Title: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OTTOMAN TRADITIONAL
HOUSES IN THE LIBYAN OLD CITY OF GHADAMES: CASE STUDY OF DA BABANEI HOUSE
Author(s): Ahmed M. AMEEN
Journal: SHEDET(Annual Peer-Reviewed Journal Issued
By The Faculty Of Archaeology, Fayoum University)
Issue: 3 Date: 2016
Pages: 43-77
Cite as: Ahmed M. AMEEN. (2016). Characteristics of
the ottoman traditional houses in the libyan old city of Ghadames: Case study of
Da Babanei house. SHEDET(Annual Peer-Reviewed Journal Issued By The Faculty Of
Archaeology, Fayoum University), 3 (2016) pp. 43-77. https://doi.org/10.36816/shedet.003.07
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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OTTOMAN TRADITIONAL HOUSES IN THE LIBYAN OLD CITY OF
GHADAMES: CASE STUDY OF DA BABANEI HOUSE
Ahmed M. AMEEN
Ghadames, lies in an oasis, is located at the most western Libyan populated city
near the bounders with Tunisia and Algeria. Now it is known as the city of
Ghadames, of which the old walled city represents a unique example of the
covered pre-Sahran cities in the world. This paper aims to study the ottoman
domestic architecture in Ghadames in the light of author’s visit in 2014, with
special focus on the house of DA BABANI, or Hadji Abdul Salam Shemila house (the
current owner), as a case study. It is dates back before the 12th A.H./18th
century C.E. The exterior of the houses of Ghadames is simple and non-adorned
while few of them have small and high windows. Foundations and walls, upmost one
meter high, are constructed of sandstone, while the rest of the walls are of mud
bricks. Palm wood is used extensively in Ghadames houses for both construction
and decoration. Ghadames houses are characterized by a vertical division of
functions: the ground floor (or level), used to store supplies; then the main
floor for the family, and, at the top, there is an open-air terrace comprising
the cooking-place (kitchen). Ghadames house includes, from the architectural
spaces point of view, stores, main reception hall, living places, a kebba (a
small room with a specific use, only on two occasions, by the lady of the
house), a toilet, a kitchen and passageways and stairways as well. The most
characteristic features of the traditional Ghadames house that there is no an
open-air internal courtyard; which gives the houses of Ghadames those main
features comprising the vertical division. Also there is a unique use of the
open-air terraces, at the top of the houses, which reserved for the women, and
used as a network of passageways connecting all the houses of the old walled
city of Ghadames. Also, the form and content of the decoration characterize the
Ghadames house. Furthermore, this paper discusses the influences of the Sharia
(Islamic rules or Fiqh) on the design of the Ghadames house, and illustrates the
precise features of the pre-Sahran traditional domestic architecture of Ghadames
in the light of its comparison with more alike settlements clarifying the
similarities and differences as well.