Book Review| December 01 2012 Review: Damascus: Ottoman Modernity and Urban Transformation (1808–1918) by Stefan Weber Stefan WeberDamascus: Ottoman Modernity and Urban Transformation (1808–1918)Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2009. 2 vols. Vol. 1: text, 464 pp., 646 illus. (some in color); vol. 2: catalogue, 664 pp., 666 illus. (some in color), 1025 ground plans, 7 city plans folded in back pocket. $245, ISBN 8779344240 Heghnar Watenpaugh Heghnar Watenpaugh 1University of California, Davis Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2012) 71 (4): 563–564. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2012.71.4.563 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Heghnar Watenpaugh; Review: Damascus: Ottoman Modernity and Urban Transformation (1808–1918) by Stefan Weber. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 December 2012; 71 (4): 563–564. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2012.71.4.563 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search Stefan Weber’s monumental two-volume study of modern Damascus is an extraordinary contribution to the study of urbanism and architecture in the modern Middle East, as well as to the study of Mediterranean urban history generally. It is the product of years of fieldwork, of architectural and urban surveys, of archival research, and most of all, of thoughtful analysis. At two hefty volumes, the work dwarfs any other study on modern Arab cities, literally as well as figuratively. Damascus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s oldest cities, is best known to architectural historians as one of the most important centers of the classical Islamic world. Over the course of the long nineteenth century, however, Damascus, like many provincial centers of the Ottoman Empire, underwent a tremendous transformation. Modernization altered its development by adding new neighborhoods, large thoroughfares, urban squares, public buildings, commercial infrastructure, and domestic architecture. Zeynep... You do not currently have access to this content.
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Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh (2012) studied this question.