LIBYAN ARCHITECTURE

The Political Influences in the Libya's Architecture through history

Abstract

The research focuses on the Political influences in the Libya's Architecture through history. The politicians of different era's impact on the Libyans economically and socially and adopted different strategies to get control over them which is represented in the buildings and other artefacts of their time, particularly in the main cities such as; Tripoli, Benghazi, and others cities. The paper also highlights various era's of Libyan history that are rich of architectural examples as well as have an impact on the social and economical state of the Libyans such as; the Prehistoric civilizations, the era of Ancient Libya, the Phoenician era, the Greek era, the Roman era, the Barbarians era, the Ottoman regency, the mousses period, Italian colonial regency, Modern Architecture and the Gaddafi era.

The Political Influences in the Libya's Architecture through history

Political Influences

Libya is the land of ancient history, which recently gained publicity due to dictatorship of former Libyan head of the state, Muammar Gaddafi. The tyrant's rule ended as the result of a civil war in 2011. Berber tribes were the aborigines of Libya. The urbanization of Libya was initiated by Phoenicians. Libyan territory experienced incursions by a variety of tribes through its history. These invaders left a political and archaeological imprint on Libyan architecture. The present day Libya is littered with historical architectural remains of Punic, Greek, Roman, Islamic, Italian and modern structural designs (Bauval, R.& Brophy, T, 2011).

The political leaders of Libya did little to preserve the ancient landscape, which has resulted in losing most of the heritage. The current Libyan government is determined to safeguard archaeological remains, and to build modern skyscrapers. UNESCO has identified five sites in Libya as world heritage sites (http://whc.unesco.org). These sites enlist: Rock-art sites of Tadrart Acacus, old town of Ghadames, archaeological site of Sabratha, the ruins of Leptis Magna, and the remains of Cyrene.

History of Libya in architectural and political contextArchitectural Styles and types

The Modern architecture reflects the impacts of the oil wealth in Libya. Modern buildings abound in the urban centre such as the apartments, government offices, private offices and the complexes while government housing is typically on countryside. To some degree, still today the traditional form of architecture reflects the political power distribution in various sectors of society. Old section of Tripoli is dominated by the walled fortifications are the indications of the tribal power and a reminder to the historical practical state (Allan. J. A, 1981)Concerns for safety measures characterized ancient towns of Libya. There were some settlements completely underground in the mountains of Tripolitania. Some settlements were built on. These hillsides towns comprise of only one entrance for security. Further south, the architecture shows the concerns for defense. The Most retreat communities were also walled and fortified. In the Sawknah retreat of Al Jufrah, the fortified walls are built to extend about the entire residential area. In Sawknah, there were two gates for entrance, and the walls had fortifications at the interval every twenty yards ...