Search results for ""author christiane gruber""
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Pearls of Wisdom: The Arts of Islam at the University of Michigan
This catalogue of a Kelsey Museum of Archaeology exhibition showcases a selection of Islamic art works held in the University of Michigan's collections. Rather than arranged chronologically, geographically, or by media, the objects are organized thematically and conceptually. Themes include the intersections between function and decoration, the aesthetic power of everyday objects, visual play, wit, and magic, connections and interrelationships across art forms, and light symbolism and illumination. The volume not only highlights the strengths of the university's collections of Islamic art but also explores various issues integral to the conception and production of art in the Islamic world from the medieval period until the present day. With 115 colour illustrations.
£21.53
Intellect Books The Cultural Meaning of Aleppo: A Landscape Recovery for the Ancient City
The book documents the history and morphology of the Ancient City of Aleppo, outlining first the urbanistic development of the city and then focusing on the architectural heritage with specific focus on the domestic architecture, addressing the initiatives to reconstruct and rehabilitate the urban fabric. The author argues in favour of the safeguarding and rehabilitation of the architectural heritage to protect the cultural memory of the inhabitants of Aleppo, despite of the destruction of architecture due to the recent war. Through a capillary documentation of the palimpsest of Aleppo – the peculiar characteristics of its courtyard houses and the neighbourhoods of Bayyada, Bab Quinnesrin and al-Farafra – this is a theoretical and practical handbook for architects, urban planners and restorers alike. Through this analytical discussion of the city’s urban fabric, it introduces the concept of the cultural urban landscape acting as a 'cohesive territorial organism', nourished by different cultures, in which contrasting scales of land, city and neighbourhood are interconnected in a fractal state. With a focus on retaining the uniqueness and diversity of this residential typology, which bore witness to the rich cultural history of Syria and the Middle East as a whole, Neglia maps a future reconstruction that focuses on cultural continuity, tradition and the re-establishment of a crucial social memory. Of particular interest and relevance to cultural heritage experts, urban planners architects and designers. Also, to researchers, scholars and students interested in studies on urban morphology and building typology, UNESCO and ICOMOS. Scholars and students interested in the Middle East. Will also be of significant interest to professionals dealing with the implementation of rehabilitation measures in other cities inscribed on the Word Cultural Heritage List, or cities with a sound historic fabric which has been destroyed due to war or other events.
£40.00
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology City in the Desert, Revisited: Oleg Grabar at Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, 1964-71
City in the Desert, Revisited features previously unpublished documents and reproduces over fifty photographs from the archaeological excavations at Qasr al-Hayr in Syria. The book recounts the personal experiences and professional endeavours that shaped the fields of Islamic archaeology, art and architectural history as the significance of these fields of study expanded during the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1964 and 1971, renowned Islamic art historian Oleg Grabar directed a large-scale archaeological excavation at the site of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi. Drawn to the remote eighth-century complex in the hopes of uncovering a princely Umayyad palace, Grabar and his team instead stumbled upon a new type of urban settlement in the Syrian steppe. A rich lifeworld emerged in the midst of their discoveries, and over the course of the excavation's six seasons, close relationships formed between the American and Syrian archaeologists, historians, and workers who laboured and lived at the site.
£31.00