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Historic houses | Public buildings | Ecclesiastical | World heritage sites | International
Arad Fort built around 1530 AD by Arab inhabitants of Bahrain in an effort to resist the Portuguese and defend the safe anchorage of Muharraq bay. It was painstakingly excavated, consolidated and restored from its dangerous condition over three years by Dr Walls, Senior Architect of the Ministry of Information. Click here to view additional photos >> |
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Baghdad |
From 1981 to 1983 Dr Walls conserved 20 traditional courtyard houses adjacent to the two great mosques of Baghdad; the Sunni mosque of al-Gilani and the Shia mosque of al-Khadhimain. This was the first restoration project of its kind in Iraq and unfortunately the Iraq-Iran war prevented its completion. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Bam |
After the 9th International Conference on Earthen Architecture in Yazd Archie Walls visited the 2000-year-old mud brick city of Bam. The most exciting find was that it was constructed of the layered construction technique he has been searching for since first identifying it thirty years ago in Oman. Click here to view additional photos >>
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Bethlehem |
Dr Walls has theoretically restored two important mosaics in the Church of the Nativity: the lost 6th century Justinian mosaic that saved the Church from being fired by the invading Persians in 614 AD and the 12th century mosaic above the birthplace of Christ in the cave below the basilica. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Cairo |
An earthquake on 12th October 1992 damaged the Islamic and Coptic Monuments of Cairo. Dr Archie Walls was part of the UNESCO team requested by the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation to report on the condition of the monuments. The mission took place between the 22nd October and 4th November 1992. Click here to view additional photos >> |
India - Kolkata |
Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata; Library, museum and visitor facilities and exhibition space. A tender for a Library and Museum with visitor facilities and exhibition space in the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. The Hall was designed and drawn up by Sir William whilst construction was supervised by Vincent Esch. GQA were asked to tender for the refurbishment and restoration of the Memorial Hall. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya |
The Madrasa, built by a team of craftsmen sent from Cairo by the ‘Prince of Builders’ Sultan Qaytbay in 1481, and damaged by earthquake in 1545, provides an encyclopaedic range of Mamluk decorative detail, which Archie Walls measured, and recorded using paper squeezes before modern pollution could destroy them completely. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Church of the Holy Sepulchre |
Archie Walls, as Architect to the Armenian Community, undertook excavations behind St Gregory’s Chapel and adjacent to the Chapel of the Finding of the Cross where he found the graffiti now know as “the Jerusalem Ship”. He has also written on the significance of minarets guarding the tomb of Christ. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Khalidi Library |
The earliest surviving Mamluk building in the Old City, the tomb of Barakat Khan was recorded and its phases identified by Archie Walls. He dated its foundation to the 1280s and demonstrated that it originally abutted a Crusader market. It is now a family library housing valuable manuscripts and books. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Turbat Kilaniyya |
Built in 1352AD this is an unusual double-chambered tomb with a well proportioned muqarnasat (stalactite) headed recessed portal and ironclad door. Over the centuries living accommodation has been introduced into the tomb chambers and the generous courtyard infilled with two storey houses. Archie Walls has recorded and published this building. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Turbat Kubakiyya |
Lying outside the Old City Walls in the Mamillah Cemetery, the tomb of the Amir Aidughdi Kubaki (1289AD) is isolated and liable to arson attacks. Its portal suggests the same innovative artist as that of the Khalidi Library designed it. Archie Walls has recorded and published this building. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - Sabil of Qayt Bay, Haram al-Sharif |
The sabil built on the orders of Sultan Qaytbay (1482AD) has a decorated external dome akin to the great domes of Cairo. Archie Walls measured and took paper squeezes of its decoration which enabled him to identify restorations and modifications made by the Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid II (1876-1909AD). Click here to view additional photos >> |
Jerusalem - The Turbat Turkan Khatun |
This minute stone tomb dated 1352-53AD has sumptuous carved decoration both inside and outside. Within the dimly lit interior are three panels that Archie Walls considers a “design family” with a specific visual and geometric ordering that defines their underlying design structure, their numerical relationship and their hierarchical sequence. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Mocha, Yemen |
Little remains of historic Mocha, once the great Red Sea port famed for its coffee. Today Mocha’s collapsed city walls, great mosque and merchant houses are overwhelmed by sand dunes. In 1980, UNESCO consultant to the Yemen Arab Republic, Dr Walls surveyed and recorded all of the extant monuments. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Oman |
In 1977-78 Archie Walls as UNESCO consultant advised on the preservation of the some 38 monuments and sites within a radius of 200 kilometres of Muscat. Imported cements caused the majority of problems rather than the locally produced traditional materials whose efficacy had been proved over thousands of years. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Qasr al-Murabba |
In association with Rasem Badran Associates, Amman, Jordan, and Omrania & Associates, Dr. Walls was mud brick consultant for this project to restore Qasr al-Murabba, the palace of the late King Al Aziz in Riyadh and link it to the new buildings of the Saudi Arabian National Museum. Click here to view additional photos >> |
Zanzibar - The Old Dispensary |
The Old Dispensary, Zanzibar was derelict when Dr Archie Walls restored it for the Aga Khan Trust For Culture as the Stone Town Cultural Centre. Built in the 1890s of coral, teak and polished plasters the restoration stressed the use of traditional skills, materials and methods including natural cooling. Click here to view additional photos >> |
