The House of An-Nimr

The house of an-Nimr lies in the north eastern end of the old city in the al-Habalah quarter. It dates back to the early Ottoman era. Entering into the house of an-Nimr one firstly arrives at the main yard in front of the house through a large gate.

An-Nimr house is built on three levels. The visitor having passed through the winter reception dīwān on the ground floor beside the entrance to the west arrives in an open hall or Iwān. This is usually supplied with a marble water fountain in front of it, overlooking the open yard - the second Iwān - of the entrance. Another hall lies at the northern side of the yard. It has stone seats on the sides and a water fountain of colored marble in the middle with a shādirwān of white marble distinguished by its Damascene style. On the eastern side of the entrance yard, there is a stairway leading to the private residential area “haremlik”. Visitors are welcomed to the ground floor, not the upper one.

Historical Section
Proportion of the building: The proportion of the building was achieved through its architectural fabric and the planning of its large-sized and spacious building, with its large and small rooms and courtyards. In its character, it bears the character of the palaces that were prevalent in their construction and spread in the eleventh century AH/seventeenth century AD of the Ottoman era. The historian Al-Nimr confirms this history of the palace, when he mentions that one of his ancestors, Prince Youssef bin Abdullah Pasha Al-Nimr, was the one who built the palace on the mentioned date.

The founder and the colonists: He also mentions that the presence of the Al-Nimr family in Nablus goes back to their first ancestor, Prince Abdullah Pasha Al-Nimr, who was appointed commander of the Turkish military campaign that was sent to southern Syria in 1080 AH/1668 AD, in order to eliminate sedition and provide security. When he achieved that, he became the ruler of Nablus, but he rebuilt Al-Karak Castle and then used it as the seat of his rule and left the matter of Nablus to his son Youssef to rule it. During that, his son Youssef founded and built this palace to be his residence and a base for his political rule of the city. Al-Nimr also mentions that in place of the palace there was a small house that Prince Youssef bought from his son-in-law Sheikh Abdul Qader Al-Alami and later incorporated it into the palace building. After Prince Youssef died, his son Prince Ali Juriji, son of Youssef Al-Nimr, took over the rule of Nablus as its receiver. Sheikh Abdul Ghani Al-Nabulsi stayed with him when he visited Nablus in 1101 AH/1689 AD and described him as “the owner of good morals and a scientific lineage, the pride of the notables and the human being of the eye to the human kind, Mr. Ali Al-Jarbji, one of the notables of Al-Jarbjiya in protected Damascus, son of the late pride of the respected princes, Prince Youssef, the former caretaker of Karak Castle.” Sheikh Al-Nabulsi then composed a poem praising him and describing the palace, especially the pond and the garden. It can be said that the palace has been inhabited by the Al-Nimr family since its establishment until today, and that it witnessed all the political and social events that Nablus experienced during the Ottoman rule, with the participation of the princes of this palace.

Later History (Modern): It is worth noting that the historian Al-Nimr used the northern part of the second floor as his residence and the lower floor as his private museum, but the palace began to suffer from cracks and neglect and needs restoration and renovation work to build it as one of the palaces that embodied various aspects of Nablus life since its establishment until today.

Architectural Description
Al-Nimr Palace consists of a huge and large building that stands on a large area of ​​land ranging between 2-3 dunams and includes two floors of the building, forming a northern section and a southern section of it, and leading to the large southern section of it is a tall southern gate preceded by a wide and long open corridor outside the palace and confined between two eastern and western walls and under each of them are large stone blocks extending along their length to form what resembles a bench on which he sits and at the top of each of them is a wide and large pointed stone arch, which leads to the belief that this corridor was covered by a vault but it was demolished as it appears later. The stones of these two walls are dominated by some plant and geometric decorations and small niche shapes. The passageway leads to the gate, which consists of an entrance opening 2.5 m long and 1 m wide, flanked on each side by two small square stone niches. The arch of the entrance opening is topped by a number of stone rows, topped by another larger pointed stone arch that rests on the two rows of stones that form the sides of the entrance. At the top of this arch is a stone row with notches made of small stones (Figure (1)). The entrance leads to a long corridor extending to the north, and on its eastern and western sides is a stone bench that was designated for the guards to sit on. The corridor is covered by a cross vault of a local building style, the northern side of which overlooks the open courtyard in the middle of the southern section of the first floor of the palace with a pointed stone arch (Figure (2)). On the northern side of this open courtyard, there is a small open iwan with its western and southern sides, and in the middle of it is a multi-coloured marble pool attached to the ground, with a water fountain in the middle. Next to this iwan to the west is a square pool for collecting water. In the middle of the western facade of the open courtyard, there is a large iwan that can be reached by two steps and overlooks it through a pointed arch opening. In the front of the iwan are two windows overlooking the palace garden, which Sheikh al-Nabulsi described when he visited Nablus in 1101 AH/1689 AD. The iwan is covered by a cross-vaulted roof, and at the end of the southern wall of the iwan there is a rectangular entrance opening leading to a large room overlooking the open courtyard with three adjacent windows. In the middle of the eastern side of the open courtyard, there is a small and simple entrance opening that leads to a stone staircase that in turn leads to the second floor of this southern section of the palace, which extends north-south and consists of a number of small corridors, small open courtyards, and many large and small rooms overlooking them. It is divided into two sections, the northern one for the harem and is called (the harem) (Figure (3)) and the southern one for the men and is called (the salamlek). As for the northern section of the palace, it is smaller in size, and a small northeastern entrance leads to it from the northern outer side of the palace, where the courtyard of Al-Adas and Sabana Al-Nimr (Fatayer) are located. The entrance leads to the rooms on the first floor of this section of the palace, which is a small room and another large room, which the historian Al-Nimr turned into his own museum, while a small staircase leads to the second floor of this northern section, which consists of many large and small rooms that the historian Al-Nimr used to live in.

Figure (1): The southern gate of the Tiger Palace

Figure (2): The passageway following the gate of the Tiger Palace from the inside

Figure (3): The northern section of the second floor of Al-Nimr Palace