Charming history and architecture, and a pitiful present.. the old Damascene houses and their buried treasures

“These houses, with their glittering walls and ceilings, resemble fairytale palaces, appearing covered on all sides with precious stones. In addition to the decorative mirrors, gilding and the art of Arabic decoration, there are coffee cups decorated with golden bases, and decorated towels for wiping the lips after drinking, their bright colors are in line with the luxury of homes. And simply there was Anything that can really amaze one."

This was part of what the British researcher and orientalist Brigitte Kinan quoted in her book “Old Damascus and its Buried Treasures” about the memoirs of the British lady Hester Stanhope describing the Damascene houses during her tour in Old Damascus in 1812, and that was after the aristocratic lady asked the Ottoman governor to transfer them from Christian neighborhoods to Muslim neighborhoods to learn about their culture and architecture.

It is one of a group of testimonies that the Orientalist collected between the two covers of her book to shed light on the hidden aesthetics of the Damascene houses inherent in their unique architectural character and the great interest shown by their residents in the various decorative arts, so that these houses become masterpieces of art in their own right.

However, with the expansion of the city of Damascus at the beginning of the 20th century and the concentration of economic weight on the modern side, some residents of the old Damascene houses began to move to the modern side, at a time when their emigration increased with the outbreak of the conflict in the country in 2012.

Although most of these houses today have turned into restaurants, cafes, hotels, warehouses, or abandoned houses, and their archaeological features have been damaged as a result of these transformations, they still maintain their luster and some of their charming features.

Azem Palace.. and the houses of the Thousand and One Nights

Over the centuries, the spacious courtyards of the Damascene palaces and houses, its lush trees, its spacious reception halls, its marble tiles and other architectural elements constituted a "factor of astonishment and highly appreciated" for many tourists who visited Damascus, as the orientalist Brigitte Kinan mentions in her book.

The American writer and journalist George William Curtis - who visited Damascus in 1852 - describes these houses by saying, "Every Damascene house is a paradise in itself. It is an imaginary palace as in dreams. One Thousand and One Nights".

A general shot from a ceiling in a dormitory, highlighting an antique chandelier (Al-Jazeera)

In one aspect, this analogy (the houses of the Thousand and One Nights) summarizes the history of these ancient houses, as some of them have survived for hundreds of years, despite all the earthquakes, fires and invasions that the city witnessed. notoriously.

The ownership of these houses was often transferred from one family to another as a result of the wars and political changes that the city witnessed. The wealthy, religious sheikhs, soldiers, politicians, leaders, governors and rulers inhabited them.

Like the "Azm Palace", which is still standing today, since it was built by the governor of Damascus, Asaad Ali Pasha al-Azm, between 1749 and 1750, and he lived in it for nearly two decades.

Today, the palace has turned into a museum of folklore and arts, open to all visitors, with its huge internal courtyards and spacious rooms that were divided into traditional Ottoman architectural divisions: the sanctuary room, which was reserved for the women of the palace, the servants’ room for workers in the palace, and the stairs section reserved for visitors.

An artistic group of Sufi Mawlawiya dancers at Al-Azem Palace (Al-Jazeera)

Diverse community

And because the old Damascene society did not know class discrimination, the rich lived next to the poor in adjacent houses, and it did not know discrimination on the basis of religion and belief, so Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in the old part of the city in close neighborhoods.

One of the most important existing Christian houses to date is Beit Shamiya, which was owned by the family of the Damascene Christian merchant Anton Shami. The house was vandalized and then rebuilt in 1863, and today it has turned into a monastery and a place of worship.

As for the Jewish houses, the most prominent of them is “Anbar Maktab” located in the Damascene Jewish Quarter, which was built by a wealthy Jew named Youssef Anbar. Later he was unable to pay his taxes to the Ottoman authorities, so in 1890 the latter confiscated his house and turned it into a school. Today, this house has been restored to become a place ready to receive visitors and tourists.

