Criteria for the conservation and restoration of corbelled dome architecture

The conservation of corbelled dome buildings has always been part of a natural process developed over the decades by the population of northeast Syria, who have passed from generation to generation the tacit knowledge associated with the practice of construction of buildings and regular maintenance, in order to prolong their useful life. Practices such as the remaking of the plaster coating every year after the rainy season, or making sure that capillary moisture or any kind of infiltration does not affect the walls built of earthen bricks, have been for many decades part of the natural process of maintenance. If this process is interrupted for any reason (because of cultural and/or technical factors), then the building falls into a progressive state of degradation, which could be stopped only if maintenance is carried out in time, because the earthen material is particularly vulnerable to the degradation produced by certain environmental agents.The article describes the cultural and technical factors bringing to the deterioration of the earthen domes and the main pathologies manifestations.