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ALEPPO’S CIVIL ARCHITECTURE / 224 ALEPPO’S CIVIL ARCHITECTURE / 225
Arabian architects gave form to
this sturdy material with their finest,
innovative and artistic skills
using the rich heritage of humanity
and imprinted their patterns
on it. Mostly the black stones are
used sometimes in combination
with the other coloured stones.
With today’s modern buildings,
residences, minarets, khans and
mosques constructed with the same
colour of stone along with its
specific architecture Aleppo takes
you to a trip through a time tunnel.
Also, it gives a certain character
to the city that almost all
buildings are either constructed
with or ornamented with Aleppo
Stone. It is also believed that
“Aleppo Stone” cures ophthalmic
diseases and rheumatics.
Traditional Arabian
Houses
In the Ottoman era the Arabian
houses in Syria were nothing more
than a continuance of other civilizations.
The recent examples
of these civilizations are Umayyad
and Ayyubids. The history of
“Arabian House” lies deeper. In
the Ottoman Era no special style
had emerged. However Ottomans
paid a special attention to the
construction of qasrs and big hou-
ses. Arabian houses were built in
accordance with their life style;
decreasing the number of windows,
facing and surrounding their
inwards (the courtyard)
and living
a closed life based
on the Islamic
Commands and
Privacy doctrine.
However, the ornamentations
and miniatures
within the
interior area of the
houses make each
house a museum
within itself.
Traditional Arabian
houses have naive
front gates which
open to the wide
courtyards of the
houses. In the courtyard,
there is a
hallway which
plays an essential
role in the Syrian
architecture. On reciprocal
sides of
the hallway two rooms
are located
and right across
the hallway the
main hall resides. The sleeping rooms
are located on the upper floor
with a terrace surrounded with
high walls and can be reached via
stairs that are connected to the
courtyard.
Al-Matbakh Al-Ajami
One of the buildings as an example
of Arabian Houses is the building
which is known as “Al-
Matbakh Al-Ajami”. It is a house
built in Zenghinde period, appro-
ximately at 11th century. During
17th century certain parts of the
house were demolished due to road
extension works and an entrance
gate was built. Restored
recently this examplary building
of traditional architecture is serving
as a three star restaurant.
Bimaristan of Nur al-Din,
(Hospital of al-Nuri)
This building was constructed as a
hospital in 12th century by Prince
Nur al-Din El-Zenghi taraf›ndan
hastane olarak yapt›r›lm›flt›r. This
historical building with open domes
on the Al-Vadi Street continuously
extended due to need until
15th century.
In this historical building mental
diseases were treated using water
and music similar to the applications
in the hospitals in Beyaz›t
Corpus’ in Edirne and Bursa during
the time it was built, today
the building is transformed to museum.