Palestinian Architecture: Stone Houses, Vaults and Village Squares

Palestinian towns and villages are built from the land itself. Pale limestone, cut from local quarries, gives old centres their warm, golden colour, and walls built generations ago are still standing.

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The stone house

A traditional village house was often a single large room under a stone vault, with thick walls that kept it cool in summer and warm in winter. Families lived on a raised platform, with space for animals and storage below. Later, richer families added upper floors, arched windows and courtyards.

Arches and cross vaults

Cross vaults, where two barrel vaults meet, are one of the signatures of Palestinian building. They allowed large rooms without timber, which was always scarce. You can see them in markets, mosques, churches and homes from Nablus to Hebron.

Throne villages

In the 18th and 19th centuries, powerful rural families built fortified palaces in so-called throne villages, such as Arrabeh and Deir Ghassaneh. Their gates, courtyards and towers show how local rulers once governed the hills.

Riwaq: saving old buildings

Riwaq, a centre founded in Ramallah in 1991, has recorded around 50,000 historic buildings and restored many of them as community centres, clinics and cafés. In 2013 its work in the historic centre of Birzeit received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Our Palestine Wall design, a street-art image of a child in front of a damaged wall, is a reminder of what is lost when old stones fall.