The Magic of Science
Science in Islam was at its high peak between the ninth and 13th centuries. Charlotte Schriwer of the Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic art examines the achievements of the early Islamic scientists;…
The Farjam Collection of Islamic Art
The Farjam Collection is one of the most impressive privately-owned collections in the world today. Featuring Islamic and pre-Islamic art, Contemporary Middle-Eastern art and International Modern and Contemporary Art, the Collection is born…
Bringing the Met Into the 1300s
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art embarked on the most ambitious rethinking and rebuilding of its Islamic art galleries in its history, a $50 million endeavor. Over the course of two months a…
Exploring the Damascus Room
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art reopened the museum’s Islamic art galleries to display roughly 1,200 works spanning 13 centuries and dozens of Islamic-influenced cultures. One highlight is the Damascus Room, a 26-foot-long…
Arabic Calligraphy and Type Design
This article presents the Diwani style of Arabic which lead to designing Thuraya, a contemporary yet faithful interpretation of the Diwani style with extensive calligraphic features. Arabic calligraphy is undoubtedly one of the…
The Morgan Treasures of Islamic Manuscripts
It was at the urging of his librarian, Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950), that Pierpont Morgan purchased the core of his Islamic collection in 1911 and 1912. Greene had become Morgan’s librarian in…
Fragments of a 9th Century Quran
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān, probably written in the third century A.H / ninth century C.E., containing verses from the suras: al-Dhārīyāt (سورة الذاريات),al-Ṭūr (سورة الطور), al-Najm (سورة النجم), al-Qamar (سورة القمر), and al-Raḥmān (سورة…
From Cuneiform to Topkapi
In the Islamic world, where reading and literacy have always been highly prized for the access they provide to the word of God and the world of knowledge, books were objects of both…
Architecture of the Fatimid
The long period of Fatimid rule, lasting almost three centuries, and the dynasty’s political and ideological principles brought with them a major architectural revival. Clear evidence of change is provided by the monuments…
Movable Palaces
From a distance indeed this great tent would appear to be a castle.… Round and about the pavilion on the ground outside is erected a wall of cloth, as might be otherwise the…
Splendid Suzanis
Suzani comes from the Persian word for “needle,” and the word refers to embroidered hangings or fabric coverings, generally a meter and a half wide (4-5′) but sometimes much more. The birthplace of suzanis…
Cairo’s Islamic Architecture – 7th to 18th Centuries
Mosque of Ali mad ibn Tulun, interior of the maqsura, 9th century. Gypsum and ash pillars accentuate the domed mihrab. The mosque, inspired by the great mosque of Samarra in the patron’s…
