viii Introduction

Renata Holod

This volume contains the Proceedings of group takes up broader questions of attitude urban archeological survey described in this the second in a series of seminars which and procedure; the second deals with volume is possible. will precede the announcement of the first specific cases, implemented or still in study Preservation efforts have been challenged on Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The form; and the third considers the uses of an the one hand by a shortage of personnel and general aim of the seminars is to review architectural heritage. There is, of course, budgets and, from a completely different aspects of architectural transformations considerable overlap between the papers and direction, by a phenomenon common within the Islamic world, highlight specific discussions (some may have been better throughout the Islamic world: the existence problems and solutions to them, and situated in a separate methodological of the institution of the vakf and its role in develop the bases for criteria for the Award. section); and as many, if not more, questions the maintenance of buildings funded by The aim of the seminar held in the fall of have been raised as solutions given. Yet individual vakf deeds 1978 in Istanbul was to focus on historic several themes emerged which would environments and to consider strategies indicate the directions of further investiga­ The institution of the vakf (pious founda­ which could ensure a future for those tion and action. tion) was an important characteristic of environments in the rapidly changing Islamic social, economic and religious life physical and social landscape. The nature of Restoration, recording and preservation of Originally, edifices of a religious and social that future would most likely vary according individual buildings has been an activity in nature were funded (after they were built) to the initiatives and needs of each par­ which most governments of the Islamic through a religious trust; incomes from ticular place. The underlying assumption, world have invested. Ministries of Culture agricultural and commercial properties however, was that these environments may or affiliated bodies have sponsored laws provided support for activities housed in still play an important role in the life of which would protect the integrity of these them, as well as for maintenance. Each vakf contemporary Islamic societies. Though the registered buildings. National or municipal was administered by an independent group role perhaps differs from that of previous codes which classify buildings into types of trustees. Any major institutions, such as a periods, historic environments could not just which must be preserved intact, or whose mosque or madrasa, could also receive be swept away in the desire to modernize as fa~ades alone must be preserved, exist in additional vakfs for specific activities or rapidly as possible. Some of these environ­ Turkey, Morocco, Iran and other countries. items. Activities, from support for pilgrims ments have remained a focus for the more Nonetheless, in many cases the concept of a to winter feed for birds, could also be traditional elements of societies. Others street fa<;ade is an architectural feature quite funded independently of buildings. Within provide valuable housing space for alien to the necessities of preserving a the townscape of a traditional Islamic city, migrants. All possess rich reserves of courtyard-oriented building. Thus, even the most if not all social and religious buildings architectural ideas, and townscapes with a codes of preservation which have existed were under the care of individual vakfs and distinct flavour and identity. Finally, many on the national level may not be suited independent trustees. Moreover, many of could provide valuable lessons for con­ to the nature of many buildings and their the residential and commercial buildings temporary designers. townscapes. were the income-producing components of foundations. Only the larger private The seminar dealt with aspects of preserva­ Centralized institutions have initiated repair residences or palaces remained outside the tion and conservation. However, the papers and restoration programmes on varying and discussions also considered such related system, although they could be converted scales. Some have been carried out by their into trust properties. The upkeep of both the topics as archeological surveys, architectural own personnel, others have called upon history and its present uses and the history institutions and the income-producing outside expertise. While some of these buildings was the obligation of the trustees. of urban patterns. While papers were invited activities have been recorded and published, to discuss projects and issues from various such as the restoration and research The evolution of the vakf institution to the regions of the Islamic world, the coverage is programmes on the Safavid monuments of present day has varied depending on region by no means complete. The location of the Isfahan or on the monuments of Istanbul, and country. In some countries it has seminar in Istanbul resulted in a concen­ many interventions remain poorly recorded disappeared completely, with the institutions tration on a more regional, Turkish per­ or published. Clearly, a key building block and whatever enjoined properties were left spective, though the range of problems in whatever wider-reaching programmes of to them being nationalized and incorporated raised in this more narrow context may be intervention and conservation may be into other ministries. In others, the adminis­ found equally in other regions of the Islamic undertaken is parallel recording activity. tration of the vakfs has been delegated to a world. The selected bibliography at the end Large-scale recording efforts have already separate Ministry of the Vakf, with cen­ of this introduction may prove useful for the been initiated through universities and local tralized control over incomes and responsi­ reader who wishes to investigate specific offices of urban planning; good starts have bility for maintenance. In still others, cases in other regions. been made by I.T.U , M.E T U and the State control over individual trusts has remained on the local level. Rather than follow the order of the papers Academy of Fine Arts With the number of strictly as presented, we have grouped them trained students in both these institutions, a Whether it now exists in localized form or as according to their general intent. The first concerted programme similar in intent to the part of a centralized administration, this Introduction ix

