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7/26/2019 Between Myth and Reality the Tuscan Influence on the Architecture of Mount Leb

1/12

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Between Myth and Reality: The 'Tuscan Influence' on the Architecture of Mount Lebanon in theEmirate PeriodAuthor(s): Elie HaddadSource: Journal of Design History, Vol. 20, No. 2, Design and Polity Under and After theOttoman Empire (Summer, 2007), pp. 161-171Published by: on behalf ofOxford University Press Design History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4540351Accessed: 14-12-2015 08:06 UTC

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2/12

Journal

of

Design

History

Vol. 20

No. 2

doi:10.1093/jdh/epm010

re:focusesign

Be tween

M y t h

n d

R e a l i t y :

t h T u s c a n

In f luence

o n t h rchitecture

o

M o u n t L e b a n o n

n

t h

E m i r a t e

P e r i o d

Elie

Haddad

Lebanese culture has been

impregnated

with the

notion that architectural

developments

during

the

emirate rom

Fakhreddine I to Bechir

III were real-

ized by Tuscan builderswho participatedn the cul-

tural renaissanceof the

area,

and that

by

extension

these landmarks f the emiratewere

indebted to the

ItalianRenaissance.1

This

notion of

Tuscan nfluence

on the

architecture

f

Mount

Lebanon

n

the seven-

teenth and

eighteenth

centuriesbeen

accepted

with-

out critical

evaluation,

owing

to

the

scarcity

of

documentsand the

secondary

ole accorded

architec-

ture

n

the

political

ormationof

the

national

dentity.

The

principal

eference o which

we can trace

any

of

these deas s the work of FatherPaul

Carali,

authorof

a documentary tudyon the correspondence etween

Emir Fakhreddine

I

and the

Medicis,

collected from

the archivesof Florence

and

Rome,

and

published

n

Rome

in

1936.2

An

earlier

eference

can be found

in

the work of IssaIskandar

Malouf,

author

of

a

seriesof

articles on

Fakhreddine

II,

which celebrated the

political

and culturalachievementsof

the Emir

as

a

cornerstone

n

the

foundation

of

a

modern state on

the

European

model.3 We also find

some references

to thisWestern nfluence n other histories uch

as the

seminalwork of the

Jesuit

Henri

Lammens,4

he work

of Boulos Noujaim5and that of Michel Chebli.6

Historic documents do corroborate

that Italian

experts

were invited to Mount Lebanon

during

that

period

to assist

in

realizing

various infrastructural

projects

as

part

of the

Medici's

political engagement

with their allies n

Mount Lebanon.7

Popular magi-

nation

has, however,

extended this

into a

'Risorgi-

mento' that

translates

architecturally

nd

artistically

the Italian

Renaissance

on

this side

of the Mediterra-

nean. References to this

effect

appear

n

the

popular

literature,

n

additionto the 'national

history'taught

in the

schools,

celebrating

the

impressive

achieve-

ments

of the emirate. In one such

essay,

the author

evoked the splendourof the periodin these terms:

The

heavy

difices

f this

eudal

own

speak

f

a

short

his-

torical

arenthesis

hich

was

opened

nd

swiftly

losed n

the chroniclesf

the

Lebanese

ountain.

ut this

opening

was

sufficient

s

it

allowed a

reinvigorating

reeze

of

Risorgimento,

f

Italian

Renaissance

t

a smaller

cale,

to blow on the Shouf

Mountains,

onferring

n

them a

Tuscan

arentage

nd

a Palladian

ppearance.9

Although

the same authornoted

the Arabic

nflu-

ences that

remain

preponderant

n the

new

style

(referredto as a hybrid of the Oriental and the

Renaissance)

he text is

rich in

references

o Tuscan

influence,

which transformedhe

landscape

f Deir

el

Kamar nto a

'princely

domain

in

Tuscany'.1o

uch

architecturalnd aesthetic

notions,

although

imited

n

their effect on the

popular

imaginary,

contributed

neverthelesso

the

idealization

f the Lebanese

moun-

tain

asa

landscape

hat

s

distinct rom ts

hinterland,

nd

by

extension,

rom ts

geographical

xpanse.11

he

Tus-

can influence on the architecture f

Mount Lebanon

during

he

emirate

appears

n

retrospect

s

a

false

prem-

ise which neverthelessndirectly ontributedo thelater

idealization

f the Lebanese

andscape

n

popular

cul-

ture.12We

will

show that he

import

of ideas

rom

Italy

came

primarilyhrough

he effortsof

Maronite

lergy-

men

who studied

in

Rome,

some of whom subse-

quently

returned o

Lebanon,

applying

ome

of

their

acquired

kills

n

the

design

of

religious

uildings

n

the

nineteenth

century.

This

paper

examines ome of the

aspects

f this

exchange

and its

consequences

n

archi-

tectural

erms

on the

development

f local

architecture.

The Author2007]. Publishedby OxfordUniversityPresson behalfof The Design HistorySociety. All ightsreserved.

AdvanceAccess

publication

date 10

July

2007

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/12

Elie Haddad

The

Mount

Lebanon

emirate in

history

The emirate

denotes the

period

from the

beginning

of the

seventeenth

until

the middle

of

the nineteenth

century,

characterized

by

most historians as

being

the

period

of

gestation

of

the

Lebanese

identity,

which

came to fruition in

the twentieth

century

with the

founding

of the

nation-state

of

Lebanon.13

Already

during

that

period,

the

territory

under

the

emirate,

which covered

mainly

the Mount Lebanon

chain,

expanding

and

retracting according

to

political

and

military

events,

was

given

a nominal

independence

within

the

Ottoman

Empire.

