I first traveled to Algeria in 1984 on my motorcycle BMW R80GS. I crossed the border between Tunisia and Algeria through the border post of Hazoua, I passed the fascinating town of El Oued, known as “the city of a thousand domes” and reached the city of Ghardaia, stopping there for a few days. Ghardaia,…
Tag: islam
Suakin, starting point on the Sudan Hajj Route to Makkah
Suakin, also called Sawakin (Arabic, meaning population), is placed on the Red Sea coast of Sudan and lies in a stunning natural position; it is inscribed on the Sudan tentative list of Unesco as well as on the World Monument Watch list, as evidence to its historical and strategic importance as a trading port and…
A description of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by Robert Byron
In early June 1934, on the 8th and the 9th of June to be precise, Robert Byron visited the Bamiyan valley and the two Buddhas. This post will be kind off-topic for my blog since it will not deal with Islamic art. Nonetheless, I have decided to include the Bamiyan Buddhas in the Road to…
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…
Twitter and Orientalism: the taste for the exotic in digital era
Orientalism and the 19th century, Orientalism and the exotic taste, Orientalism, England and France, Orientalism and Edward Said… that’s something that everyone interested in Islamic study has read and studied. It is something that some professors (at least, my professors) have always depicted as wrong, misleading, something to overcome: when dealing with Islamic studies you should…
The importance of being Qur’anic
Why is it important to read and study Qur’anic inscriptions on monuments? And what are the problems and the futher developments of this field of research?
SquareKufic 