The Blue Room in Palermo has always been fascinating to me. This is why I try to be as updated as possible on everything that happens around the room, and its interpretation. The last time I wrote something about it I mentioned that three scholars (Sebastian Heine, Chiara Riminucci-Heine and Sarjoun Karam) were interested in its…
Tag: arabic
The Dome of the Rock – its inscriptions and the religious relations in early Islamic Jerusalem
The Dome of the Rock is probably the most studied Islamic monument. The architectural forms and features of the monuments and the inscriptions that decorate its walls have been studied and discussed thoroughly by scholars and academics, in many occasion creating a link between the Dome and other monuments. I also have written an article on…
A divergence to the standard formula: an alabaster gravestone from Nishapur, Iran
It is quite a long time that I do not read and post an inscription. Well, not that long: let’s say one month or so… but I missed it. Today I woke up and said: ‘Today I have to read a gravestone’: and here we are. Alabaster gravestones from 10th century Nishapur are not that…
Artistic relations between East and West: Italian renaissance painters
It has been some time now that I am more and more interested in artistic influences between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean. As always, nothing new under the sun: I am not the first one. Anna Contadini, in her beautiful article ‘Sharing a Taste? Material Culture and Intellectual Curiosity around the Mediterranean, from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth…
Arabic script before Islam: questions
The following considerations are based on Prof. Laila Nehmé’s presentation (Leiden, Dec 9th, 2014) Recently the University of Leiden has organised a study day on the Qur’anic text. The day was organised following the recent dating of the parchment of a Qur’anic manuscript via C14, that gave an astonishing result: the parchment dates between 650 and…
Double two-dimensional mihrab from Art Institute Chicago
I was thinking about writing something for the opening of the galleries of Islamic art at the Art Institute Chicago. While browsing the collection owned by the museum, I found a peculiar tile, decorated with a double-arched two-dimensional mihrab, and of course decorated with wonderful cursive inscriptions (accession number 1917.221).
XII century Iranian tombstones – reading what museums don’t read
Do I have to say again that I like tombstones? I think it’s quite clear… In these days, following the post about signatures on Iranian tombstones from XII century, I started to search similar material in museums and auction houses just to have an overall view on the subject. Well…I must admit that some of…
A free encyclopaedia of Islam (and Islamic art)
Few days ago, maybe one week, I started wondering: is there an open-source and serious encyclopaedia on Islamic history and Islamic art? Apart from partial and biased interpretation on the history of Arab-Islamic countries, and not 100% reliable sources (wikis), the only way to get free good information on Islamic history is hoping that your…
The Dome of the Rock – reading its iconographic project
The Dome of the Rock was built in 72 a.h. (691-2 A.D.) and, besides being the most ancient Islamic building survived till our days, it is, most probably, the first monument to have been built by the new rulers of the Near East. Its building followed a highly uneasy period: during the ten years that…
Minaret of Jam: what it is and why it is important
On Aug 28th, 2014 BBC published an article about the minaret of Jam, Afghanistan, which is “in danger to collapse”. The news spread throughout Twitter, drawing more attention on the fact. The minaret’s importance was first recognized by UNESCO in 1982, that nominated it World Heritage Site. Then, in 2002, it was listed under the…
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