Cultures and Religions

MICHELINA DI CESARE

The course will allow students to: acquire knowledge and understanding of methodological, critical and practical aspects of the study of Islam and its material culture; become familiar with research perspectives on Islamic archaeology; discover the diverse fields in which discipline-specific skills are applicable; develop inter-disciplinary thinking; improve judgment making, communication and learning skills.

After attending the course, students will have acquired: knowledge of the problems and research prospects concerning the origins and development of the architectural genre of the mosque and its typologies; the ability to analyse, from an archaeological, architectural and artistic perspective, the buildings belonging to this genre and to insert them into their chronological, geographical and cultural contexts. They will have developed the capacity to pursue research in the field of Islamic Archaeology and History of Architecture, and communicate its results.

None. --------------------------------------

The course will focus on the mosque as an architectural typology. The theories on its origins, its function, planimetric developments, constructive materials and techniques, decoration, relationships to the urban context will be explored.

R. Hillenbrand, Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning, Edinburgh 1994, pp. 31-128;
K. A. C. Creswell – J. W. Allan, A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture, Aldershot 1989, pp. 43-72; 359-365; 367-373; 315-330; 391-406; 291-302; 345-346; 348-357;
D. Behrens Abuseif, Islamic Architecture in Cairo, Cairo 1998, pp. 58- 67;
R. Ettinghausen – O. Grabar –M. Jenkins Medina, Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250, New Haven-London 2001, pp. 105-107; 139-145.

R. Hillenbrand, Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning, Edinburgh 1994
K. A. C. Creswell – J. W. Allan, A Short Account of Early Muslim Architecture, Aldershot 1989
D. Behrens Abuseif, Islamic Architecture in Cairo, Cairo 1998,
R. Ettinghausen – O. Grabar –M. Jenkins Medina, Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250, New Haven-London 2001

Lectures and discussions.

Recommended.

Attending students: 40% attendance (75% of the course at least); 60 % oral exam.
Non-attending students: 100% oral exam.

Most recurring topics:
The house-mosque of the Prophet in Medina; minbar, qibla, and mihrab; the mosque-palace complex.

• Historical and cultural
  setting 
  • Books: Notes taken in the classroom


• The mosque as a concept and architectural genre
  • Books: Hillenbrand; Notes taken in the classroom


• Origin, typologies, and models
  • Books: Hillenbrand; Notes taken in the classroom


• The mosque from the Hijra to the Umayyad period
  • Books: Hillenbrand; Creswell-Allan; Notes taken in the classroom


• The mosque in the early Abbasid period
  • Books: Hillenbrand; Creswell-Allan; Notes taken in the classroom


• The mosque during the territorial fragmentation
  • Books: Hillenbrand; Creswell-Allan; Behrens Abuseif; Ettinghausen– Grabar–
    
    Jenkins Madina; Notes taken in the classroom