Arts of the City Victorious

Download Arts of the City Victorious PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Arts of the City Victorious by : Jonathan M. Bloom

Download or read book Arts of the City Victorious written by Jonathan M. Bloom and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Fatimid art and architecture has always been somewhat anomalous in the history of islamic art because of the direction it grew (west to east), subject matter (figural at a time when geometry and the arabesque were developing elsewhere), and unusually rich and precise documentation in royal and popular accounts. Whereas earlier studies treated the two and a half centuries of Fatimid art and architecture as a single category, this book is the first to show how they grew and evolved over time."--BOOK JACKET.

Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set

Download Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019530991X
Total Pages : 1697 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set by : Jonathan Bloom

Download or read book Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set written by Jonathan Bloom and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-14 with total page 1697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is the most comprehensive reference work in this complex and diverse area of art history. Built on the acclaimed scholarship of the Grove Dictionary of Art, this work offers over 1,600 up-to-date entries on Islamic art and architecture ranging from the Middle East to Central and South Asia, Africa, and Europe and spans over a thousand years of history. Recent changes in Islamic art in areas such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq are elucidated here by distinguished scholars. Entries provide in-depth art historical and cultural information about dynasties, art forms, artists, architecture, rulers, monuments, archaeological sites and stylistic developments. In addition, over 500 illustrations of sculpture, mosaic, painting, ceramics, architecture, metalwork and calligraphy illuminate the rich artistic tradition of the Islamic world. With the fundamental understanding that Islamic art is not limited to a particular region, or to a defined period of time, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture offers pathways into Islamic culture through its art.

A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture

Download A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119068576
Total Pages : 1442 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture by : Finbarr Barry Flood

Download or read book A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture written by Finbarr Barry Flood and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-06-16 with total page 1442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two-volume Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture bridges the gap between monograph and survey text by providing a new level of access and interpretation to Islamic art. The more than 50 newly commissioned essays revisit canonical topics, and include original approaches and scholarship on neglected aspects of the field. This two-volume Companion showcases more than 50 specially commissioned essays and an introduction that survey Islamic art and architecture in all its traditional grandeur Essays are organized according to a new chronological-geographical paradigm that remaps the unprecedented expansion of the field and reflects the nuances of major artistic and political developments during the 1400-year span The Companion represents recent developments in the field, and encourages future horizons by commissioning innovative essays that provide fresh perspectives on canonical subjects, such as early Islamic art, sacred spaces, palaces, urbanism, ornament, arts of the book, and the portable arts while introducing others that have been previously neglected, including unexplored geographies and periods, transregional connectivities, talismans and magic, consumption and networks of portability, museums and collecting, and contemporary art worlds; the essays entail strong comparative and historiographic dimensions The volumes are accompanied by a map, and each subsection is preceded by a brief outline of the main cultural and historical developments during the period in question The volumes include periods and regions typically excluded from survey books including modern and contemporary art-architecture; China, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sicily, the New World (Americas)

Islamic Art and Architecture

Download Islamic Art and Architecture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN 13 : 1680486136
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (84 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Islamic Art and Architecture by : Peter Osier

Download or read book Islamic Art and Architecture written by Peter Osier and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2017-07-15 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Islamic world has a rich artistic tradition, with particular strengths in calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts, architecture, and the decorative arts. This reference traces the development of Islamic art and architecture from the Umayyad dynasty to the present day. Readers will learn about the art of the Fatimids, Seljuqs, Mamluks, Mongols, Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, and more. Eye-catching photos of gorgeous mosques, delicate manuscript paintings, and colorful ceramics give readers glimpses of the works being discussed. A great resource both for those interested in art history and those hoping to learn more about the long, rich history of Islamic culture.

A Story of Islamic Art

Download A Story of Islamic Art PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003832768
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Story of Islamic Art by : Marcus Milwright

Download or read book A Story of Islamic Art written by Marcus Milwright and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing an introduction to the artistic and architectural traditions of the Islamic world, A Story of Islamic Art explores fifty case studies, taken from different regions of the Islamic world and from the seventh to the twenty-first centuries. The novel aspect of these case studies is that they are presented as fictional narratives, allowing the reader to imagine art and architecture, either in their original cultural settings or at some later point in their histories. These stories are supported by a scholarly framework that allows the reader to continue their exploration of the chosen artefacts and their historical context. The fifty case studies take the form of short stories, each of which focuses on one or more object from the Islamic world. These encompass portable items in a wide variety of media, book illustrations, calligraphy, photographs, architectural decoration, buildings, and archaeological sites. The book also provides a detailed introduction, maps, timeline, glossary, and guides for further reading. This book offers accessible answers to key questions in the scholarship on Islamic art and architecture from its earliest times to the present. The issues dealt with in each of the stories include iconography, attitudes towards representation, the role of script, the elaboration of geometric decoration, the creation of sacred and secular spaces in architecture, and the socio-cultural context of art production and consumption. Artistic interactions between the Islamic world and other regions including Europe and China are also discussed in this book. A Story of Islamic Art is an engaging and informative introduction for interested readers and students of Islamic art, history, and architecture.

Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World

Download Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857733435
Total Pages : 599 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World by : Venetia Porter

Download or read book Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World written by Venetia Porter and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The material and visual culture of the Islamic World casts vast arcs through space and time, and encompasses a huge range of artefacts and monuments from the minute to the grandiose, from ceramic pots to the great mosques. Here, Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen assemble leading experts in the field to examine both the objects themselves and the ways in which they reflect their historical, cultural and economic contexts. With a focus on metalwork, this volume includes an important new study of Mosul metalwork and presents recent discoveries in the fields of Fatimid, Mamluk and Qajar metalwork. By examining architecture, ceramics, ivories and textiles, seventeenth-century Iranian painting and contemporary art, the book explores a wide range of artistic production and historical periods from the Umayyad caliphate to the modern Middle East. This rich and detailed volume makes a significant contribution to the fields of Art History, Architecture and Islamic Studies, bringing new objects to light, and shedding new light on old objects.

Lost Maps of the Caliphs

Download Lost Maps of the Caliphs PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022655340X
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lost Maps of the Caliphs by : Yossef Rapoport

Download or read book Lost Maps of the Caliphs written by Yossef Rapoport and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost cosmos and planets to Earth and its lands, islands, features, and inhabitants. This treatise, known as The Book of Curiosities, was unknown to modern scholars until a remarkable manuscript copy surfaced in 2000. Lost Maps of the Caliphs provides the first general overview of The Book of Curiosities and the unique insight it offers into medieval Islamic thought. Opening with an account of the remarkable discovery of the manuscript and its purchase by the Bodleian Library, the authors use The Book of Curiosities to re-evaluate the development of astrology, geography, and cartography in the first four centuries of Islam. Their account assesses the transmission of Late Antique geography to the Islamic world, unearths the logic behind abstract maritime diagrams, and considers the palaces and walls that dominate medieval Islamic plans of towns and ports. Early astronomical maps and drawings demonstrate the medieval understanding of the structure of the cosmos and illustrate the pervasive assumption that almost any visible celestial event had an effect upon life on Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs also reconsiders the history of global communication networks at the turn of the previous millennium. It shows the Fatimid Empire, and its capital Cairo, as a global maritime power, with tentacles spanning from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus Valley and the East African coast. As Lost Maps of the Caliphs makes clear, not only is The Book of Curiosities one of the greatest achievements of medieval mapmaking, it is also a remarkable contribution to the story of Islamic civilization that opens an unexpected window to the medieval Islamic view of the world.

Islamic Art and Visual Culture

Download Islamic Art and Visual Culture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1405154020
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (51 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Islamic Art and Visual Culture by : D. Fairchild Ruggles

Download or read book Islamic Art and Visual Culture written by D. Fairchild Ruggles and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-04-25 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islamic Art and Visual Culture is a collection of primary sources in translation accompanied by clear and concise introductory essays that provide unique insights into the aesthetic and cultural history of one of the world's major religions. Collects essential translations from sources as diverse as the Qur'an, court chronicles, technical treatises on calligraphy and painting, imperial memoirs, and foreign travel accounts Includes clear and concise introductory essays Situates each text and explains the circumstances in which it was written--the date, place, author, and political conditions Provides a vivid window into Islamic visual culture and society An indispensable tool for teachers and students of art and visual culture

Articulating the Ḥijāba: Cultural Patronage and Political Legitimacy in al-Andalus

Download Articulating the Ḥijāba: Cultural Patronage and Political Legitimacy in al-Andalus PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004469206
Total Pages : 504 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Articulating the Ḥijāba: Cultural Patronage and Political Legitimacy in al-Andalus by : Mariam Rosser-Owen

Download or read book Articulating the Ḥijāba: Cultural Patronage and Political Legitimacy in al-Andalus written by Mariam Rosser-Owen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-12-20 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Articulating the Ḥijāba, Mariam Rosser-Owen analyses for the first time the artistic and cultural patronage of the ‘Amirid regents of the last Cordoban Umayyad caliph, Hisham II, a period rarely covered in the historiography of al-Andalus. Al-Mansur, the founder of this dynasty, is usually considered a usurper of caliphal authority, who pursued military victory at the expense of the transcendental achievements of the first two caliphs. But he also commissioned a vast extension to the Great Mosque of Cordoba, founded a palatine city, conducted skilled diplomatic relations, patronised a circle of court poets, and owned some of the most spectacular objects to survive from al-Andalus, in ivory and marble. This study presents the evidence for a reconsideration of this period.

