This is the first of four volumes bringing together the stellar achievements of one of the world's leading Islamic art historians. Grabar, who passed away last year, was professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and spent a decade (1980-90) at Harvard as Aga Khan professor of Islamic art and architecture.
His long and eventful career included much fieldwork in the Arab world - "dirt archeology" as he called it, in Syria, Iraq and other lands - because he believed in the importance of experiencing the physical spaces in which events of history took place. The experience of these spaces, both man-made and natural, helps define the people who transformed the area and created within it a new culture.
In this book, Grabar works diligently to fill in the gaps in Islamic archeology, a field in which circumstances have left a lot of research unpublished. He calls attention to little-known but reliable written sources, such as al-Azraqi's 9th-century historical account of the construction of sacred buildings in Makkah. He explores the mysteries of the remote Umayyad palaces of Syria, and finds they were built in part to take advantage of an older agricultural base that no longer exists in those desert regions.
He studies the interactions of Byzantine and early Islamic art, and finds that each benefited in significant ways from the presence of the other. He puzzles over the survival of the magnificent Islamic art of Spain. Discussing Spanish Mudejar art (Muslim-inspired art in a non-Muslim setting), Grabar theorizes about why "this preservation of allegedly Muslim forms took place while Islam itself and those who professed it were persecuted."
This volume is packed with nuggets for the curious. The author is conscious of the fact that scholarship can sometimes be ponderous, and tries to share with us, when he can, the excitement of discovery in the field.
[A version of this review appeared in Saudi Aramco World, Sep/Oct 2006.]
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Customer reviews
5 out of 5
We don’t use a simple average to calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star. Our system gives more weight to certain factors—including how recent the review is and if the reviewer bought it on Amazon. Learn more
1 global rating
