Cairo of the Mamluks : a history of the architecture and its culture

Doris Behrens-Abouseif

ISBN 10: 9774160770 / ISBN 13: 9789774160776

Published by The American University in Cairo Press, 2008

About this Item

xix, 359 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour), maps ; 30 cm.

Seller Inventory # 6jbew251

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cairo of the Mamluks : a history of the architecture and its culture
• Publisher: The American University in Cairo Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9774160770
• ISBN 13: 9789774160776
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Islam

About this title

Synopsis

The Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun described Cairo under the Mamluks as "a city beyond imagination". The Mamluk sultans originated as a slave-based caste rose to rule in the mid-13th century. Accordingly, they designed their capital to be the heart of the Muslim world. It became the focus of their enormous patronage of art and architecture, the stage for their ceremonial rituals, and a memorial to their achievements. This history of Mamluk architecture spans three centuries and examines the monuments of the Mamluks in their social, political and urban context, during the period of their rule (1250 – 1517). The book displays the multiple facets of Mamluk patronage, and also provides a succinct discussion of the sixty key monuments built in Cairo by the Mamluk sultans. The unique strength of Doris Abouseif’s work lies in its scholarly yet engaging presentation of original material, diligently researched in the waqf (Islamic endowments) archives including architectural plans and personal records. A richly illustrated volume with colour photographs, plans and isometric drawings, it will be an essential reference work for scholars and students of the art and architecture of the Islamic world as well as art historians and historians of late medieval Islamic history.

About the Author

Doris Behrens-Abouseif is the Nasser D Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS). She is widely acknowledged as the preeminent scholar on the architecture of Cairo, and a leading specialist on the art and archaeology of Turkey, Iran and the Near East. She previously taught at the American University in Cairo, Harvard University, and the universities of Freiburg and Munich in Germany. She has written a number of books on Islamic art and architecture in both English and German including Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture (I.B.Tauris), and Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction. 

Nicholas Warner is an architect and architectural historian, trained at Cambridge University and Harvard University who has, since 1992, been involved in a number of projects to preserve sites of historical and archaeological interest in Cairo.  His books include Monuments of Historic Cairo: A Map and Descriptive Catalogue and Guide to the Gayer-Anderson Museum.