Mamluk History through Architecture: Monuments, Culture and Politics in Medieval Egypt and Syria

by Nasser Rabbat

Overview

The most enduring testament to the Mamluk Sultanate is its architecture. Not only do Mamluk buildings embody one of the most outstanding medieval architectural traditions, Mamluk architecture is actually a key to the social history of the period. Analysing Mamluk constructions as a form of communication and documentation as well as a cultural index, "Mamluk History Through Architecture" shows how the buildings mirror the complex - and historically unique - military, political, social and financial structures of Mamluk society. With this original and authoritative study, Nasser Rabbat offers an innovative approach to the history of the Mamluks - through readings of the spectacular architecture of the period. Drawing on examples from throughout both Egypt and Syria, from the Citadel and Al-Azhar Mosque of Cairo to the Mausoleum of al-Zahir Baybars in Damascus, Rabbat demonstrates how Mamluk architecture served to reinforce visually the spirit of the counter-Crusade, when the Muslim world rebounded from the setbacks of the First Crusade. Both holistically and in case studies, Rabbat demonstrates how history is inscribed into and reflected by a culture's artefacts.
This is a groundbreaking work in the study of architecture and social history in the Middle East and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786723864
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/30/2010
Series:	Library of Middle East History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Nasser Rabbat is the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at MIT and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture. He was educated at the University of Damascus, UCLA and MIT. His previous books include 'The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture' and, in Arabic, 'The Culture of Building and Building Culture'.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part A- Critiquing Mamluk Sources
Chapter 1. The Changing Concept of Mamluk in the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria
Chapter 2. Representing the Mamluks in Mamluk Historical Writing
Chapter 3. Perception of Architecture in Mamluk Sources
Chapter 4. Architects and Artists in Mamluk Society: The Perspective of the Sources
Part B- Architecture as History
Chapter 5. The Mosaics of the Qubba al-Zahiriyya in Damascus: A Classical Syrian Medium Acquires a Mamluk Signature
Chapter 6. The Militarisation of Taste in Medieval Bilad al-Sham
Chapter 7. Al-Azhar Mosque: An Architectural Chronicle of Cairo's History
Part C- Architecture and Language
Chapter 8. Documenting Buildings in the Waqf System
Chapter 9. The Iwans of the Madrasa of Sultan Hasan
Chapter 10. Qasr: An agent of Monumentality in Mamluk Architecture
Chapter 11. Mamluk Throne Halls: Qubba or Iwan
Part D- Architecture as Cultural Index
Chapter 12. Writing the History of Islamic Architecture in Cairo
Chapter 13. The Ideological Significance of the Dar al-'Adl in the Medieval Islamic Orient
Chapter 14. 'Ajib and Gharib: Artistic Perception in Medieval Arabic Sources
Chapter 15. The Formation of the Neo-Mamluk Style in Modern Egypt