{{about|the palace in Damascus|the palace in Hama, Syria built by the same client|Azm Palace (Hama)}} {{Infobox building | name = Al-Azm Palace | native_name = {{lang|ar|قصر العظم}} | former_names = | alternate_names = Azem Palace, Azm Palace, Qasr al-Azm | image = Azem Palace 02.jpg | caption = | pushpin_map = | altitude = | building_type = [[Palace]], [[Museum]] | architectural_style = [[Damascene architecture]], with [[ablaq]] | structural_system = | cost = | ren_cost = | location = [[Damascus]], [[Syria]] | address = [[Al-Buzuriyah Souq]] | client = [[As'ad Pasha al-Azm]] | owner = [[Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums]] | current_tenants = | landlord = | coordinates = | completion_date = 1749 | inauguration_date = | renovation_date = 1945-1961 | demolished_date = | destruction_date = | height = | diameter = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = 2 | floor_area = 6400 m<sup>2</sup> | awards = | ren_architect = | ren_firm = | ren_str_engineer = | ren_serv_engineer = | ren_civ_engineer = | ren_oth_designers = | ren_qty_surveyor = | ren_awards = [[Aga Khan Award for Architecture]] | references = {{designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = WHS | designation1_offname = [[Ancient City of Damascus]] | designation1_date = 1979 {{small|(3rd [[World Heritage Committee|session]])}} | designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/20 20] | designation1_criteria = i, ii, iii, iv, vi | designation1_type = Cultural | designation1_free1name = Region | designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in the Arab States|Arab States]] }} }} '''Al-Azm Palace''' ({{langx|ar|قصر العظم}} {{Transliteration|ar|Qaṣr al-ʿAẓm}}) is a palace in [[Damascus]], [[Syria]], built in 1749.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Al-Azem Palace {{!}} Tourist Attractions in Damascus Old City |url=https://www.lovedamascus.com/en/what-to-see/tourist-attractions/al-qaymariya/006ta005/al-azem-palace |access-date=2022-12-17 |website=www.lovedamascus.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Al Azem Palace, Syria |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/al-azem-palace-syria/EwVxj43oviGZIA |access-date=2022-12-17 |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en}}</ref> Located north of [[Al-Buzuriyah Souq]] in the [[Ancient City of Damascus]], the palace was built in 1749 to be the private residence for [[As'ad Pasha al-Azm]], the governor of Damascus; during the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]], it housed the French Institute.
After the Syrian government had purchased the buildings from the [[Al-Azm family]] and extensive reconstruction, the palace houses the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions.
==History== [[File:DamascusAzemPalaceLargeCrtyd.jpg|thumb|left|The northern facade of the courtyard]] The palace was built during the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman era]] over the former site of a [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] palace as a residence for the governor of Damascus, [[As'ad Pasha al-Azm]] during the reign of Sultan [[Mahmud I]]. Serving as a joint residence and guesthouse, the palace was a monument to 18th-century Arab architecture.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Historical dictionary of Syria|first1=David Dean|last1=Commins|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EhACvcqVXkC&q=As%27ad+Pasha+Azm+Hama&pg=PA152|isbn=978-0-8108-4934-1}}</ref>
The palace was built by 800 workers in a span of three years,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dgam.gov.sy/index.php?p=251&id=691 |title=قصر العظم متحف التقاليد الشعبية بدمشق10/01/2013 - عدد القراءات : 9419 (In Arabic) |access-date=2018-02-09 |archive-date=2018-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209182426/http://www.dgam.gov.sy/index.php?p=251&id=691 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the building was decorated with sophisticated and expensive decorative elements. A local Damascene barber, Shaikh Ahmad Al-Bidiri Al-Halaq recorded in his diary how "every time he [Al-Azem] heard of an antiquity or rare work of marble or porcelain, he would send someone to get it - with or without the owner's consent".<ref name="roughguide">{{Cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Syria|first1=Andrew|last1=Beattie|first2=Timothy|last2=Pepper|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iCfkTe8v2EC|isbn=9781858287188}}</ref> After al-Azm's death, the palace continued as the home for his descendants during later generations.<ref name="akdn" />
While touring Damascus in 1898, Emperor [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] of Germany visited the palace.<ref>{{Cite web |title=قصر العظم - اكتشف سورية |trans-title=Al-Azm Palace |url=http://www.discover-syria.com/bank/47 |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=www.discover-syria.com |language=ar}}</ref> [[File:Azem Palace.jpg|thumb|left|The courtyard and garden of the palace]] The palace remained in the ownership of the Azm family until 1920, when the palace was sold to the French authorities.<ref name="roughguide"/><ref name="akdn">{{Cite web |url=http://www.akdn.org/sites/akdn/files/media/documents/AKAA%20press%20kits/1983%20AKAA/Azem%20Palace%20-%20Syria.pdf |title=Azem Palace - Syria {{!}} Aga Khan Development Network |access-date=2018-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222105809/http://www.akdn.org/sites/akdn/files/media/documents/AKAA%20press%20kits/1983%20AKAA/Azem%20Palace%20-%20Syria.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The central court or ''haremlek'' was purchased for 4000 gold pounds (after 1958 the name of the Syrian currency in English changed from "Lira" to "Pound").<ref name="akdn"/>
