Crusader Heritage in Syria: Legacy, Ideology, and Management in Tartus under the French Mandate

This dissertation examines the mechanisms through which changes in the understanding and interpretation of the past translate into the built environment. Focusing on the crusader heritage in the Syrian coast, it shows how heritage sites influence the development of an ideology and the construction of regional identities, and how these ideologies and narratives can in turn reshape the same heritage sites and their perception. Additionally, it explores the ways in which these sites become arenas where power dynamics of local and colonial institutions are manifested and negotiated. The geographical context of the research shifts in scale between the broader Levantine context and the Syrian coast, narrowing down to the main case study: the city of Tartus. The timeframe also extends on multiple periods; while the focus is on the colonial period under French rule (1918-1946), it also addresses relevant periods such as the crusader rule, the late Ottoman period and the early independence years. By focusing on urban planning, architecture and heritage preservation, this study shows how institutional inertia can continue to shape decision-making processes well after regime change. It also argues that the French experience in the coast of Syria was an anomaly within the French colonial empire; crusader heritage provided the colonial authorities with a sense of legitimacy and belonging not found elsewhere in the empire, which directly impacted the treatment of crusader heritage sites. In this sense, the dissertation contributes to broader debates on the entanglement of heritage management, ideology, narrative, and power.