{{Short description|Hall in Arabic houses}} {{other uses|Liwan District}} [[File:Liwan.PNG|thumb|right|350px|An architectural drawing of a typical Levantine house, with the liwan area in grey.<ref>Based on discussion in Victor A. Khoueiry, "Lebanese Domestic Vernacular," ''Architecture Week,'' March 6, 2002.</ref>]] '''Liwan''' ({{langx|ar|ليوان}}, {{transliteration|ar|līwān}}, from Persian {{transliteration|fa|eyvān}}) is a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal in ancient and modern Levantine homes that is often open to the outside.<ref name=Abercrombiep266>Abercrombie, 1910, p. 266.</ref><ref name=Daveyp29>Davey, 1993, p. 29.</ref> An Arabic loanword to English, it is ultimately derived from the Persian {{Transliteration|fa|eyvān}}, which preceded by the article ''al'' ("the"), came to be said as {{Transliteration|ar|līwān}} in Arabic, and later, English.<ref name=Houstmap218>Houtsma et al., 1993, p. 218.</ref>
In its simplest form, the history of the liwan dates back more than 2,000 years, when the '''liwan house''' was essentially a covered terrace, supported by retaining walls, with a courtyard in front.<ref name=Khoueiry>{{cite web|title=Lebanese Domestic Vernacular|author=Victor A. Khoueiry|date=6 March 2002|access-date=2007-12-14|url=http://www.architectureweek.com/2002/0306/culture_1-2.html }}</ref>
In its more complex forms, the liwan house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall (liwan) at the front of the complex, divided into three sections, and flanked by two smaller liwans.<ref name=Daveyp29/> The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis.<ref name=Daveyp29/>
Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, and the mattresses and cushions along the length of the walls make up the ''diwan'' or divan seating area.<ref name=AbuSalihp32>Abu Salih et al., 2002, p. 32.</ref>
==Types of liwan houses==
===Three-arched house or Central Hall House=== One type of liwan house is the three-arched house or "Central Hall House", as coined by Friedrich Ragette in 1974.<ref name=GRAL>{{cite web|title=Research Group on the Architecture of the Levant|author=Groupe de recherche sur l'architecture au Levant (GRAL)|publisher=European Association for Middle Eastern Studies (EURAMES)|date=1998-09-19|access-date=2007-12-14|url=http://www.smi.uib.no/eurames/gral.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930153031/http://www.smi.uib.no/eurames/gral.html|archive-date=2011-09-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is also known as the "traditional house" or "Late-Ottoman Arab House" in Haifa or the "Beiruti House" in Mersin.<ref name=GRAL/>
The 19th-century Levantine model of the three-arched house with many regional variations is found in the coastal regions of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Turkey.<ref name=GRAL/> A representative example of the liwan house commonly found in towns throughout the West Bank and Gaza is the Al Imam house in Hebron.<ref name=Hadid>{{cite web|title=Establishing, Adoption, and Implementation of Energy Codes for Building: Architectural Styles Survey in Palestinian Territories|author=Mouhannad Hadid, Architect|date=August 2002|access-date=2007-12-14|url=http://www.molg.gov.ps/ecb/studies/architecture/arch.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060509043538/http://www.molg.gov.ps/ecb/studies/architecture/arch.pdf|archive-date=2006-05-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Architecture|Lebanon}} *{{annotated link|Iwan}} *{{annotated link|Hosh (architecture)}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} *{{citation|title=The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighbouring Countries|last1=Abu Salih the Armenian|first2=B.T.A|last2=Evetts|first3=Alfred Joshua|last3=Butler|first4=Ahmad|last4=bn Alī Magrīzī|year=2002|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=0-9715986-7-3 |author1-link=Abu Salih the Armenian }} *{{citation|title=The Town Planning Review|first1=Sir Patrick|last1=Abercrombie|publisher=Liverpool University Press|year=1910}} *{{citation|title=Northern Cyprus: A Traveler's Guide|first=Eileen|last=Davey|year=1993|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=1-85043-747-5}} *{{citation|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936|first1=Martijn Theodoor|last1=Houtsma|first2=T.W.|last2=Arnold|first3=A.J.|last3=Wensinck|publisher=BRILL|year=1993|isbn=9789004097964}} {{refend}} {{Islamic architecture}}
Category:Islamic architecture Category:Islamic architectural elements Category:Arabic architecture Category:Ottoman architecture Category:House types Category:Architecture in Syria Category:Architecture in Palestine Category:Architecture in Lebanon