Through the arches of Shalamar Bagh
The Shalimar Bagh (Garden), was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in Lahore, modern day Pakistan. Construction began in 1641 A.D. (1051 A.H.) and was completed the following year. The project management…
Wazir Khan Mosque Lahore
The Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, is famous for its extensive tile work and frescos. It was built in seven years starting around 1634–1635 AD during the reign of the Mughal Emperor…
The Suleymaniye Mosque – A Virtual Walking Tour
This virtual tour is comprised of various spherical panoramic photographs that place you inside the image, as if you were standing in the place where the photo was made. Use your mouse to…
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…
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…
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…
Cairo – A City Adorned
From the late ninth century well into the 15th, mosques built as prestige projects were the most spectacular buildings in Cairo. Locals, pilgrims on their way to Makkah and even Christian pilgrims were…
King Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco
The brainchild and crowning achievement of King Hassan II, this phenomenal building was built to commemorate the former king’s 60th birthday and opened in 1993 giving Casablanca the heart and landmark it so…
Aleppo – Architecture and History
“The city is as old as eternity, but still young, and it has never ceased to exist. Its days and nights have been long; it has survived its rulers and commoners. These are…