Where can we

trace Tuscan influence

on

this

prov-

ince,

in

terms of

architecture?

The

presumed

line

of

influence

goes

back to the direct relations between

Fakhreddine II, Emir of Mount Lebanon and the

court of the

Medicis

in

Florence. Fakhreddine II

went to

Florence in AD 1613

fleeing

the

Ottomans,

who

grew

suspicious

of his increased

independence

and territorial

claims.

During

this

time,

he

stayed

principally

in

Livorno

and Florence as a

guest

of the

Medicis

[1613-15],

and then as

a

guest

of the

Span-

iards

in

Sicily

and

Napoli

[1615-18].

Upon

his return

to

Lebanon,

Fakhreddine

II

wrote to the Medicis ask-

ing

for their

assistance

in

the art of

modern fortifica-

tions. He

delegated

to Ibrahim

al-Haqlani14

the

mission of carrying his request to Florence and find-

ing

the technical

and

military

experts

he needed.

The

original

request by

the

Emir

also included

a

medical

doctor,

an

architect

experienced

in the

building

of

palaces, bridges

and

fortifications,

as well as

a

master

builder

experienced

in

waterworks and another one

in

designing

and

building

water

fountains,

a

gardener

and a

baker,

in

addition to six to

eight

families of

farmers

to

train the

locals

in

the Italian methods

of

agriculture.15

There were no

specific

requests

for

any

major

architect,

or

anyone

with a

training

under

any

of the masters of the time whose work could have

impressed

the

Emir

during

his

stay

in

Italy.

Addition-

ally,

Fakhreddine

II

requested

from the Maronite

Patriarchate the

translation of one work on

fortifica-

tions.16 This raises a

question regarding

the aesthetic

considerations of this

Emir,

who

had been described

by

the Chevalier d'Arvieux

as

being

a man of intense

curiosity

and

great

interest in the

arts,

poetry

and

music.17

How could a man of his intellectual breadth

have

only

utilitarian concerns and

neglect,

for

instance,

Alberti's

treatise on the

art

of

building,

to

name

just

one of

the

major

works

on

the

art of build-

ing

of the

Renaissance?

According

to Father

Carali,

the architectural

pro-

jects

of

the

Emir

started

mainly

around

1631,

upon

the arrival of the

Tuscan

experts,

who included an

architect

by

the

name of Francesco

Cioli

and a master

builder,

Francesco

Fagni.s8

It

would be safe to assume

that

Fagni

would have

supervised

the waterworks

projects,

construction f

bridges

at

Nahr-el-Kalb,

Sidon and Beirut

and other infrastructural and urban

works

in Deir el

Kamar,

the

capital

of the

emirate,

in

additiono other

major

owns.

This

would,

of

course,

fall

well

within

the main

preoccupations

f the

Emir

at the

time,

namely

to insure the

protection

of his

emirate,

and to

equip

it with an infrastructural

system

that

would allow his

troops facility

of

movement,

as

well as improving the living standardsof his subjects

by

developing

a

water

supply

system

and

training

them

in

new

agricultural

methods. No

specific

build-

ings

were

attributed to

Cioli,

who

may

have been

in

charge

of

building

the

palace

of

Beirut,

and the one

in

Sidon.

In this

case,

architecture must have

taken

a back-

ground position,

despite

the assertions of some his-

torians

who relate that Tuscan builders were able in

this short

period

to create

'magnificent

landmarks

which

testify

to

the Italian

ingenuity

in all artistic

matters'.19One of the major examples of those mag-

nificent

landmarks

may

have been the Emir's

palace

in

Beirut,

which

was,

we are

told

by

one

traveller,

'designed

in

the Italian

style,

with its

gardens

and

stables and

reserve of wild

animals',

and

which con-

stituted one of

the

'wonders

of

the Orient' accord-

ing

to another.20

D'Arvieux

compared

the

palace

of

Beirut to that

of

Sidon,

while Maundrell

gave

a

bet-

ter

description

of

its

landscaping,

its ornate marble

fountain and its

vast

gardens.21

Giovanni

Mariti's

account,

claiming

that the

palace

in

Beirut

betrayed

its Arabic lineage, is one of the few architectural

descriptions

we have of this

work,

which was

falling

into

ruins

and

disappeared

around the end

of

the

nineteenth

century.22

Carali

interpreted

the Arabic

lineage

as an

attempt by

the Tuscan builders to

accommodate

the

Emir's

wishes,

creating

a work

that would

fit in

its context. Mariti also attributed

to Tuscan

artists

the

sculptures

that were created

for the

rectangular courtyard,

which was furnished

with mosaics of

different colours.23

The

design

of

162



4/12

Re-Evaluation of the 'TuscanInfluence'

the

palace gardensmay

have revealed a more direct

influence of Tuscan

landscaping

deas.

Among

the other

major

works of that

period,

Fakreddine

II's

palace

in Deir el

Kamar,

his

capital,

which

should

have

held

the

highest

symbolic

impor-

tance, confirms the hypothesisof the secondaryrole

that aesthetics

played

in

his

priorities,

as

well

as the

limited role that

any

Tuscan influence

played

at that

time. The

palace

s a fortified constructionwith few

openings,

which owes more

in

its

detailing

o

Egyp-

tian Mamelouk architecture han to

Tuscany,

with a

complete

absenceof

any

elements that

may

be attrib-

uted to the ItalianRenaissance.

