Damascus: Brick Makers

Date: c. 1890-1908

In a chapter devoted to the craft of the mason (bannāʾ) the authors of the Qāmūs al-ṣināʿāt al-shamiyya (‘Dictionary of Damascene Crafts’) mention the creation of bricks using wooden matrices (qālib min khashb murabbaʾ). See also: Mason; Carpenter; Potter; Clay Merchant.

Citation: al-Qasimi, Muhammad Saʿid, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, and Khalil al-ʿAzm (al-Azem), Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, ed., Zafer al-Qasimi. (Le Monde d’Outre-Mer passé et présent, Deuxième série, Documents III, Paris and Le Haye: Mouton and Co., 1960), p. 52 (chapter 19).

Also: Milwright, Marcus, ‘Wood and Woodworking in Late Ottoman Damascus: An Analysis of the Qāmūs al-Ṣināʿāt al-Shāmiyya’, Bulletin d’Etudes Orientales 61 (2012), p. 550.