During the [[Great Syrian Revolution]], the French government shelled Damascus to repress the rebellion, and the old quarter of Damascus was also hit. This caused extensive damage to the palace, as the main reception room, the private baths and the roofs were all set on fire while the walls were destroyed.<ref name="akdn" /> Following the end of the revolution, the French government set about reconstructing the buildings. The restoration work began immediately and was handled by architects Lucien Cavaro and [[Michel Écochard|Michel Ecochard]]. The architects conducted a simplified, less ornate reconstruction of the palace.<ref name="akdn" />
Following reconstruction, the French government used the palace to house the newly created French Institute, and Ecochard was commissioned to design a new house for the director of the institute. Although fairly modern, the new building blended perfectly into the 18th-century walls of the palace.<ref name="akdn" />
Upon Syrian independence in 1946, the French Institute left the building and the house was returned to the Azm family.<ref name="roughguide" /><ref name="akdn" /> Six years later, in 1951, it was purchased by the Syrian government for 100,000 Syrian pounds ($30,000),<ref name="akdn" /> which transformed it into the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions.<ref name="roughguide" /> Shafiq Imam was appointed as the director of the museum in 1954. The crowd for the museum's opening greatly exceeded expectations, which led Shafiq Imam to design a new staircase for the main hall to allow visitors to enter from one side and leave from another.<ref name="akdn" />
The palace received the [[Aga Khan Award for Architecture]] in 1983.
==Architecture== {{Old City (Damascus)}} [[File:Pomes on the door.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Details of the stonework in the palace]] The palace has a surface of 6400 m<sup>2</sup>, and its architecture is an example of Damascene traditional houses. The structure consists of several buildings and three wings: the ''[[harem]]'', the ''[[selamlik|selamlek]]'' and the ''khademlek''. The harem is the family wing, which contained the private residences of the family and included the baths, which are a replica of the public baths (''hammams'') in the city on a smaller scale. The ''selamlek'' is the guest wing, comprising the formal halls, reception areas and large courtyards with a traditional cascading fountain, while in the northern part of the palace were the quarters for servants and housekeeping.
Another part of the palace are the traditional baths. They are composed of a succession of small rooms and narrow corridors leading to the main steam room in the heart of the building.<ref name="roughguide"/> Near the ''hammam'' is the main marble-floored reception hall, and behind it a second, smaller courtyard with a number of rooms now used to display various examples of traditional crafts such as glassware, copper and textiles.<ref name="roughguide"/>
Types of stones used in the building include [[limestone]], [[sandstone]], [[basalt]], and [[marble]], chosen to provide a varied decoration. The ceilings have painted wooden panels that display natural scenes.
Andrew Petersen, director of Research in Islamic Archaeology at the [[University of Wales Lampeter]], stated that the use of [[ablaq]] (alternating courses of white [[limestone]] and black [[basalt]]) in this building is a "characteristic of the monumental masonry of [[Damascus]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://islamic-arts.org/2011/damascus-history-arts-and-architecture/ |title=Damascus – history, arts and architecture |first1=Andrew |last1=Petersen |publisher=Islamic Arts & Architecture |date=October 3, 2011 |access-date=January 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114164712/http://islamic-arts.org/2011/damascus-history-arts-and-architecture/ |archive-date=January 14, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions == The Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions contains, among others, a collection of Syrian [[Folk costume|traditional costumes]], most of which have been reproduced by the Syrian visual artist [[Ziad Zukkari]].
==See also== * [[Ablaq]] * [[Azm Palace (Hama)|Azem Palace (Hama)]] * [[Bayt Farhi]] * [[Maktab Anbar]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline|italic=1}}
* [https://cyark.org/projects/al-azem-palace/exhibit Description, images and 3D models of Al-Azm Palace] at Tapestry project
{{coord|33|30|37|N|36|18|25|E|display=title}} {{Damascus}}
[[Category:Old Damascene houses]] [[Category:Palaces in Syria]] [[Category:Museums in Syria]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1750]] [[Category:Buildings and structures inside the walled city of Damascus]] [[Category:1750 establishments in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:18th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria]]