The decorative ele-

ment of note

in

this rather

massiveconstruction s the

entrance

doorway,

with its

alternating

andsof

white

and

yellow

limestone,

typical

of Mamelukand

Otto-

man architecture.The

neighbouringpalace

of

Gergis

Baz,

one

of

the Emir'schief

administrators,

s well as

the

palace

of Younes

Maan,

also features elaborate

doorways

that

clearly

indicate a taste for

Oriental

ornamentation rather

than the

Classical ornament

revived

in

the Renaissance

1-3].

The architectural

ypology

that

appeared

with

the

palaces

of Deir el Kamarwould continue to influence

the secular and

religious buildings

of the

period,

where a minimal

ornamentation

estricted o

specific

parts

such as

doorways,

mandalounwindows and

musharabiyehs

ould be the

only enriching

elements

in an otherwise austere

architecture,

due in

part

to

economic,

political

and

military

reasons.The Emirs

of Mount Lebanon could not

ostentatiouslydisplay

their wealth without

attracting

the

jealousy

of the

Ottoman

governors.

Thus,

the

building,

as well as the

f

Fig

1.

Fakhreddine

I's

palace

n Deir el Kamar

context,

did not seem

to

impress

some

travellers,

such

as

Volney,

(pen

name

of C-F

Chasseboeut)

who

wrote at the end of the

eighteenth

century:

The land of the

Druzes offers few

places

of interest.

The

most

interesting

is

Deir-el-Kamar,

or the

House of the

Moon, which is the capitaland residenceof the Emirs.This

is

not

a

city,

but

simply

a

large

town

poorly

built and

quite

:~r::

:I:i: ~~n~~,~ii~

~;~z~~Y: i::'a~~-

Fig

2. Palaceof

Gergis

Baz,

Deir

el Kamar

.AOKI

aw owv ,

:All

MR 4

9.J

7I

77',

0

'Ova7

10/1

Fig

3.

Palaceof Younes

Maan,

portal

detail,

Deir el Kamar

163



5/12

Elie Haddad

dirty.

It is situatedon the backhillof a

mountain,

at the foot

of which flows one of the derivatives f

the river

Tamyras,

today

the riverof

Damour.

[...]

The

Serail,

or the

palace

of

the

prince,

is

nothing

but a

large

and

badly

built

mansion

about to fall in ruin.24

In addition to the two palaces in Beirut and Deir

el

Kamar,

Fakhreddine

II

also

built the

Serail

and

the Khan of

Sidon,

the other

major

centre

in

the

emirate

that the Emir is credited for

turning

into

one of

the most

flourishing

cities of

the Levant.25

The

Serail,

which

today

lies

in

ruins,

was built as

a

solid

construction of dressed stone.

It was well

described

by

D'Arvieux,

who noted

its

sumptuously

decorated and

elegant apartments,

its

pleasant

ter-

races and rich

landscaping.26

Yet the detailed

descriptions

of D'Arvieux

never mention

any

sur-

prising

details

in this

context,

details

that could

betray any

Italian influence.

To

place

these architectural

achievements

of the

emirate

in

context,

the

Emir

would

have

certainly

seen the

major masterpieces

of the Renaissance

during

his exile

in

Florence,

namely

the

Duomo of Santa

Maria

in Florence

by

Brunelleschi

with its

campanile

and

baptistry,

and

Santa

Maria

Novella,

the

fagade

of

which was

completed

by

Alberti

in

1450,

to

name a

few of the

religious

edifices

in the

city.

On

an urban

scale,

he would have visited

the

Galleria

degli

Uffizi,

commissioned

by

Cosimo

I under the direction

of

Vasari

to house the

administrative

offices

of the

city.

Most

importantly

in this

case,

he would

have been

impressed

by

the Palazzo

Pitti,

the

residence of

the

Medicis,

which he visited

upon

his

arrival

and

at

many

other

occasions

during

his

stay.27

Besides the Palazzo

Vecchio and

the Palazzo

Medici-Riccardi,

where he

stayed,28

there were a

number of other

landmarks

in

Florence

that would have

caught

his attention.

Also,

his initial

stay

in

Livorno,

one

of the 'ideal'

cities of

the

Renaissance,

could not have

failed to

impress

him.

Yet of all these diverse

models one

finds

basically

no

influence on the architecture of the emirate, unless the

palace

of

Beirut could

have offeres the

only specimen

of this

architecture,

something

that is doubtful

if

we

take into

account the travellers'

accounts

as well as the

surviving

constructions

of the emirate

period.

The emirate's other

landmark was the

palace

of

Beiteddine,

built

by

Bechir

II

[1788-1840]

at the

beginning

of the nineteenth

century

on the other

side of the

mountain,

overlooking

Deir el Kamar.

This

palace

was

meant to

impress

friend

and

foe,

as it

was built

after a

series of

battles,

at the end

of which

Beshir

II

prevailed

over other

competing

lords of

the

mountain.29

Yet

again

this

palace,

which

was com-

pleted

almost

two centuries

after

Fakhreddine's,

did

not

indicate

any

radical

departure

from

regional

building traditions. These aspects did not go unno-

ticed

by

travellers such

asJohn

Murray

who

described

the

palace

in these terms:

We

first enter

a

courtyard,

whose battlemented

walls

look

out on

Deir-el-Kamar--the

mountainsides

elow

breaking

down

in

terraced

lopes

to the distantsea.

Thence

there is

an ascent

by

a broad staircase

nto another

court.

Here on

the

left is a

light

Saracenic

portal

leading

to

the Hall of

Audience

and the

privateapartments

f the

late Emir.