institution has had and still retains im­ necessary incentives and personnel to carry townscape of a mad ina, it is the har­ portant influence over the nature of out scientific recording and restoration. monious arrangement of the two categories maintenance and preservation. As an in­ Finally, because vakfs usually provided for with their systems of communication which stitution, it has great potential as an agent in socially beneficial activities, there would resulted in a distinct regional and cultural preservation and perhaps in conservation. It seem to be some potential for continuing or character. Even cosmetic changes in a is still a specifically Islamic form of property re-inserting this practical aspect by en­ particular neighbourhood have an impact on maintenance; with some internal restructur­ couraging more local activity. the surrounding physical setting, as well as ing, it could be the mainstay of preservation on its popUlation. Any efforts which deal and conservation efforts. As an example, A problem closely connected to the location with the setting of a monument must con­ one can point to the history and activities of of the control over historic monuments is sider all the approaches associated with the Turkish institution which has had some the status of monuments which are them­ conservation programmes, be they social success in these efforts. A government selves important religious loci, e.g. Mecca, or physical, as have been recently organization (VakTflar Genel Mudiirlugu) Medina, Jerusalem, Karbala, Najjaf, articulated. established as the descendant of old vakf Mashhad and other smaller shrines. These loci are by no means abandoned; on the The status and condition of the older, institutions (and an intermediate nineteenth historic or traditional city quarter (the century Ministry of Awqaf) has been contrary, they must withstand the enormous pressures of rising frequentation, no doubt a madina) is a shared aspect of many Islamic moderately successful in maintaining the towns. All have been subjected to, or are monumentsj institutions under its aegis, and result of improved communication systems. The administrators of the shrines are forced still undergoing, processes of major demo­ has expanded its activities into the fields of graphic change. The groups or classes which restoration, reconstruction and adaptive to cope, and indeed they have. Yet at times, the new additions or reconstructions have originally built, inhabited and maintained reuse. Particularly successful has been the most of the housing and institutional stock reuse of madrasa or caravanserai buildings, largely altered or completely obliterated not only the historic and characteristic features of the mad ina have moved to new de­ which had lost their original functions, into velopments built on foreign models. Their dispensaries, hotels, hostels and the like. of the monuments, but also much of their setting. Such changes may be understood to properties in the madina have been aban­ On the other end of the spectrum are the be the newest phase of the continual re­ doned completely or, more usually, have important and still active local trustees in, building of the shrines, which has occurred been rented to new urban immigrants. The for instance, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan and throughout the centuries of their existence demographic changes have taken place at Bangladesh. The problem here is not so However, the scale of these changes and the different times. In Egypt and Turkey the much that an individual building or speed with which they are often accom­ popUlation shift had been going on for some monument is not cared for, but that the plished has allowed little or no recording of time, beginning in the last decades of the maintenance or repair often destroys much the destroyed parts, little consideration for nineteenth century and fairly well completed of the original character of the building design and layout continuity and little by the fifties. In countries which were Attempts to control this type of activity opportunity for preservation. former colonies, the shift from the old have resulted in legally transferring the "native" quarters to the new towns began building to the care of the government Reviewing the realm of preservation, we see with independence, regardless of whether the departments or ministries; centralized con­ that auspicious beginnings have been made old towns were preserved by special decrees trol thereby supplants local control, and the in many quarters and that institutions exist of separation, as in the case of Morocco, or care of a building is taken out of the hands within Islamic societies which may be re­ had been declared slums, as in India of local trustees. While the idea of providing oriented to expand their traditional realm of (Shahjahanabad-New Delhi). In other control and expertise was an attractive and activities. Intensive campaigns are needed to countries, the processes of change have just quick solution to the often well-intentioned sensitize the owners and administrators of begun. despoliation, the fact