Architecture of Palestine

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The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

The architecture of

Ottoman rule over most of this area, beginning in the early 16th century through until the end of World War I.[1]

History

Ancient architecture

Arab houses are structured with regard to specific social customs and economic conditions, different from those of ancient Palestine."[2] Beebe notes that a full account of the architectural details of ancient Palestinian housing is rarely possible, but that written records and archaeological findings available to scholars at his time of writing (1968), provide "a quite reliable picture of houses in the common life of ancient Palestine."[2]

Excavations in

foundations with a superstructure made of mud-brick, they were simple structures, most often not more than one room with a single doorway, and likely without windows. Four different floor plans preserved from this time period have been identified: multagonal circular, true circular, square, and rectangular. Roofs were normally made of wooden supports upon which woven reed mats or brush were laid atop of which were added layers of clay mortar, rolled smooth to make an impermeable surface. Many of these early houses contained burial chambers beneath the floor. Food was prepared outside the house where the storage silos were also located. Houses were grouped closely together, and sometimes shared a back or side wall in common.[2]

Among the foundations discovered in the Beidha excavations were those of a six-sided, one room house dated to 6800 BCE. Circular house foundations in Beidha dating to about 6000 BCE resembled those found at

timber, perhaps to reduce the wear and tear to the mud-brick structure that would be incurred from constant human contact. The floors were covered with hard lime plaster, extending up the walls. By this time, water and grain storage had moved to house interiors, while thick layers of charcoal uncovered in house courtyards indicate that food preparations were carried out there.[2]

Classical Antiquity

Five types of housing are seen in the Roman-Byzantine period.[3] Two of these, the simple house and the courtyard house, typify the domestic architecture of Palestine for some three millennia into the modern age (see section on Building materials and techniques).[3] The other three, seen as characteristic of the Roman-Byzantine period, are the big mansion (domus), the farmhouse and the shop-house.[3] The relatively high number of domus structures dated to the late Hellenistic and Roman periods reveal the extent of Greco-Roman influence on domestic architecture in Palestine at that time.[4] The oldest known examples of this kind of structure in the Galilee were situated in Philoteria/Bet Yerah and date to the late Hellenistic period.[4] Examples of the farmhouse type found thus far date exclusively to the Herodian period.[4]

Architectural remains from the early Christian period are scant in Palestine. Scholars like Walter E. Rast attribute this to the relative powerlessness of the early Christian communities prior to the institutionalization of the Christian church. The earliest known building from this period, a church built in octagonal form, dates to the 2nd or 3rd centuries CE. While there is evidence that Christians venerated a number of sites associated with Jesus at this early time, very few structures have been found that were constructed at this time. One notable exception is evidence of a pre-4th century CE structure that was found under the mosaics of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.[5]

Arab caliphate period (640–1099)

Old City's Cotton Gate
(Bab al-Qattanin)

Major changes to the monumental architecture of Palestine followed the

Al-Aqsa mosque, built shortly thereafter, was reconstructed many times since with its form today deriving from a renovation carried out during the Crusader period in Palestine.[6]

Umayyad mosaic from Khirbat al-Mafjar
in Jericho

While these buildings and the construction of the Royal Palace established Jerusalem as a religious and cultural centre of Islam, the administrative capital of the

Umar II by 720.[8][9]

Archaeological finds indicate that the major cities of the Byzantine period (

caliphs in Umayyad-era Palestine (c. 650–704 CE).[11][12] The ruins of al-Sinnabra were initially misidentified as belonging to the Byzantine-Roman period; it and other sites in the process of being similarly re-dated are said by archaeologists to indicate an architectural continuity between the Roman and early Arab empires.[13]

Kfar Lam

Monumental construction was rarer during the later

Kfar Lam, a fort made up of rectangular enclosures built of thin slabs of kurkar stone with solid corner towers and semi-circular buttresses, can still be seen today, though the village of the same name was depopulated during the 1948 Palestine war. Another fort at Ashdod is of the same basic construction but includes a line of marble columns in the centre that were taken from a nearby Classical site. Just outside that fort lie the remains of a building topped with a dome that had holes cut into it to let in the light which is thought to have served as a bathhouse.[14]

Crusader period (1099–1291)

The Belvoir fortress, or Kawkab al-Hawa

The most well-known architectural legacy left by the

Belvoir and Monfort.[14]

Another major focus of the Crusader building effort were churches. Hundreds of churches were constructed during the Crusader period in Palestine, with 60 built in Jerusalem alone. Some of these were built on the ruins of earlier Byzantine churches; in other cases, mosques were transformed into churches.[clarification needed] The Dome of the Rock was converted into a church given in the care of the Augustinians, while Al-Aqsa mosque was transformed into a palace by Baldwin I. Fine carved capitals and sculpture were a feature of the Crusader churches. After Jerusalem was reconquered by the Ayyubids in 1187, the Crusader presence in Palestine shrank to be centered around Acre where some of the finest Crusader architecture was built until their final defeat by the Mamluks there in 1291.[14]