The

apartments

were

light

and

lofty,

finished

in the

Damascus

style,

with tesselated

pavements

of

marble,

raised

daises,

n-

laid

walls,arabesquedeilings

all

gold

and

glitter[...].30

Whether

the

portal

is of Saracenic

or rather

Main-

elouk

inspiration,

is not the

main issue. What

is

clear

is

the lack of

any

correspondence

that these Western

travellers

drew between

these

palaces

and their con-

temporaries

in

Italy

or

Spain,

or

other

parts

of

Europe,

even

in their interior

layout

and

their

decoration,

which remained

'Oriental'

in

style

[4,5].

How

can we account

for

the

striking

continuity

of

building

traditions

in

what

was the most

autonomous

province

of the Ottoman

Empire,

and one

with

long

established

and extensive

trading

connections? It

appears

that

in Mount

Lebanon,

the

Ottoman

prac-

tice

of

employing

local

masons as

masters of construc-

tion

projects,

rather

than artistsor

architects,

prevailed.

The

emergence

of

the architect

as

an individual

2R,nc

O,

Fig

4.

Bechir

II's

palace,

Beiteddine

164



6/12

Re-Evaluationof the 'TuscanInfluence'

AU

4

.

laai

i:.

,.

:.;:

........

.

i

]

.

...

i

:.

....

:

.

:

.

:

.

...:..

..

AM

...

:4

.

.

.

Fig

5. Bechir II's

palace,

detail

of

portal,

Beiteddine

designer,

ess bound

by

traditionsand more

open

to

foreign

ideas and

influences,

did not take

place

until

the twentieth

century.

Architecture

n

Mount Leba-

non therefore

did not witness

any

radical

renaissance'

which,

in

the manner of

the

Italian

Renaissance,

would

emancipate

architecture from

the

building

trades,

bringing

forth individual

artistsand architects

such as

Brunelleschi, Palladio,

Serlio,

Alberti or

Michelangelo.

In

these

provinces

of the

Ottoman

Empire,

ar

away

rom the

capital

stanbul,

he

respon-

sibility

for

building

remained the

prerogative

of

master

masons,

monitored

in

the

major

cities

by

a

mi'marbashi,whose post was equivalentto that of a

superintendent

of

public works.31

There is no

evi-

dence that the Emirs

of Mount

Lebanonbroke with

this

long-established

practice.

Indeed,

an

interesting

document

from the

period

confirms the

persistent

lack

of texts

that

specifically

deal with architecture.

One of the

Jesuit

missionaries ent to Beirut

to

pre-

pare

for

the

founding

of

the

Jesuit

Seminary,

ater to

become the

Jesuit University,

wrote

in

1833 to his

superiors

n

Rome

asking

hem to

send:

a few morebookson the illnesses f animals nd he treat-

ments o be

given,

alsoon the cultivation f

fields. f

you

couldalsodiscover

Vignola

r

any

other

good

treatisen

building

nd he arts ndcrafts

n

general,

hiswouldbe of

much use here. The ArabEmirs

always

equest

rom

us

explanations

n the

subjects

f

arts,

which are

unknown

here.AfterMedicine,hissubjectwouldenableus to get

better introduced n this area.32

The Italian influence on

religious

architecture

After

palatial

rchitecture,

which does

not exhibit

sig-

nificant traces of Tuscan

influence,

it is

to

religious

architecture hat we turn our attention.

This

displays

somewhatmore

affinity

o ItalianRenaissance ources

in some of its details,although againthe references

are

fragmentary

nd

idiosyncratic.

n

this

case,

how-

ever,

there is a more

plausible

rationale or an

influ-

ence: an

nterest

n

imbuing

ocal

religious

architecture

with

Catholic

taste itted with the efforts

made

by

the

Maronite Church to

consolidate,

aesthetically

s well

as

ideologically,

ts attachment

o the Roman Catho-

lic church.

Reinforced

by

the influx of Maronite

theologians,

who

had

been

admitted to the seminaries

n

Rome

since the end of

the fifteenth

century,

these endeav-

ours must surely have found a better ideological

ground

n

the

young

minds

of

seminarians

ho some-

times returnedwith a

religioustraining

compounded

by

a newfound

interest

n

the

arts.33

ome

observers,

such as

Volney,

did

not see

any

concrete

translations

of this

experience

beyond

a basic education

n theol-

ogy,

and the

learning

of the

Italian

language.

He

commented:

The courtof

Rome,

n

affiliating

he

Maronites,

ave

hem

a

hospice

n

Rome,

where

they

could send

their

young

men

to receive

a freeeducation.t seems hat

his

process

shouldhave ntroducedn them he artsand deals f Eu-

rope:

but the students f this

school,

restrictedo a

purely

monastic

ducation,

nly bring

back o their

country

he

Italian

anguage,

which is

of no

use,

and a

theological

knowledge

hat eads hem to

nothing:

henceforth,

hey

soonfallback

nto the common

lass

f

people.34

Despite

this rather dismissive assessment

by

Vol-

ney,

it

appears

hatthe Italian

exposure

nevertheless

bore fruits at the architectural

evel,

even if these

came at a much laterdate.A numberof churches

and

165



7/12

Elie Haddad

chapels

in

the

mountain

villages

as well as

in

the cities

testify

to this

infiltration of Italianate taste

in

the nine-

teenth and

early

twentieth

centuries,

visible in the

modest classical

details that frame church

entrances,

belfries,

pediments,

windows and other motifs

which

are added as ornamental supplements to the tradi-

tional

Mount Lebanon church

type.

Yet even

in

this

realm,

the

foreign

intervention

remains limited and

the

church as a whole

conserves its traditional form

with a

modest interior

space

devoid of

any

of the

accoutrements of

Renaissance

churches.35

In

few

cases,

the church

facade

is

given

an Italianate

facelift,

while the interior

continues to exhibit its stone

vault

construction

without

any

decorative treatments

[6-8].

