social changes within Damascene families, while behaviours in newly-constructed public areas, the adoption of different modes of dress, and the development of previously unknown interior designs mirrored the changing views of  world and self. 

 
Stefan Weber, PhD
Orient-Institut Beirut / Lebanon

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