The influence of Crusader architecture on the Islamic architecture of Palestine that followed was both direct and indirect. The direct influence can be seen in the cushion-shaped voussoirs and folded cross-vaults that were adapted for use in the Mamluk buildings of Jerusalem. Additionally, Arab castles constructed following the Crusades, like the later phases of the

Great Mosque in Ramla bears a striking resemblance to a Crusader tower. The indirect influence manifested in the development of the counter-Crusade which saw propaganda incorporated into the architecture, specifically via the use of monumental inscriptions and carved elements. For example, on the Baybars Bridge outside Lod, the lion of Baybars, the famous Mamluk leader and warrior, can be seen catching a mouse.[14]

Mamluk period (1250–1517)

Mausoleum of Abu Huraira, in Yibna

The Mamluks focused on revitalizing the road network, which was essential to their

postal system in Palestine. Numerous bridges and khans were built, some of which constituted larger compounds complete with a mosque and minaret. An impressive example of one of these larger khan compounds can be seen in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Some of the Mamluk bridges also remain standing, such as Jisr Jindas ("Jindas Bridge") which is flanked by two lions and sports Arabic inscriptions.[15]

Also under Mamluk rule, the construction of religious buildings such as

joggled voussoirs, ablaq masonry, muqarnas mouldings, and multi-coloured marble inlay.[15]

In Ramla, the Crusader church was converted into a mosque and the Great Mosque there was rebuilt. One of the most beautiful Mamluk era structures is the tomb of

Abu Hurayra in Yibna. With a triple-domed portico, the central area is also covered with a dome set on squinches. Decoration is restricted to the mihrab and doorway which are covered in inlaid marble and inscriptions.[15]

Ottoman period (1516–1918)

sabil
to the right of the steps

New architectural techniques introduced by the Ottoman rulers were gradually adopted, though not universally. Jerusalem was redeveloped under Ottoman rule, its walls rebuilt, the Dome of the Rock retiled and the water system renovated.

Safad, and Tiberias. Most of these cities were surrounded by fortifications, and the best surviving example from this period is the wall re-constructed around Tiberias by Zahir al-Umar.[15]

Housing varied by region, with mud-brick houses common along the coast, of which there are few surviving examples today. Predominant features of stone houses were the domed roofs which in the 18th century were often decorated with swirls, rosettes and semi-circles formed of carved plaster. Roofs in the Galilee region were differed in their use of transverse stone arches that supported short beams over which the roof was laid.[15]

Ottoman fortresses that served as garrisons for the

Janissaries (Ottoman troops) were abundant outside of Jerusalem. These large square or rectangular structures with square corner towers can still be seen at Ras al-Ain near Tel Aviv, Khan al-Tujjar near Kafr Kanna, and Qal'at Burak south of Jerusalem.[15]

British Mandate period (1918–1948)

The British sent a succession of six town planners to

Richard Kaufmann
.

Building materials and techniques

Two types of house predominated in Palestine from the second millennium BCE through to the modern era: the simple house found commonly in

peasants of Palestine were likely made from sand-dried brick.[3] Much of the traditional domestic architecture of modern Palestine, particularly in rural areas, was constructed using sun-dried brick, rather than stone.[17] According to Tawfiq Canaan, this building tradition, in use at the beginning of the 20th century, was the same as that used by peasants in the 1st century who lived in sun-dried brick houses covered with tree branches; the upper floor serving as the family's living quarters, with the first floor used to house livestock.[17]

Palestinian Christian family in Jerusalem, portrayed in a print by W. H. Bartlett
, c. 1850

The most characteristic type of domestic building in Palestine, according to Halvor Moxnes, was the courtyard house, consisting of several houses enclosed by a surrounding wall that shared a common courtyard to which there was one entrance. Members of the same or related families who are assumed to have enjoyed a good economic situation lived in such structures which generally spanned an area of 200 to 300 metres. Each would have had access to two or more rooms and used the courtyard for domestic tasks, such as the preparation of food, the making and washing of clothes, along with other agrarian and occupational tasks.[3]

Petersen identified the main building materials used in Palestine in modern times as stone and unbaked brick, noting that wood and baked brick are hardly ever used. He describes some of the main types of stone used in the architecture of Palestine, which varied by region. For example,

silicious limestone, was used in building along the Mediterranean coast while basalt blocks were used in the northern part of the Jordan Rift Valley and the Sea of Galilee, often in conjunction with limestone for architectural detailing. Limestone of various colours ranging from white to pink were used in Ramla, Hebron and Jerusalem, with latter also making use of various types of marble. Dolomite, a hard limestone with magnesium, was used primarily in the Galilee.[7] Mud-brick structures tended be more common in the Jordan Valley and coastal plain where stone was not readily available, and the best surviving examples of mud-brick architecture can be found today in Jericho.[7]

