Marianne Boqvist

E-mail: marianneb@sri.org.tr

Current projects:
The impact of Ottoman rule on Urbanism and Architecture in the Provinces
of the Empire and how to preserve it: the case of Damascus

This project aims at increasing the knowledge and understanding of the formation of Ottoman provincial architecture, especially on the strategies of high-ranking Ottoman officials (Pashas) when founding pious foundations ( waqf ), in provincial urban and rural locations and how these have affected the formation of local Ottoman architectural styles. It studies two of the biggest waqf -s of the 16th century in the province of Damascus that include both urban
and rural buildings; the waqf of Lala Mustafa Pasha and his wife Fatima Khatun and and the waqf of Sinan Pasha.

Different types of written sources refer to the historical circumstances as well as the contemporary topographic urban/rural context, the structure, layout and building material of these foundations (waqfiyas, court records, chronicles and biographic dictionaries). This material together with the preserved building structures give us the tools to study the strategic thinking behind the urban and rural development in the early Ottoman period: why were monuments built in
specific locations; who was involved; what lay behind the choice of the materials and techniques used in their design and construction?

Through this approach the project can also contribute to the development of appropriate methods of reconstruction, conservation, restoration and rehabilitation for sometimes poorly preserved monuments and urban/rural units.
The project is supported by Sida

E-mail:
Marianne.Boqvist@sri.tr.org

Selected publications:

Architecture et développement urbain a Damas de la conquête Ottomane (922 H./1516-17) à la fondation du waqf de Murad Pasha (1017 H./1607-08), (forthcoming, IFPO online editions)

  ”Ottoman baths in Syria? A preliminary study of bath houses in 16th century Ottoman külliye in the province of Damascus”, (forthcoming, Balneorient, IFPO/IFAO)

“Building and Ottoman landscape: the complexes of Sinan Pasha on the Imperial roads of Syria” (forthcoming, Turcica ed. Brigitte Marino, Nicolas Michel)

“Buildings and identity in early Ottoman Damascus; An interpretation of two real estate transactions, registered on the 13 rābi’ al-ṯānī, 993h./13 April 1585 in Sijill 1 Damascus”, in «Al-‘amr kama fihi»!: examen critique des documents des tribunaux ottomans du Bilad Al-Sham, Workshop 5-6 June 2006, IFPO, Damascus (forthcoming, IFPO-OIB, Damascus-Beirut)

  ”“Centre” and “periphery” in the Syrian countryside: the architecture of mosques in governmental foundations on the Ottoman imperial roads”, (in: Proceedings of the international conference “Centres and Peripheries in Ottoman architecture: rediscovering a Balkan Heritage”, Cultural Heritage Without Borders Report series no. 9/2010, ed. Maximilan Hartmuth, Sarajevo, 2011, p. 80-89).

 ”Visualising the Ottoman presence in Damascus: Interpreting 16^th century building complexes”, (in:Istanbul as seen from a distance, Transactions, vol. 20, Swedish Research Institute of Istanbul, vol. 20, ed. Elisabeth Özdalga, M. Sait Özervarli, Feryal Tansug, Istanbul 2011, p. 121-138)

 Ottoman Women Builders. The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan, Women and Gender in the Early Modern World, Journal of Early Modern History, Vol. 12, No. 5., pp. 452-454.

 Architecture et développement urbain a Damas de la conquête Ottomane (922 H./1516-17) a la fondation du waqf de Murad Pasha (1017 H./1607-08), PhD dissertation, Histoire de L’Art et d’Archéologie Islamiques, Université de Sorbonne, Paris IV, January 2006.

 ”Les chantiers de construction de la citadelle de Damas : méthodologie et résultats préliminaires dans le quartier de la salle à colonnes” in, “Aparejos constructivos medievales en el Mediterráneo Occidental, Estudio Arqueológico de las Técnicas constructivas”, Arqueologia de la Arquitectura, 4 (2005), p. 31-43 (collaboration J.-C. Bessac).

 “Building materials and construction techniques”, in, Bayt al-Aqqad, The History and Restoration of a House in Old Damascus the Danish Institute of Damascus, ed. P., Mortensen, Proceedings of the Danish instiute of Damascus, 4, Aarhus University Press, 2005, p.129-140.

 “La recherche de nouveaux éléments concernant l’histoire des chantiers successifs et des techniques de construction de la citadelle de Damas. Une étude sur, les matériaux de construction, l’outillage, les techniques de taille et les formules géométriques des ouvertures”, Bulletin d’Études Orientales, IFEAD, Damaskus, 2002.

 “The Rawḍat al-Ahbāb fī Siyār al-Nabī wa al-Ahl wa al-Ashāb in the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities”, Bulletin of the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities vol. 31, Stockholm 1998, p. 111-128.