Also, the oldest houses in Damascus today date back to the 18th century only. Before that, there were great edifices in Damascus that were famous in its time, but they have disappeared today, such as the “Paris” Palace, which was built in the Byzantine era and provided water to all its visitors, and the “Palace” The Green Palace, which was built by the Umayyads near the Umayyad Mosque, and the Gold Palace, which was built by the Mamluks.

unique architecture

Through narrow corridors, the visitor to the Damascene house reaches directly to the courtyard of the house, where the sun scatters its rays, and in all directions are lush trees and smiling flowers. Al-Haramlik” and it is for the people of the house and women, but if the house is large, it may include 3 or 4 courtyards.

The courtyards of Damascene houses may be spacious or small, and in both cases the purpose is to soften the atmosphere in the hot summer days. We can find in each courtyard a pot containing the basil plant, which is the favorite plant of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, in addition to the traditional trees that are grown Always like citron, lemon, bitter orange and grapes whose leaves extending to the surfaces give a luxurious shade to the inhabitant.

A general view from a courtyard in the Azem Palace in Damascus (Al-Jazeera)

The Damascene courtyards are paved with marble according to complex geometric patterns, and each courtyard includes a “barah” with a floor covered with stone and sometimes decorated with mosaics or inlaid with mother of pearl.

The sea in Salamlek is often built in the form of a liwan, which is a huge room closed on 3 sides and completely open on the fourth side towards the land of the home to receive the moist air.

Directly opposite the liwan, there is the reception room called the “hall”, which is the most beautiful part of the Damascene house.

As for the interior walls of the houses, they are often built with bricks of white and black stone, and decorated with plant motifs. The Mamluks were the first to inspire this style in the 14th and 15th centuries, but the craftsmen of Damascus developed the decorative works and perfected them in the 18th century.

A general shot highlights the decorations above the interior doors in the historic Beit Anbar in Damascus (Al-Jazeera)

In addition to plant decorations, murals and drawings were common at the beginning of the 19th century, as buildings and landscapes began to appear on the walls and ceilings of Damascene houses. It was very common to depict the buildings of the city of "Istanbul" and the Bosphorus as an expression of loyalty to the Ottoman Empire.

There are also ceilings and walls covered with Arabic ornaments, as in the Damascene house called "Beit Nizam", in which a complete reception hall is engraved on its ceiling and window frames, complete verses and surahs from the Holy Qur'an.

Restaurants, cafes and warehouses

The twentieth century came to Damascus with its modernity, which was a scourge of Damascene homes in the old area. With the advent of the French electric bus, telephone lines, phonographs, and the construction of modern buildings, the wealthy and the sons of the upper classes in Damascus began to move their places of residence successively to the modern part of the city.

But we can say that throughout the 20th century, the population’s migration towards New Damascus remained limited, while the last decade witnessed the transformation of dozens of these homes into cafes, restaurants, and hotels, due to their architecture and antiquity as an attraction for tourists - even if they are few - and for local visitors.

This phenomenon was later exacerbated by the emigration of most of the residents of the homes in the last decade outside the country or the death of the owners and their children selling these homes to investors.

Umm George, 56, a resident of the Bab Sharqi neighborhood of Damascus, says, "Today, I feel lonely in this neighborhood in which I have lived since I was born. Most of the neighbors have emigrated and left their homes neglected or sold to investors who turned them directly into restaurants and cafes. Their sons sold homes - mostly to investors as well - directly and shared the money, and each went his own way.

Today, there is a hotel and café in Damascus, "Dar Al-Yasmeen", an Arab house dating back to the 18th century, and another hotel called "Beit Al-Wali", which is one of the largest heritage hotels and is composed of 3 Arab houses open to each other.

Despite the attempts of investors to preserve the various urban features of these houses as part of the investment, their transformation into restaurants and cafes, and the transformation of others - of less value - into warehouses for merchants who store goods and employ workers, has harmed its heritage and architectural identity.

Ali (34 years), one of the supervisors of a Damascene house turned into an exhibition, told Al Jazeera Net, "I am afraid that turning houses into cafes, warehouses and restaurants threatens the most fragile monuments in them, such as decorations that decorate furniture, wood, doors, and even bathrooms, whose benefits investors often change." The archaeological site is transferred to another that customers can use, which means tampering with the identity of the place and detracting from its archaeological value.”

Thus, the architectural identity of the ancient Damascene houses is threatened with loss as a result of the economic crisis in the country, the stagnation of the tourism sector and the continuous migration of its owners.