Nablus: an architectural history

It’s been very exciting to get my first look at the real, in-the-flesh version of my good friend Naseer Arafat’s architectural history of Nablus. It’s a huge and beautiful book, 300 pages long and in coffee-table format, and comes in both Arabic and English editions, packed with images of this wonderful, historical city (probably my favourite in Palestine). I’ve been helping Naseer with the English text for the book since 2009, and it’s been a fascinating journey, learning about Nablus itself but also the development of architecture in Palestine, its interrelationship with society, and details such as Arabic architectural terminology. At the moment the book is available via Naseer’s organisation in Nablus and is on sale at the Educational Bookshop and American Colony Hotel bookshop in East Jerusalem, but obviously we hope to find a way to distribute it more widely.

A particularly exciting aspect of the publication is that the book has been printed in Nablus itself, so as well as raising awareness about the history of the city, it helps to support its economy.