The problem of the preservation of the Double Window was described in the previous post. This post, the “Solution,” briefly describes the strategy we developed and tells the story of the work done in pictures. To begin, we solved the problem of access by abandoning the traditional use of scaffolding and instead working on the east side of the wall from a truck-mounted safety bucket. The west side was fairly accessible because it was possible to step from the walls of the rooms behind onto a row of corbels below the two windows.
The preservation strategy began with the goal of doing minimal intervention in order to preserve the ruin “as a ruin” (see “Planning Principles” in Progress Report: AFCP House XVII-XVIII Preservation, the 26-March post on this blog.) To achieve this, we decided not to dismantle and rebuild the windows, but preserve them as they are and take only measures deemed necessary to prevent their further collapse under adverse conditions (high winds; high velocity overflights and sonic booms, and moderate earthquakes). The actual work plan we adopted was the product of advice from a number of conservation specialists who visited us during the planning stages as well as the collective wisdom of my entire staff. (*See the end of this post for a special thank-you note to the key contributors.) In the end, credit for judging how the work was to be done, and what was possible within the realms of budget and safety, goes to Awda Masa’eid, whose work on the repair of the hole in the roof has already been described (see “The Hole in the Roof,” the 9-June post).
The following photo journal gives a visual account of the implementation of this preservation strategy. It comes in four segments: Setup, Window Sill Restoration, Buttressing the South Window Post, and Relieving the South Window Arch.
The Setup
Before any work was begun the stones loading the arches were numbered in preparation for the removal of some and as precaution for the accidental dislodging of others. The second photo shows the setup of the two cranes as the work is about to begin and Awda and his assistant Na’if ready to work. The greatest concern in this operation was the safety of the people on the wall. It is testimony to their patient caution and the precision skills of the crane operators that no injury greater than a cut finger occurred during the entire three weeks of this Double Window operation.
Restoring the Window Sill
In the photo with the numbered stones you can see that most of the window sill of the left window is missing, and the masonry below has been weakened. A key to the stabilization of the whole window unit is the repair of the wall and the sill, which ties the two faces of the wall together. As this window operation began, we had been clearing the soil and collapse masonry from the water reservoir below. Here we found the stones to restore the sill as shown in the following sequence of pictures. The blond color of the restored blocks is surface pigmentation coated onto the black basalt from the centuries of being buried in a mixture of russet soil (used as roofing material) and lime from eroded plaster and mortar (used on the walls).
Buttressing the South Window Post
Meanwhile, Awda Masa’eid and his crew began buttressing the south window post:
Relieving the South Window Arch
Finally, we removed the top three courses overloading the slumping south window arch—in order to protect it as well as remove some of the sideways pressure on the central column and the unloaded arch of the north window. While the buttressing operation took over two weeks, this procedure was completed in two days.
Credits
We are especially grateful to the following for their kind and clever ideas on the preservation of the double window: Elana Ronza, Christina Danielli and Chris Tuttle, all from the Temple of the Winged Lion Project in Petra; Barbara Perlich and Tobias Horn, preservation architects on the Qasr Mshatta Project; and Amer Qimash, architect/engineer of the Department of Antiquities, Amman. At Umm el-Jimal, key input was given by Abdul Qader al-Housan, Director of the Mafraq office of the Dept of Antiquities and partner in this field work; Abdulla Shorman, structural specialist in the Dept of Archaeology, Yarmouk University; Na’il Tuhamer, DoA-Mafraq engineer assigned to the project; and Muaffaq Hazza (UJ Project senior staff).
In addition to those in the bucket and on the wall, immense credit goes to the rest of the 30+ work force doing their essential tasks away from the camera with energy and enthusiasm.
The House XVIII light show was created and photographed by Jeff DeKock and Paul Christians of Open Hand Studios, along with Muaffaq Hazza. The photographs included in this post were taken by Bert de Vries and Muaffaq Hazza.