Of Ghosts and orphans: Traces of local architects in the new city of Jerusalem in the early modern era and the challenges of architectural historiography on the fringe of the Empire

Abstract

This study, inspired by postcolonial and post-structural theories, attempts to highlight the difficulty of conducting architectural research in early modern Jerusalem, a setting in which there are gaps in the historical record. One particular gap—the practice of local architects—is portrayed through two characterizations: Orphans—existing buildings that are historiographically detached from their genealogy—and Ghosts—individuals assumed to have practiced architecture, yet their existence appears only in traces. The study wishes to explore why local architects disappeared from the historiography of early modern Jerusalem. The methodologies include a narration of the fragments that were found during a literature review, archival research, site visits, interviews, and correspondence with scholars and archivists. The study suggests that local architects were overlooked because of orientalist perceptions, disappearance of evidence, and inaccessibility or illegibility of documents. Therefore, it recommends institutional collaborations and methods, which will acknowledge the historian's subjectivity in future research.