Even in the

monastery

of

Bkerke,

the

seat of the

Maronite

Patriarch,

we find

only

a

limited interven-

tion

in

the form

of

applied

motifs to the

traditional

vernacular

language.

The cloister

of Bkerke devel-

oped

in

successive

phases

into a main

pavilion

which

now

frames

an

internal

court,

leading

to another

pavilion

that features a

modest Renaissance

portal.

The

author of this addition

appears

to be a certain

24-

: :k

----

----

.......

r-

~1;gmQ

KOR

Fig

6.

Chapel

n

Ghadir,

Keserwan

Brother

Leonard,

who introduced his delicate

refine-

ment to the

existing

traditions.

The

adjoining

chapel

in turn is marked

by

a modest

Ionic

pilaster

which

frames he entrance

doorway,

while

the

interior

s

left

in

its stone

vaulted

construction,

with decorative

ribs

articulatingthe edges of the vaults, in a pseudo-

Gothic fashion.

Again

one does not find here

any

15,WE

11.

lb7,

Fig

7. Church

in

Ghadir,

facade

detail

ll

w

Mr

:M

Fig

8. Church

in

Ghadir,

nterior

166



8/12

Re-Evaluation of the 'TuscanInfluence'

significant

races of Renaissance

nfluence,

either

in

the use of classicalmotifs or

in

the treatmentof the

internalwalls and

ceiling

[9-11].

Towards the end of the nineteenth

century,

two

imposing

churchesof

Western

type

were

erected:

he

Maronite athedraln Beirutand heMaronite athedral

in

Batroun,

both

by

the

Italian

architect

Guiseppe

Maggiori.

The

Beirut cathedral

1884-94],

more than

its sister

n

Batroun,

learly xpresses

ts

Italianate

ineage

in

its classical

proportions, pediment

and the com-

bined use of Ionic

pilasters

nd columns on the main

fagade,

as well as its interior

spatialorganization

and

detailing.

The interior of the church

reflectsa desire

to modernize

the traditional church

interior

by

replacing

he traditional

ault

construction

by

a cof-

fered

ceiling, opening up

the

space

and

accentuating

IN

Al;

on

R

MR

INEN

IS,

VO

ARM-

WE

All, p

Fig

9. Bkerke

Cloister,

entrancedetail

.I..

.

.

i

ll.

...

...

.....

..

..

'

::.::..:. ::::i::::': :-ir_ l-~'

Fig

10. Bkerke

Cloister,

church entrance detail

its

perspectival

vision.

This cathedral

epresents

one

of the most elaborate

examples

of Renaissance

nflu-

ence on

religious

architecture

n

Lebanon,

despite

some of its

regional

accents,

namely

the use of

local

sandstoneand the modest articulations

f the

fagade,

compared with the fagadeof I1Gesu in Rome, a

church which served

as a

paradigmatic

xample

for

many

of

the

churches

in

Italy

and elsewhere.

The

imposing

style

and

Westernizing

accents

must have

left some

deep impressions

at the

time,

especially

f

one

compares

his new

cathedral o the more modest

religious

edificesthen

existing

in

the

city

[12,13].36

The

question

of the

ideological programme

of the

Maronite

Church,

as far as architecture

s

concerned,

needs further

study.

Whether

these

limited architec-

tural

operations

were tied to an

ideological pro-

gramme

aimed at

charting

a new direction

n

religious

architecture,

eflecting

he Church's

recent affiliation

with

the

Roman Catholic

church,

remainsan

open

question.37

What is

evident,

however,

is that the

importation

of Western

ideas

in

architecture

did not

come so

much

through

civic works

such as town

............

T7,

..:

,,A

77,

7V,

Fig

11. Bkerke

Cloister,

church

interior

167



9/12

Elie Haddad

al

ii

7i

I

NOW--

av77 & 7,

o

9K

7

.

.

...

....

.....

Fig

12. Maronite

Cathedral,Beirut,

facade

halls,

villasor

palaces,

as

is

conventionally

assumed,

as

through religious

and

specifically

Maronite architec-

ture,

which translated

n

one

way

or

another the

growing

exchange

between

this

Church

and the

Church of Rome.

The

Central

Hall House

The third area of influence is

that of the domestic

house,

and

especially

what is

commonly

known as

the 'Lebanese

House',

in

its most

developed type:

the

Central

Hall

House.

The CentralHall

was

character-

istic of the patricianhousesin the majorcities,or the

feudaland noble mansions

n

the mountainsof Leba-

non. It is

characterized

y

its

cubic

form,

surmounted

by

a red-tile

roof,

with the tiles

imported

from Mar-

seille,

and its

triple-arch

openings

at the centre

of the

main

facade.

The materialof construction

was

always

stone: sandstone covered

by

stucco

in

the cities

on

the

coast,

and

limestone

in

the mountains. Father

Carali,

writing

in the

1930s,

attributed o the

early

seventeenth-century

Tuscan mission of

experts

that

F A l l

M

Fig

13. Maronite

Cathedral, Beirut,

interior

[after

restoration]

was sent

to the

Emir the introduction

of the red-tile

roof,

characteristicf the Lebanese

House,

as well as

the

typical

arcade that

distinguishes

the

facade,

in

addition

to a

reconfiguration

of the

house interior

arounda central

atrium.38 et

this assertion s

in con-

tradiction o

most

evidence about

the

appearance

f

this

type

of

architecture,

which

dates t to the

middle

of the

nineteenth

century

[14].

