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Splendours of an Islamic world : [Mamluk art in Cairo 1250-1517] / Henri and Anne Stierlin.
LIBRA NA1583 .S7713x 1997
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Stierlin, Henri.
- Standardized Title:
- Egypte des mille et une nuits. English
- Language:
- English
- French
- Subjects (All):
- Art, Mameluke--Egypt--Cairo.
- Art, Mameluke.
- Mamelukes.
- Egypt--Cairo.
- Islamic art--Egypt--Cairo.
- Penn Provenance:
- Atkin, Tony (donor)
- Physical Description:
- 219 pages : illustrations ; 32 cm
- Other Title:
- Mamluk art in Cairo 1250-1517
- Place of Publication:
- London ; New York : Tauris Parke, 1997.
- Summary:
- "Before the dawn of medieval Europe's Renaissance, the city of Cairo under the Mamluks had become the centre of a powerful empire. The reign of the Mamluk Sultans (1250-1517), descendants of Turkic and Circassian slaves captured by the Ottomans, marked a breath-taking flowering of Islamic art and architecture. Described by the great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun as 'the centre of the universe and the garden of the world', Mamluk Cairo fascinated travellers from East and West alike - whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Having defeated the Mongols in the Middle East and broken the bonds of their former Ottoman overlords, the Mamluk Sultans established themselves as masters of Egypt and Syria as well as the Holy Sites of Arabia and Palestine - Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. In the process they established dominion over trade and commerce in the region - much of the flow of gold, ivory, perls and other jewels, spices and textiles between Asia, Africa and Europe passing through Mamluk-controlled lands and generating enormous economic might for the rulers of Egypt. The fabulous wealth this created enabled the Mamluks to produce art and architecture on a scale and at a level of splendour not previously known in the medieval world. The Mamluks erected over 700 monuments of exceptional importance in Cairo. The Islamic architecture of the period - characterised by the vast courtyards, majestic domes and soaring minarets of palaces, mosques, madrasas (religious colleges), mausolea and caravanserais - provided a feast of intricate brickwork, finely sculpted stone masonry, glorious polychrome marble and subtle geometric mosaics. The tomb of Kalaoun, the madrasas of Mohammed el-Nasir and of Barkuk, the gigantic 'desert' mausoleum constructed in the city of the Dead by Sultan Farag for his father, and the magnificent madrasa of Sultan Hasan, at the foot of the Citadel of Saladin, are among many astonishing examples of Mamluk art. From the thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth, until Ottomans arrived to deal the death blow to this civilisation of warriors and aesthetics. Egypt gave birth to one of the great forms of artistic expression of the Near East." -- Dust Jacket.
- Contents:
- [Table of Contents]
- THE GLORY OF MEDIEVAL CAIRO
- THE EVENTFUL REIGN OF THE MAMLUKS
- From slave to Sultan
- Birth of the empire
- The dynasty of the Bahrids
- The apogee of Mohammed el-Nasir
- Catastrophe and crisis
- The grand Circassian style
- The swansong
- Turning history
- THE ANCIENT WORLD: CRUCIBLE OF MAMLUK ART
- The Turko-Mongolian invasions
- The Crusades
- The influences on Mamluk art
- A world in motion
- The classic mosque and the madrasa
- Tombs and mausolea
- The minarets
- Buildings within the fabric of the town
- Ornamentation
- THE TOMB OF KALAOUN AND THE MOSQUE OF THE CITADEL
- An architectural success
- The work of Mohammed el-Nasir
- THE MADRASA OF SULTAN HASAN
- The divine fortress
- An island site
- The richness of the decoration
- THE BARKUKIYA OF CAIRO
- The precious mausoleum
- The Cairo of A Thousand and One Nights
- THE 'DESERT' MAUSOLEUM OF BARKUK
- The rule of symmetry
- A mausoleum with a cupola in stone
- The funerary chambers
- THE LAST FLOWERING OF RELIGIOUS ART
- The mosque of Muayyad
- The mausoleum of Kait Bey in the City of the Dead
- Syrian influences
- THE MAMLUK PALACES
- The Sultan's Palace in the Citadel
- Aulic ritual
- A survivor: the Beshtak Palace
- Private houses
- Public service buildings
- THE GRANDEUR AND DECADENCE OF MAMLUK ART
- The Wakf system
- Masterpieces in peril
- APPENDICES
- ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE OF CAIRO BEFORE THE MAMLUK SULTANATE
- The first mosque
- The art of the Tulunids
- The Shiite Caliphate of Cairo
- The mosque of Sultan Hakim
- The wall of Badr Gamali
- Under the banner of Saladin
- Chronological Table of Political and Cultural Events
- Chronology of Monuments Cited - Street-Plan of Cairo
- Map of the Middle East at the Time of the Mamluks
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Acknowledgements.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-219).
- ISBN:
- 1860642195
- 9781860642197
- OCLC:
- 38398979
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