Holy Places that Have Played a Role in the Urban Evolution of Damascus

Abstract

This study describes some of the shrines that contributed to the urban development of Damascus from the emergence of Islam to the middle ages. It also discusses the connection between the existence of holy places which attract pilgrims for religious and spiritual reasons, and the expansion of cities. The main sources for this study are writings in the 'virtues of the Holy Land' genre, augmented by the publications on this subject by Orientalists and Arab scholars. Many cities, in the Muslim world and elsewhere, were built around shrines, or expanded because of the importance that people attached to them. Occasionally it happened that a number of shrines were established at a particular location before the founding of a city there, while at other times the construction of the shrines and the evolution of the city went hand-in- hand, more-or-less, that is, neighbourhoods in the city expanded because they were in the vicinity of shrines, be they mosques, saints' tombs or religious schools. It is a well-known fact that urban growth or expansion of any city is usually associated quite closely with the expansion of the available land. Anyone who studies the urban extension of Damascus in relation to that of other Muslim and non-Muslim cities faces numerous questions, since the case of Damascus differs from that of other cities which Muslims helped to build for whatever reasons, be they political, administrative or religious. Since, Damascus was first conquered by the Muslims (in 635 CE), its residential expansion did not proceed according to the same standards as in other Muslim cities. Instead, its expansion occurred in a haphazard fashion (Kharisat 1992). Since its afore-mentioned conquest Damascus had an oval shape, surrounded by walls with gates. After the conquest many of its houses became abandoned. It is the prevailing opinion that the city was not attractive at the time and so very few people came to settle in it. Historical sources have very little to say about the expansion of residential houses in the city, with the exception of the mention of a few of the Prophet's companions who desired to reside there. This is the very first indication of the city's residential features (al-Nuaymi 1990). Damascus retained its oval stretched-out shape until a relatively late period. The greater part of the city was given over to religious institutions, religious schools and shrines. The existence of the Umayyad mosque certainly had a role in the maintenance of religious schools there. It is noted that in the Aramaean period the city's core was located on an elevation at the centre of the Old City, at an altitude of a few meters above the level of the rest of the city. All that is known of Damascus in antiquity is that it was in reality a village in the early Roman period. The Romans made some changes, so that the ancient part of the city came to be contained in one of the four quarters into which it was divided by the Cardo and the Decumanus, when it received the shape of an elongated oval consisting of four parts. That was in the Roman period, and after the Muslims captured Damascus they introduced numerous prominent changes in the 1