Among

the firstarchitectural

tudies o

look at this

vernacular

ousing

traditionwere

Kalayan

nd

Liger-

Belair's

publication.39

n

this

study,

the two

authors

each take a different

position

on the

lineage

of this

housetype. Kalayanraced he CentralHall House to

the

original

house

types

found

in

Byblos

around3000

BC,

conceding

that

this

specific

type

seems to be the

genuine

expression

of an authentic

tradition

which

kept evolving

since,

even

retracing

he characteristic

triple-arch opening

to

ancient

prototypes

in

the

region.40

Although Liger-Belair

also

seems to con-

cede the Lebanese

dentity

of the Central

Hall

House,

he

nevertheless

ntroducesanother

possibility,

hat of

its relation o

the Venetian

palatial

rchitecture

f the

168



10/12

Re-Evaluationof the 'TuscanInfluence'

41:

Fig

14. CentralHall

House,

Beirut

Renaissance.41

iger-Belair

did not exclude

the

pos-

sibility

of

this cross-fertilization

between East and

West as the

origin

of this

specific type,

which returns

from

Venice to the cities on

the Lebanese

coast,

implemented

here

in

its

specific

variation.42

In

another

study,

Friedrich

Ragette,

who drew a

detailed

analysis

f the

typology

of the domestichouse

in

Lebanon,

dismissed he

hypothesis

of its

possible

derivation rom the

Venetian

palazzi,

concluding

that

this

typology

and ts

constitutive

elements,

such

as the

triple-arch,

were

indigenous

developments

in

tune

with local

climatic,

topographic,

ocial

and other fac-

tors.

Ragette's

conclusions attributed

hese common

typologies

and the recurrence

of certain

motifs,

such

as the

pointed

arch,

to the

widespread

dissemination

of

building

traditions

across he Mediterranean

ince

antiquity.

Yet the

developments

n

each

case were

by

andlargeparticularo each cultureandclimate.43

The

topic

of the

LebaneseHouse and ts

most illus-

trious

example,

the Central Hall

House,

remains a

question open

to different

interpretations.Recently,

it was

again

the

subject

of a collective

work

in

which

different

authorsaddressedts

origin

and variations

n

Lebanon

and the

region.44

Semaan Kfouri

again

brought up

the

surprising

similarities

between the

houses

along

the Venetian

Canal and the

Lebanese

House,

without

necessarily

onceding

a

direct

ineage

between the

former,

which

appeared

round he

thir-

teenth

century,

and the

latter,

which

only appeared

around he mid-nineteenth

century.45May

Davie,

in

a

morphological

study

which went

deeper

into the

sources,

did not reach

a definite conclusion on the

origin

of this

type,

but attributedt to a

multiplicity

of

sources and

influences,

mainly

local

masons,

engi-

neers and artistswho have contributed heir

skillsand

knowledge

to its

development, leading

to the most

refined

example

that would constitute the

'model'.

Davie

seemed,

o favour

mplicitly

he

theory

of local

evolution,

with influences from abroad limited

to

techniques

and

materials,

which

naturallyaccompa-

nied the

gradual

modernizationof

that

period.46

Davie's

hypothesis

s the most

plausible,

aking

nto

consideration hat most of these mansions

date back

to the nineteenth

century,

and not to the earlier

periodof the emirate.The CentralHall constitutesa

major

archetype,

a

type

that has been

in

constant

use

since

antiquity,

not

exclusively

Tuscan,

or

Venetian,

or Lebanese or that matter.

On

the other

hand,

the

two

major

Renaissance

models,

the villaand the

pala-

zzo--the

villa as

epitomizedby

Palladio

n

the Vene-

tian

countryside,

and the

palazzo

in its

multiple

variations-did not find

any

translations

n

the cities

or mountainsof Lebanon. One

may

attribute

his to

the limitations of materials

and construction

169



11/12

Elie Haddad

techniques,

as

well

as

to the rather conservative

cli-

mate

in

which

the local vernacular

evolved,

a ver-

nacular which

was

adapted successfully

to the

functional and

cultural

specificities

of

the local

cul-

ture,

and

to the

topography

of

the Lebanese moun-

tains.

Still,

the

absence of

any interpretations

of

these

Italian models in

local forms poses some serious

questions

about

any presumed

Tuscan influence on

Lebanese

architecture as

a

whole.

Conclusion

As

I

suggested

at the

beginning

of

this

paper,

it

appears

rom

the extant

examples

of the architecture

of

the

period

that the 'Tuscan nfluence'on

architec-

ture

n

Mount

Lebanon

rom

the seventeenth

century

has been

largely

a

matter of

speculation,

despite

the

political

and

economic

relations

hat

evolved

between

the emirateand

the court of the Medicis n Florence.

These relations

did mark the

political

and economic

history

of

the

period

and

over the

following

centuries

contributed o

the

evolution

of a

distinct,

cosmopoli-

tan

Lebanese

culture.

This

exchange

did

not,

how-

ever,

translate

significantly

into architecture

as

happened,

or

instance,

n

England,

Portugal,

Scandi-

navia

or Latin

America

during

the

same

period.

Such

dissemination

s took

place

in

Lebanoncan be traced

best-though

to

a

limited extent-in

religious

archi-

tecture, as 'ornamental infusions'. These may have

carried within

them,

consciously

or

unconsciously,

a

desire

to

give

form

to the

ideological project

of

devel-

oping

a

Lebanese

identity

separate

and

distinct

from

its

immediate

geographic

context.

Elie Haddad

Lebanese

American

University

E-mail:

[email protected]

If

you

have

any

comments

o make n relationo this

article,

lease o

to

the

ournal

website

n

http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org

ndaccesshisarticle.

