bokane@aucegypt.edu
WU 02:00 pm - 03:15 pm
Within a century of the emergence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, an empire founded on the new faith stretched from North Africa to the Indus Valley. This course surveys architecture and material culture of the societies across this vast territory, from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in the mid-thirteenth century. It focuses on the most iconic monuments and objects produced in these societies, primarily works commissioned in major urban centers by the ruling classes and those emulating them. In what ways were these masterpieces shaped by their specific historical, economic and social contexts? What are the major artistic developments that link them together? These are some of the questions that are addressed, in classroom lectures as well as field trips to local monuments and museums.