Date

1977

Author

Yavuz , Yıldırım

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A recently found blue-print in private posession of the deceased Turkish architect, Hasan Tahsin, has revealed a hitherto unknown design by Ahmed Kemaleddin Bey, one of the leaders of the national movement in Turkish architecture during the second constitutional period. According to the heading on the blue-print, the design was made as a new tomb for Saladin Ayyubid, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty which ruled Syria, Egypt, and Yemen during the 12th. Century. 14 YILDIRIM YAVUZ The existing tomb of Saladin, who is accepted as a national hero by the Syrians, was almost completely rebuilt in 1903 by special order of the German Emperor, Wilhelm II., on occasion of his visit to Damascus in 1898. Germany's interest in the Middle East and the Baghdad Railway, which was to connect the persian Gulf to the German Empire, was presumably responsible for this order, as it was going to bind the Arab Nationalists and Germany in closer ties. Kemaleddin Bey's design for a new tomb, which can approximately be dated to 1917, seems to have no resemblance to the existing tomb, and the reason why the tomb has been redesigned in such a short time after it's restoration is dubious. However, this might be explained by the prevailing Ottoman nationalism of the period, through which the governement in Istanbul tried to control the Arab nationalists by showing closer interest to the long neglected Arab provinces in general, and Syria in particular. Saladin's tomb, located inside the Madarasa. Al-Azizya, outside the north-west corner of the great Omayyad Mosque, was so obliterated by fires and wars which have devastated the city for centuries that, little remains from the original edifice except the lower parts of the walls, the frnotal arch of the main liwan of the Madarasa Al-Aziziya, and the original wooden cenotaph of Saladin standing by the side of the new marble sarcophagus, placed during the 1903 restoration. The new tomb is designed in accordance with the tradition of local Syrian tombs, having a sixteen lobed cupola standing on a sixteen sided drum, perforated with alternating blind niches which are covered by conch-shell squinches, and small windows topped by pointed arches. The interior walls are covered with horizontal and alternating courses of white, pink, and grey cut stone. Decorative panels with intricate geometric patterns made with colored marble mosaics are inlaid on the walls, just below the small windows which light the interior. The blue and white Turkish tiles at the inner corners, and a tile plaquette, written in Turkish at the enterance, indicates a further 17th. Century restoration of the tomb by the Ottoman ruler of the province at that period. Kemaleddin Bey's design by contrast, suggests a tomb in Mamluk style with a helmet shaped cupola over a simple, square plan, and a grand portal in Ottoman style, well decorated by various arches made by alternatingly used colored stones. The lower part of the walls is also designed in early Ottoman style, with alternating courses of brick and cut stone., whereas the upper part of the building is truly derived from Mamluk tombs with the triangular window layout of the. transition zone and the exterior decoration of the cupola that seem to be common to almost all of the Khaliphs' tombs in the 15th. Century necropolis outside Cairo. Kemaleddin Bey's design was not realised, most probably due to the fall of Damascus to invading French armies in 1918. The fact that the tomb was designed at a time when Turkish nationalism was at it's climax in arts and politics, makes it interesting in that the leading Turkish architect of the period had been modest enough to cast away his national tendencies while designing for an Arab national hero. Had the tomb ever been built, it might have been an important monument for the cause of Arab nationalism, executed in an historical style, which was derived from traditional Arab architecture.

URI

http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-5316/1977/cilt03/sayi_1/5-15.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/51319

Collections

Department of Architecture, Article