that centralized many buildings to the inherent value of Abandoned properties do exist in the old bureaucracies lack funds and personnel to historical monuments, as unique products of towns, as in some of the old quarters of carry out maintenance and restoration has a cultural past which retains both psy­ Isfahan or Tripoli, but in most the vacuum not brought the desired results, has made chological and aesthetic validity. was rapidly filled to overflowing with local groups suspicious of and uncoopera­ Preservation activities have been and will migrants from rural areas and smaller tive in government interventions and has, in continue to be pursued on a variety of towns. For these newcomers, the old city is many cases, taken the monuments com­ scales, but they have largely focused upon the locus of inexpensive or free housing, pletely out of circulation even after they are monuments or groups of monuments which provides proximity to even sporadic em­ repaired and restored. have received the approval of history. For ployment and is a new and exciting place to The idea of utilizing already existing in­ the most part these are institutional be. With the doubling and tripling of the stitutional frameworks may thus prove to be (religious and social) buildings, rarely the original population densities, the physical the only practical one, in the long run­ more utilitarian and less public commercial fabric of these environments and their provided that these institutions are given the and residential structures. Yet within any available services has deteriorated rapidly. x Introduction

Efforts at structuring conservation pro­ Visual and aesthetic continuity within an grammes are therefore faced with several environment is perhaps to be understood as difficulties. The old environments have lost another kind of conservation. It has been status; at best they have suffered from achieved in those municipalities where local benevolent neglect on the part of governing ordinances have specified particular elites. Budgets for maintenance of services, materials of construction. It can, perhaps, for instance, have been very low; hospitals also be achieved through a design dialogue and schools have been located elsewhere in between the architect and the already the city. It is unlikely that spontaneous existing environment. individualized efforts at restoration (and The Proceedings of the seminar deal in gentrification) by younger members of the detail with many of the above-mentioned elite will come about soon. Nor, perhaps, is issues. The many different approaches do this the most desirable strategy for con­ not invalidate each other. Rather, they can servation. Creating the social services be seen as tactical stages in defining viable necessary for the present population in the strategies for conservation within the Islamic old quarters, and simultaneously relieving world. them of the extremely high densities by providing alternative housing and employ­ ment sites, may be a more expedient and Selected References more practical alternative. Such alternatives, however, can only be implemented with the Appleyard, Donald, ed The Consel vation oj active participation of a variety of gov­ European Cities (Cambridge, 1979) ernment agencies. But the impetus to Blake, Gerald and Richard Lawless "Tlemcem: organize and implement such an action lies Continuity or Change," Ekistics 47, No 271 (July/ within the realm of political and ideological August, 1978) decisions. Bonte, Pierre and Mohamed EI Bahi "La Medina de An external factor has emerged as an Tunis: Mise en valeur et Rehabilitation," (Tunis, Association pour la Sauvegarde de la Medina, important argument for restoration of mimeographed, April 1976) buildings and perhaps for surface conserva­ Chevalier, Dominique'id L'Espace Social de la Ville tion of environments: tourism The revenues Arabe (Paris, 1979) • obtained through tourism are undeniably important to the economies of many regions De Janssens, G Basson "Les Waqfs dans !'Islam Contemporaneen," Revue des Etudes /slamique, (1951, and countries. Judicious staging of facilities 1953) and utilization of sites within the neigh­ bourhoods surrounding major tourist at­ EI-Kafi, Jellal "Tunisia: Hopes for the Medina of Tunis," in UNESCO's The Conservation of Cities (New tractions or in the rural landscape can yield York, 1975) direct economic and other benefits. Mass Erder, Cevat "The Venice Charter Under Review," tourism, however, tends to generate by­ an abslIact (Ankara, 1977) products which may not be desirable or acceptable in such fragile, small-scale Kowsar, Mehdi "Temporary or Contemporary?" Ekisti" 43, No 256 (March, 1977) environments as the neighbourhoods of the old cities. Tour groups seeking the authentic MacConnell, Dean The Tourist (New York, 1976) with their cameras, buses and high-rise Micaud, Ellen C "Belated Urban Planning in Tunis: hotels all create a life separate from the Problems and Prospects," Human Organization 33 environment being visited These in turn (Summer, 1974) become separated from the surrounding Shilazi, B N "General Survey of the Conservation neighbourhood by the props generated for Status of Three Javanese Islamic Cities: Cirebon, Demak the tourists-souvenir shops, demonstra­ and Kudus" (mimeographed report prepared for UNESCO, 1976) tions of crafts, inevitable traffic congestions Thus, while tourism may be a vehicle for the Town and Country Planning Organization (TCPO), refurbishing of an environment, its physical Government of India, Ministry of Works and Housing "Redevelopment of Shahjahanabad: The Walled City of and social impact must be carefully weighed, Delhi" (New Delhi, 1976) particularly where the tourists are external Wheatley, Paul "Levels of Space Awareness in the to the culture and do not share any of its Traditional Islamic City," Eki,lics 43, No 253 (Malch, patterns of behaviour. 1977)