The Al-Masmak Fortress, (Masmak means a high, strong and thick building), a clay and mudbrick fort located in the center of Riyadh, occupies a place of honor in the history of Saudi Arabia. From a military stronghold in the past, it was converted in 1959 into a museum showcasing one of the most important landmarks…
Zubala, reviving the Darb Zubaydah Hajj Route
Zubala is one of the most important historical villages in the Arabian Peninsula (the word “zubala” literally means a place that keeps water in it). It is an old station on the way from Hijaz to Kufa in which Banu Ghadira, a clan of the Banu Asad tribe, had several strongholds and a mosque. It…
Italian Orientalism: Oriental villas and castles from North to South Italy
Alessandro Vanoli, in his booklet Andare per l’Italia Araba (“Going around Arab Italy”) notes, with regards to 19th-century Orientalism that: Italy was neither Great Britain nor France: the Orientalist wind blew only lightly in Italy. While in 19th-century Europe “Turkish”, “Moorsih”, or “Moghul” buildings and pavilions were blooming everywhere, in Italy this was a rare,…
Sahel: a reading list
A reading list of books on Islam in Africa and in particular in the Sahel. From history, to literature, to art and architecture developed in Africa and inspired by Islam.
Islamic art newsletters: a lot of missed opportunities
I like newsletters and for months I have been trying to find one on Islamic art. This is the result of my search for the perfect newsletter on Islamic art. Spoiler: I decided to start my newsletter.
Changing the scripts: from Kufic to round scripts in Qur’anic manuscripts
Around the 10th century, Qur’anic manuscripts went through a radical transformation: while for centuries copies of the Qur’an had quite consistently displayed angular scripts, commonly referred to as Kufic, starting from the 10th century, manuscripts of the Qur’an began to be written in round scripts. Of course, this shift did not go unnoticed and scholars have tried to determine the reason for the change.
Gertrude Bell: a reflection on her legacy as a Person
The remarkable life of Gertrude Bell and her successes have been largely written out of history. A reflection on her role in the Middle Eastern history as an archaeologist, a nation builder, an explorer, and what her legacy can tell us about how women are perceived.
The biography of a city: Jerusalem
S. Sebag Monefiore, Jerusalem: the biography, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2011. Jerusalem: The biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore was one of those books that had been in my reading list for months, literally months, before I decided to read it. This has much to do with the material size of the book: 406 pages with…
Byron’s taste in The Road to Oxiana
Byron is known for writing everything he wanted: he had strong opinions and was not afraid to say anything. He was “opposed”, his friends will remember: opposed to authority, against norms, provocative in his style and manners. In The Road to Oxiana, his political incorrectness emerges in many ways: Byron, for instance, makes fun of…
“One thinks of…” Robert Byron describing monuments
As I have already written, the Road to Oxiana can be seen as an artistic Bildungsroman, where the author, while traveling, becomes more and more aware of Islamic art. This awareness changes Byron’s perspectives and point of view: the more Byron travels, the more knowledge of Islamic art and architecture he builds. This background change…
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