Damascus Circa 1860

Damascus map as published in an archeological quide of the Orient by A. Chauvet & E Isambert in 1882. It is based on the work of Eugène-Guillaume Rey completed about 1860. The level of precision is astonishing and would not be surpassed until the second or even third decade of the 20th century. We here encounter a far more comprehensive map including the suburbs of Salihiya (still separated from the Old City) and the Midan in its entirety. The work therefore went beyond what would be encountered in a traditional touristic guide and was of a more scholarly nature. It should be kept in mind that until the first half of the 19th centurry, maps of Damascus were largely confined to the city intra-muro and its immediate suburbs and for obvious reasons: those who designed them were exclusively European travellers, scholars, and missionaries interested first and foremost with pre-Islamic landmarks, Roman and -particularly- Christian. Needless to say the bulk of those monuments were located inside the city wall.


http://www.amazon.fr/Damas-Urbanisme-architecture-Jean-Luc-Arnaud/dp/2742752919/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454220795&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=damas+urbanism+et+architecture