Cities
Imam Mosque, Isfahan

Walls of Isfahan

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Jameh Mosque, Yazd

Walls of Yazd, Iran

Yazd is of foremost importance as a centre of fine Persian mosaics and beautiful architecture. The Yazd walls demonstrate a visual continuity in color, scale and form with the built fabric of the…

Kasbah of Telouet

Kasbah of Telouet

The Kasbah, architecturally speaking, are imposing buildings with a square base and towers that rise above the height of the perimeter walls. The kasbah are composed of bricks made of clay mixed with water…

The intricate marble and stone facade of Qa'it Bay sabil.

Qa’it Bay Sabil in Cairo

The splendor of Cairo’s sabils probably reached its height with that of the illustrious Sultan Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa’it Bay, who ruled from 1468 to 1496. Very large for a sabil, Qa’it Bay’s…

The House of Wisdom Baghdad

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…

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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…

Mosque of Ibn Tulun

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…

Ramparts of the Aleppo Citadel

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…

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Through the lens of Peter Sanders

All Photographs by Peter Sanders © 2012 PETER SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHY LTD  Makkah Madinah   Saudi Arabia   Jerusalem   Turkey   Spain   Morocco   Iran   China   Japan   Malaysia  …

Figure 1: A tracing of the Panr relief, an architectural fragment from Lower Swat, carved between the first and third centuries.

The Tenacity of Tradition: Art From the Valley of Swat

High in the rugged mountains of northwest Pakistan lies the Valley of Swat. The river of the same name runs through it. In ancient texts, the Swat River is called Suvastu, meaning “good dwelling…

Reflection of Shibam - "Manhattan of the desert"

Old Walled City of Shibam

Surrounded by a fortified wall, the 16th-century city of Shibam is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its impressive tower-like structures rise…

Mud Brick Skyscappers Shibam, Hadramawt

Manhattan in the Hadramaut

At the end of December 1984, UNESCO – the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization – issued a plea to the world to save another national treasure from disintegration: the mud-brick “skyscrapers”…

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