There s a

facility

on the site

or

sending

mail

responses

o theeditorial

board ndother

eaders.

Notes

1

This is

reflected

in

the official

history

book

for

elementary

education,

which

gives

a

synopsis

of this

'common'

knowledge

on the

topic.

Fakhreddine

I is

portrayed

n this

official

history

as

a

visionary

who founded

the

state

of Lebanon

and charteda

new

buildingprogramme

cross he

country:

'Fakhreddine

ook

great

interest

n

architecture

n Lebanon.

He

reorganized

he coastalcities

and created

gardens

and built

luxurious

palaces.

He was

assisted

n this

by

architects

rom

Italy

and Lebanese

builders.

The notables

in

the

country

imitated the

Emir

in

their own

palatial

architecture,

and

building

activity

spread

n all

regions

n the

country.'

Al

Tarikh,

th Year

Elementary, inistry

of

Education,

Beirut,

2000

[p.

35,

my translation].

2 Paolo

Carali,

Fakhr

ad-Din

II

Principo

el Libano la Corte

di

Toscana,

2

vols.,

Reale Accademia

d'Italia,

Roma, 1936,

translated nto Arabic in Reale Accademia d'Italia, Roma,

1938,

reprinted

n

Dar

Lahd

Khater,

Beirut,

1992.

All

references

to this

document are

n

the Arabic

version.

3

The

ideological

construction

of the

history

of

Lebanonand

its

multiple

variations

s well

analysedby

Ahmad

Beydoun

in his

Le Liban: Une

Histoire

Disputee:

Identite et

Temps

dans

l'historiographie

ibanaise

contemporaine,

niversite

Libanaise,

Beyrouth,

1989

[text

in

Arabic].

In

this

regard,

the role

of

Fakhreddine

I

is

important

n

the

foundational

myth

of the

Lebanese

tate,

and

s

related

differently y

a numberof

authors,

each

stressing

he

particular

spects

hat

appeal

o them

in their

interpretation

f

historic

events.

The most

prominent

of

those

historiansof

the

emirate were

Jouplain,

Malouf, Lammens,

Carali,

Khalidi,

smail,

Noujaim

and

Chebli.

Beydoun

uncovers

the different

interpretations

of Fakhreddine II

by

these

historiansand their

ideological underpinnings,

exposing

their

fault

lines

which

split

around the

'Arabic',

'Syrian'

and

'Lebanese'

poles,

aswell asthe

'European

Model' illustrated

y

his architectural

achievements versus

the Islamic model of

political

governance.

Beydoun,

pp.

385-425.

4

Lammens

notes in

passing,

n

his

survey

of the

history

of the

region,

that Fakhreddine

resided

alternately

n Beirut and

Sidon,

in

palaces

furnished

by

Western

artists. See Henri

Lammens,

La

Syrie,

Precis

Historique,

ahd

Khater,

Beyrouth,

1994

[originally ublished

n

1921],

vol.

1,

ch. 13.

5

Noujaim

emphasized

the

European

model

on which

the

new state

of

Fakhreddine

I

was established.A.

Beydoun, op.

cit., pp.

392-6.

6

Michel

Chebli,

Fakhreddine

IMaan,

Prince u

Liban,

Universite

Libanaise,

Beyrouth,

1984.

7 See

Philip

Hitti's

A Short

History f

Lebanon,

t Martin's

Press,

New

York,

1965.

8 Ibid.

9

Raja

Choueiri,

Deir-al-Qamar

t

Fakhreddine,

eyrouth,

Felix

Beryte,

1999,

pp.

9-11

[my

translation].

10 Ibid.

11

Choueiri's

essay

also

offers

an

example

of

this,

when he infers

from this cultural

and artisticmovement

the

beginnings

of a

clear demarcationbetween the Lebanese

landscape

and its

hinterland:

'[...]

the LebaneseMountain

will

from this momenton andfor

centuries

o

come

begin

to

denote

to

foreign

observers ome

specific signs previously

unseen

in

the

Orient,

which

in the

fields

of civic

or

military

architecture,

n

certain

works

of

art,

in

agriculture,

n

customs,

language

and culture evoke

the

influence of

renascent

Italy,

and more

generally,

that of

Europe.' [p.

10]

12

In addition to

the

foundational

myths

that dealt with the

prehistoric

Lebanon,

he Lebanese

dentity

relied

strongly

on a

romantic

representation

of the Lebanon Mountains as

an

idealized

space.

See

Elise

Salem's

Constructing

ebanon:

A

Century f

Literary

arratives,

niversity

Pressof

Florida,

2003.

170



12/12

Re-Evaluation

of

the

'Tuscan Influence'

13 Kamal

Salibi,

The Modern

History of

Lebanon,

1st

edn.,

Weidenfeld&

Nicolson, London,

1965.

14

Ibrahim

al

Haqlani

was a notable man

in

his time. After

studying

to

become a Maronite

monk,

he

left the order

but

continuedto serve his

community,

and assisted he

Emir

as

his

ambassador

o the court of

Tuscany,

and worked

as

a

tradesman

among

other activities. See Nasser

Gemayel,

Les

Echanges

Culturelsntre es Maronitest

l'Europe,

vols.,

Beyrouth,

1984.

15 P. Carali,op. cit., pp. 310-3.

16

M.

Chebli,

op.

cit.,

chs.

10

and

11.

17

Quoted

in

M.

Chebli,

op.

cit.,

p.

17.

18 P.

Carali,

op.

cit.,

pp.

152,

312.

19

Ibid.,

p.

152.

20

Ibid.,

p.

152.

21

M.

Chebli,

op.

cit.,

pp.

