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Islamic Architecture through Western Eyes: Palaces around the Mediterranean
Volume 3
Author:
This volume, the third of three, is restricted to sites around the Mediterranean, venturing no further east than Asia Minor and present-day Iraq. It studies civil architecture and focuses on palaces and grand houses in Algiers, Cairo, Constantinople, Damascus, Tunis, Baghdad, Madinat al-Zahra and beyond. "Palace" is a term for a grand house, whether in East or West; comparable forms include the villa, hunting lodge, or château. The Romans exported the idea all around the Mediterranean, but with no specific format, if often with grand displays of marble. The West from the later Middle Ages usually sought to preserve and extend palaces, whereas in Islam few survived their founders for religious reasons. Roman spolia provided some richness, but the greater prestige went into mosques. Palaces were the less important counterpart to religion, because human not divine.
This volume discusses and illustrates differences between West and Eastern perceptions of architecture, of permanence and reuse, and especially the clash with modernity fought out with Western funds in Constantinople and Cairo.
This volume discusses and illustrates differences between West and Eastern perceptions of architecture, of permanence and reuse, and especially the clash with modernity fought out with Western funds in Constantinople and Cairo.
Michael Greenhalgh (PhD Manchester, 1968-2026) was Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Australian National University. He is the author of many books and articles dealing with the attractions and reuse of ancient marble architecture, and with the antiquities of the Middle East and North Africa.