Monuments of Islamic Architecture Lectures delivered by Professors
Monuments of Islamic Architecture Lectures delivered by Professors Gülru Necipoğlu and David Roxburgh at Harvard University Specially adapted for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme in collaboration with the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University
Introduction to Islamic Architecture ✤ ✤ ✤ Introduction Course overview Structure of the Course General remarks on the historiography of Islamic Architecture Periodization of the course Lessons
Introduction ✤ This course will be a study on the architectural monuments of the Islamic lands with a particular focus on aesthetic and visual understandings. ✤ The course offers an introduction to the iconic monuments and major cities from the formative era of Islam up to the modern period. ✤ It covers various types of building –e. g. mosques, palaces, shrines, multifunctional complexes –and city types.
The Main Objectives of the Course ✤ Improving the aesthetic and interpretive understanding of the students. ✤ Interpreting monuments within their cultural, religious and political contexts by way of focusing on case studies. ✤ Learning the role of art and architecture in the historical lands of Islam ✤ Learning various dynamics of artistic creation, art-making and the nature of aesthetic understanding ✤ Locating monuments into their historical context ✤ Becoming sensitive to the architecture around us ✤ Thinking on how architecture shapes our daily life ✤ Becoming familiar with the terminology and vocabulary for expressing architectural features and elements.
Structure of the Course ✤ Each module is divided into two parts. The first part presents the monument or site by “walking” through it. ✤ The second part is devoted to particular themes elicited from the case study, developed in light of comparative monuments and sites and to problems of patronage, production, audience, and meaning as they pertain to Islamic architectural history in broad terms.
Spatio-Temporal extent: 1400 Years, four continents Unity and Diversity Trope
Conceptualization of the history of architecture in the lands of Islam: ✤ The early approaches of the 19 th century scholarship essentialized Islamic architecture by pulling it away from its historical context. The European and colonial scholarship of the 19 th century offered a classification and conceptualization of architectural history according to religion. Hence, the label of Islamic art and architecture was invented. ✤ In the same scholarship, Islamic architecture was categorized as a non-historical style and it was assumed that it has not much content. ✤ Different perspectives: ✤ In addition to borrowings from Eastern and Western traditions Islamic architecture relied on the indigenous traditions, as well. ✤ All architectural traditions that we will study during the course are a combination of international, cosmopolitan and indigenous elements.
Gardner’s Art through the Ages, ninth edition Frederick Hartt, Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, fourth edition
General Paradigms in the Early Scholarship on Islamic Art and Architecture: ✤ First paradigm: ✤Essentialization and medievalization of Islamic art and architecture ✤ Second paradigm: ✤Searching the “essence” of Islamic architecture in the assumedly central zone of Islam
First paradigm: Essentialization and medievalization of Islamic art and architecture ✤ Islamic art and architecture was categorized as a medieval tradition in the early world surveys of art history. The highpoint of early formation of Islamic art was assumed to be in the 9 th century when supposedly the “Golden Age of Islam” under the Abbasids created a style that later dynasties were believed to repetitively imitate or modify. ✤ For this reason, the artistic and architectural production of the early period were seen as “the ideal” and “essential” examples of Islamic art and architecture. Therefore, the artistic and architectural production of later periods were generally deemed to be derivative and lacking in innovation.
Second paradigm: Searching the “essence” of Islamic architecture in the assumedly central zone of Islam ✤ It was assumed that there is a central zone of Islam which according to this paradigm would be the Middle East and Iran. ✤ North Africa, Spain, Anatolia, South Asia and East Asia were considered outlying frontier regions mixed with "foreign” styles and hence deviated from “essential” Islamic aesthetics. This paradigm assumes that there was a fixed, unchanging and essential Islamic architectural style with basic common denominators.
Different perspectives that will be offered in the course: ✤ This course will show that Islamic art and architectural traditions evolved in time and space and have continued to evolve dynamically well into the present. ✤ In this course, we will explore the development of differing artistic and architectural forms and styles in a broad geography during a long span of time. Specific case studies will demonstrate the pluralism of Islamic architectural traditions and the inadequacy of embracing an approach that privileges the “medieval period” and “central zones” of the Islamic lands.
ESSENTIALIZATION AND MEDIEVALIZATION: “ 9 th-Century Golden Age of Islam” and “Central Zone of Islam” Paradigms 1) The Prophet Muhammad and First Four Caliphs, 612 -655 (Capital Medina, Arabia) 2) Umayyads: First Dynastic Caliphate, 661 -750 (Capital Damascus, Syria) 3) Abbasids: Second Dynastic Caliphate, 750 -1258 (Capital Baghdad, Iraq) fragmentation 9 th century
The course will follow the periodization through which the two Pelican volumes are organized.
Spatio-Temporal Slices PELICAN VOLUME 1 (650 -1250) 1) 7 th-9 th Century: “Universal Caliphates” of the Umayyads and Abbasids (Late Antique Period) 2) 10 th-11 th Century: “Three Rival Sectarian Caliphates” of the Abbasids, Fatimids, Spanish Umayyads (Early Medieval Period) 3) 11 th-13 th Century: “Caliphate and Sultanate, ” the Turkic Sultanates of Seljuq Iran/Anatolia and Delhi; Berber dynasties North Africa and Spain (Medieval Period) PELICAN VOLUME 2 (1250 -1800) 4) 13 th-15 th Century: “End of Caliphate, Post-Mongol Sultanes, ” Ilkhanids and Timurids of Iran/Central Asia, Mamluks of Egypt, Nasrids of Spain (Late Medieval Period) 5) 15 th-18 th Century: “Age of Three Empires, ” Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals Empires, with smaller satellite states (Early Modern Period) 6) 19 th century- present: Modern and Contemporary Period
Lessons ✤ Lesson 1: The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem ✤ Lesson 2: Umayyad and Late Antique Architecture ✤ Lesson 3: The Umayyad Great Mosque at Cordoba ✤ Lesson 4: Architecture of Exile: The Umayyads of Spain ✤ Lesson 5: New Abbasid Cities: Baghdad and Samarra ✤ Lesson 6: Architecture of Empire: The Abbasids ✤ Lesson 7: Fatimid Cairo ✤ Lesson 8: Ceremonial in the City: Fatimid Cairo ✤ Lesson 9: The Anatolian Mosque and Hospital Complex, Divriği ✤ Lesson 10: The Seljuks and New Frontiers in Anatolia and India
Lessons Continued… ✤ Lesson 11: Mongol-Timurid Cities in Iran and Central Asia ✤ Lesson 12: Between Portable and Permanent Architecture: The Mongols and Timurids ✤ Lesson 13: The Alhambra, Granada ✤ Lesson 14: A Cross-Cultural Aesthetic: Spain ✤ Lesson 15: The Madrasa-Mosque Complex of Sultan Hasan, Cairo ✤ Lesson 16: The Mamluk System of Charitable Endowments ✤ Lesson 17: The Ottoman Mosque Complex of Sultan Süleyman, Istanbul ✤ Lesson 18: Ottoman Chief Court Architect Sinan and His Autobiography
Lessons Continued… ✤ Lesson 19: Safavid Isfahan under Shah Abbas ✤ Lesson 20: International Trade and the Safavid Shah’s Silk Monopoly ✤ Lesson 21: Taj Mahal in Agra: The Mughal Mausoleum as Eternal Garden ✤ Lesson 22: Legacies of Islamic Architecture in the Modern and Contemporary Era (18 th to 21 st Centuries)
- Slides: 18