111-13.

22

Giovanno Mariti,

Travels

through

Cyprus,Syria,

and Palestine

with

a

General

History

of

the

Levant, Robinson, London,

1791-92.

Mariti's

account is also related

in

P.

Carali,

op.

cit.,

p.

153.

23

P.

Carali,

op.

cit.,

p.

153.

24

Constantin-Francois

Casseboeuf,

Travels

n

Egypt

and

Syria,

vol.

2, 1787,

pp.

84-5.

25 M.

Chebli,

op.

cit.,

p.

109.

26

Quoted

in

Ibid.,

pp.

109-10.

27

Carali

relates,

based

on

the

documents,

he arrival

f

the Emir

to

Florence,

and his

reception

at the Palazzo

Pitti,

which he

entered rom the

garden

ide. See

P.

Carali,

op.

cit.,

p.

190.

28

Fakhreddine

I

is

reported

to have

stayed

in

Pope

Leo X's

apartment

t the

PalazzoVecchio while in Florencewhile his

main address

remained

n

Livorno until

May

1614.

In

June

1614,

he

moved

to

Palazzo

Medici

Riccardi,

where

he

stayed

until

July

1615. See Hafez Chehab's

'Reconstructing

the

Medici Portrait

f

FakhrAl-Din

Al

Ma'ani',

Muqarnas,

ol.

11,

1994,

pp.

117-24.

29

K.

Salibi,

op.

cit.,

p.

68.

30

John Murray,

Handbook

or

Travellersn

Syria

&

Palestine,

Murray,

London,

1875.

31

Antoine Abdel

Nour,

Introduction

l'Histoire

Urbaine

e

la

Syrie

Ottomane,

niv.

Libanaise,

Beyrouth,

1982,

pp.

137-54.

32

Letter

of

FatherPaul

Riccadoma

to Fathers

Figani

and

Ryllo,

dated 24 November

1833,

p.

140,

in

Sami Kuri's Une Histoire

du Libana traverses

archives es

esuites, vols.,

dar el

Mashreq,

Beyrouth,

1996

[my

translation].

33

The Maronite

Seminary

was

founded under

Gregory

XIII in

1584,

for the

purpose

of

educating

Maronite

theologians

n

Rome.

This

college

counted

among

its

graduates

n the

seventeenth

entury,

ibrail

l

Sahyuni

nd he

already

mentioned

Ibrahim l

Haqlani

lsoknown under he LatinnameofAbraham

Ecchellensis.

ee

K.

Salibi,

op.

cit.,

pp.

219-21.

34

Quoted

in

K.

Salibi,

op.

cit.,

pp.

221-2.

35

One of the

major

architects

of

Maronite

religious

architecture

in the twentieth century is the monk Neemtallahel-Maadi

[1881-1954],

who

studied

at the Beaux Arts in

Paris

and

Brussels,

and after the First World War became

the

major

architect

of

Maronitechurches

n

Lebanon.

36 This

aspect

was noted

as well

by

Samir Kassir

in

his

comprehensivehistory

of Beirut.

See

SamirKassir'sHistoire e

Beyrouth, ayard,

Paris,

2003,

pp.

181-2.

37

In

contrastwith the aesthetic

ssues,

he

politicalprocess

of the

MaroniteChurch's ffiliation

with Rome

was

well documented

in

historic

archives and revisited

by

historians.

On the

transactionshat ed to the MaroniteChurcheventual

affiliation

with

Rome,

see Ghassan

al

Ayyache's

Majama'

al

Louaizeh

1736,

Dar

al

Takadoumia,

Beirut,

1991

[in Arabic].

38

P.

Carali,op. cit., p.

153.

39 Haroutune

Kalayan

&

Jacques

Liger-Belair,

L'Habitation u

Liban,APSAD,

Beyrouth,

1970.

40

'If

the

Central Hall house is

considered,

appropriately

s

it

seems,

to be

specifically

Lebanese,

he

Triple

Arcade

symbolizes

for

everyone

the Lebanese radition '.

H.

Kalayan&J. Liger-

Belair,

op.

cit.,

part

I,

p.

36

[my

translation].

41

Liger-Belair

bases

his

analogy

on Hilde Zaloscer's

study

'Survivance

t

Migration',

Melanges

slamologiques,

airo,

no.

1,

1954. H.

Kalayan&J. Liger-Belair, p.

cit.,

part

II,

p.

74.

42 H.

Kalayan

&J. Liger-Belair, p.

cit.,

part

II,

p.

77.

43

Friedrich

Ragette,

Architecturen

Lebanon,

Caravan

Books,

New

York,

1974,

pp.

115-19,

166-80.

44 Michael Davie, editor of the study, contributedan article

which

critically

evaluates

the

ideological

discourse

that

has

surrounded he Lebanese

House.

For

more,

see his 'La

maison

aux trois arcs t

la

construction

deologique

du

patrimoine

au

Liban',

n

La Maison

Beyrouthine

ux

Trois

Arcs:

unearchitecture

bourgeoise

u

Levant,

Michael

Davie

(ed.),

ALBA &

Tours:

CREUMA,

Beyrouth,

2003,

pp.

343-69.

45 Semaan

Kfouri,

'La

maison

a

hall

central

au

Liban:

origines,

influences, dentities',

n

Michael

Davie,

op.

cit.,

pp.

33-55.

46

May

Davie,

'Genesed'une

demeure

patrimoniale:

a

maison

aux

trois arcsde

Beyrouth',

n

Michael

Davie,

op.

cit.,

pp.

57-96.

171

between myth and reality the tuscan influence on the architecture of mount leb

Documents