Full Description
One of the largest and most important palatial houses of late 18th- and early 19th-century Damascus, Bayt Farhi belonged to the Farhi family, who served as financial administrators to successive Ottoman governors in Damascus and Acre.
Lavishly illustrated with extensive colour photographs, plans, and reconstruction drawings the book brings to life the home environment of the lost elite Sephardic community of Ottoman Damascus. It will be an essential resource for those studying the architecture, history, and culture of Syria and the Ottoman Empire.
Bayt Farhi's outstanding architecture and decoration is documented and presented in this first comprehensive analysis of it and Damascus's other prominent Sephardic mansions Matkab 'Anbar, Bayt Dahdah, Bayt Stambouli, and Bayt Lisbona. The Hebrew poetic inscriptions in these residences reveal how the Farhis and other leading Sephardic families perceived themselves and how they presented themselves to their own community and other Damascenes. A history of the Farhis and the Jews of Damascus provides the context for these houses, along with the architectural development of the monumental Damascene courtyard house.
Co-published with Manar al-Athar, University of Oxford.
Contents
Introduction
Part I: Historical and Architectural Background
The Fahri Family and the Jewish Community of Damascus in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Monumental Courtyard Houses in Ottoman Damascus and Syria
Part II: Bayt Fahria and other Damascene Houses
Overview of the Architecture of Bayt Fahri
The Bayt Fahri Inscriptions
Other 19th-Century High-Status Jewish Houses
Part III: Architectural Survey of Bayt Fahri
The Barrani Courtyard
The Juwwani, Middle and Service Courtyards
Conclusion
Appendix: Damascence Houses mentioned in the text
Index of Hebrew and Aramaic Texts
