Cement tiles are an instance of the new materials of construction that characterized the architecture of Modernity in Syria and Lebanon beginning in the late nineteenth century. The introduction of this material, widespread during the colonial and post-colonial periods, goes back to the s. It was an effect of major upheavals that struck Syrian society in the wake of the Egyptian expedition Undoubtedly, this material influenced interior design, offering a new understanding of material and color and, subsequently, a new appropriation of the interior space.
Indeed, the cement tiles, whose span extended to all the Mediterranean shores, created a supplementary expression of their artistic and cultural interconnectivities. This investigation into the importation and local manufacturing of this material raises not only technical aspects but also the general context that affected building activities during the period under review.
Although cement tiles were for decades the most widely utilized floor covering material in Syria and Lebanon, its importation and local manufacturing have not been the thrust of specialized investigations. Thus, the aim of our survey is to build on previous work and to propose an established historiography of the importation and the local manufacturing of cement tiles in a defined temporal and geographical framework: Damascus and Beirut, from the s to the s.
Innenarchitektonisch war dieser Baustoff insofern unleugbar von Bedeutung, als er eine neue Auffassung von Stofflichkeit und Farbe und eine dementsprechend gewandelte Innenraumbehandlung mit sich brachte.
Jahrhunderts verbreiteten Muster erstellte. Die auf diese Arbeiten aufbauende Fragestellung unserer Studie betraf daher eine faktenbasierte Geschichte des Imports und der heimischen Produktion von Zementfliesen, in einem vorgegebenen geografischen und zeitlichen Rahmen: Damaskus und Beirut von den er bis in die er Jahre. Le piastrelle di cemento hanno indubbiamente influenzato il design degli interni, favorendo una nuova comprensione della materia e del colore, e di conseguenza una nuova appropriazione dello spazio interno.
