Attempting to document and rehabilitate Aleppo between 1994 and 2011: the ramifications of pre-conflict built heritage mismanagement and the effects of the scarcity of documentation on options available for post-conflict conservation

This paper examines several aspects of the attempt at rehabilitating Aleppo and the data available about the city prior to the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. It discusses documentation, rehabilitation and conservation practices in Aleppo, focusing on the operations between 1994 and 2011 that were coordinated by several institutions managed primarily by the Directorate of the Old City of Aleppo (DOCA) and the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammen­arbeit (GTZ). The analysis considers not only the old city, which is inscribed on the World Heritage List, but also other historic and culturally significant areas in Aleppo. This research primarily uses notes from other scholarly resources, statements by various relevant experts, and the reports and documents produced by the DOCA, the GTZ, and UNESCO to argue that some of the practices during that period were in part responsible for overlooking important aspects and places of the city’s built heritage. The paper then explains the ramification of these approaches, which are still perceptible today, on the prospects for any future efforts to safeguard the city’s built heritage.