Unique to the architecture of Palestine was the use of masonry cross-vaulting that was covered in mud over a centre supported wood formwork to create domical square spaces. The use of vaulting in construction was often due to a shortage in wood, but it was also preferred because of its permanence. Whereas in other places in the Arab world, vaulting was reserved for monumental structures, such as palaces, mosques and tombs or for below-ground storage areas, in Palestine, it was also used in the construction of homes. Another type of vaulting, groin vaults made of stone that are slightly parabolic in section, are said by Frederich Ragette to be a standard unit of construction in Palestine.[18]

Vernacular architecture

The writings of

Israeli journal Tvai. Describing the relationship of the fellah to his house, which he builds and maintains with his own hands, Segal places emphasis on the sense "of belonging, of identification, and of strong emotional attachment." According to Sandra Sufian and Mark Levine, sabra architects who searched for a sense of nativeness in which to root their work, emulated this local style, appropriating the native as their own. Further, in order to Israelize this Arab vernacular style, it was depicted "as biblical architecture, as an uncontaminated primitive origin of architecture, or simply as Mediterranean."[20]

Palestinian village house

The Palestinian village house is the best known house type to Western scholars. It is described and documented in travelogues, essays and photographs from the 17th century onward. The house was divided into two areas: a lower level known as qa' al-bayt near or at the entrance of the home and an elevated area known as the mastaba used for living and eating.[21]

The size and uses of the lower level varies from house to house. In some cases it was a small area near the door, only 10–15 centimeters lower than the rest of the floor where visitors would take off their shoes before entering the house. In other cases, it would be a large area housing animals with an elevated gallery that allowed for use of the space below with the space above used for storage.[21]

They had a farm on their roof because vegetables were cheap and easy and they cooked outside to let the heat out.

Masterbuilders

In Palestinian villages prior to 1948, there was at least one al-banna (expert

Ayn Hawd. Muhammed 'Abd al-Qadir, born in 1916, apprenticed with a masterbuilder in Haifa beginning at the age of eight. Over his long career, he built over 75 houses in Ayn Hawd, and a number of schoolhouses in neighbouring villages, and was among a "limited number of individuals [...] sought for their building skills and aesthetic expressiveness."[22]

Some masterbuilders were commissioned to work beyond the boundaries of

Safad, Abu Salim and Ali Safadi, to build a guesthouse and mosque in the 1930s. Ali Safadi was renown for his skill in vaulted architecture and with materials imported from Safad by donkey, he constructed a two-storey summer guesthouse with four separate 'aqd (vaulted rooms), one for each of client's wives.[23]

Photographs

Ernst Benecke photographed the land and architecture of Palestine in June 1852 using a calotype process which is said by Kathleen Howe to have been particularly suited to the subject matter. Of one calotype entitled In View of Herod's Palace, House of David, Howe writes that, "the softened details of the jumbled houses recreate in an almost tactile way the coarse stone masonry and daubed mud construction of the buildings."[24]

See also

  • Architecture of Israel, which overlaps in multiple regards with the architecture of Palestine and vice versa
  • architectural form
    from the Levant; a type of hall or vaulted portal
  • Syro-Palestinian archaeology

References

  1. ^ Ron Fuchs in Necipoğlu, 1998, p. 173
  2. ^
    S2CID 165797217
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f Moxnes, 1997, pp. 49-51
  4. ^ a b c Moxnes, 1997, p. 53
  5. ^ Rast, 1992, p. 179
  6. ^ a b Rast, 1992, pp. 195 - 196.
  7. ^ a b c d e Petersen, 2002, p. 230.
  8. ^ "White Mosque". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
  9. ^ Pringle, 1998, pp. 182-185
  10. ^ Fletcher, 1996, p. 584
  11. ^ Whitcomb in Szuchman, 2009, p. 241
  12. Al-Arabiya. March 16, 2010. Archived from the original
    on March 23, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  13. ^ "Ancient Muslim Ruins Found in Israel ... Again". Fox News. Associated Press. March 17, 2010. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
  14. ^ a b c d Petersen, 2002, p. 231.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Petersen, 2002, p. 232.
  16. ISBN 0-415-19619-1
    . Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  17. ^ a b Moxnes, 1997, p. 60
  18. ^ Ragette, 2003, pp. 41-42
  19. ^ a b Slyomovics, 1998, p. 84
  20. ^ Sufian and Levine, 2007, pp. 226 - 228
  21. ^ a b Ron Fuchs in Necipoğlu, 1998, p. 158
  22. ^ Slyomovics, 1998, pp. 91–94.
  23. ^ Slyomovics, 1998, pp. 94–95.
  24. ^ Howe, 1997, p. 24

Bibliography

External links

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