The Nomadic Object

Download The Nomadic Object PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004354506
Total Pages : 649 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Nomadic Object by : Christine Göttler

Download or read book The Nomadic Object written by Christine Göttler and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 649 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the turn of the sixteenth century, the notion of world was dramatically being reshaped, leaving no aspect of human experience untouched. The Nomadic Object: The Challenge of World for Early Modern Religious Art examines how sacred art and artefacts responded to the demands of a world stage in the age of reform. Essays by leading scholars explore how religious objects resulting from cross-cultural contact defied national and confessional categories and were re-contextualised in a global framework via their collection, exchange, production, management, and circulation. In dialogue with current discourses, papers address issues of idolatry, translation, materiality, value, and the agency of networks. The Nomadic Object demonstrates the significance of religious systems, from overseas logistics to philosophical underpinnings, for a global art history. Contributors are: Akira Akiyama, James Clifton, Jeffrey L. Collins, Ralph Dekoninck, Dagmar Eichberger, Beate Fricke, Christine Göttler, Christiane Hille, Margit Kern, Dipti Khera, Yoriko Kobayashi-Sato, Urte Krass, Evonne Levy, Meredith Martin, Walter S. Melion, Mia M. Mochizuki, Jeanette Favrot Peterson, Rose Marie San Juan, Denise-Marie Teece, Tristan Weddigen, and Ines G. Županov.

Architecture of the Islamic West

Download Architecture of the Islamic West PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300218702
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Architecture of the Islamic West by : Jonathan M. Bloom

Download or read book Architecture of the Islamic West written by Jonathan M. Bloom and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative survey situating some of the Western world’s most renowned buildings within a millennium of Islamic history Some of the most outstanding examples of world architecture, such as the Mosque of Córdoba, the ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, the Giralda tower in Seville, and the Alhambra Palace in Granada, belong to the Western Islamic tradition. This architectural style flourished for over a thousand years along the southern and western shores of the Mediterranean—between Tunisia and Spain—from the 8th century through the 19th, blending new ideas with local building practices from across the region. Jonathan M. Bloom’s Architecture of the Islamic West introduces readers to the full scope of this vibrant tradition, presenting both famous and little-known buildings in six countries in North Africa and southern Europe. It is richly illustrated with photographs, specially commissioned architectural plans, and historical documents. The result is a personally guided tour of Islamic architecture led by one of the finest scholars in the field and a powerful testament to Muslim cultural achievement.

Raqs in the City

Download Raqs in the City PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476690308
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Raqs in the City by : Heather D. Ward

Download or read book Raqs in the City written by Heather D. Ward and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-08-05 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the city of Cairo, certain spaces bear strong historical associations with belly dance, belly dancers, and professional entertainment in general. Azbakiyah, Imad al-Din Street, and Muhammad Ali Street were all staging grounds for innovations in Egyptian belly dance, as well as in Egyptian music, song, and theater, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in the Egyptian popular imagination, these places continue to be linked to entertainment and entertainers. However, research reveals that the ties binding these spaces to entertainment extend much deeper: in some cases, this relationship can be traced back to the Fatimid era. The longstanding associations between belly dance and certain Cairene spaces demand a more in-depth investigation into the nature of this historical interconnection. In this work, the author examines the relationship between belly dance space and belly dancer in the Cairo landscape over the course of the city's history, relying on a theoretical framework informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia, and Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque. This analysis reveals the mutually constituting relationship between dance, dancers, and the Cairene landscape and explains why and how certain Cairo spaces have retained their centuries-long historical associations with belly dance and its professional practitioners.

Arts of Allusion

Download Arts of Allusion PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190695935
Total Pages : 572 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Arts of Allusion by : Margaret S. Graves

Download or read book Arts of Allusion written by Margaret S. Graves and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The art of the object reached unparalleled heights in the medieval Islamic world, yet the intellectual dimensions of ceramics, metalwares, and other plastic arts in this milieu have not always been acknowledged. Arts of Allusion reveals the object as a crucial site where pre-modern craftsmen of the eastern Mediterranean and Persianate realms engaged in fertile dialogue with poetry, literature, painting, and, perhaps most strikingly, architecture. Lanterns fashioned after miniature shrines, incense burners in the form of domed monuments, earthenware jars articulated with arches and windows, inkwells that allude to tents: through close studies of objects from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, this book reveals that allusions to architecture abound across media in the portable arts of the medieval Islamic world. Arts of Allusion draws upon a broad range of material evidence as well as medieval texts to locate its subjects in a cultural landscape where the material, visual, and verbal realms were intertwined. Moving far beyond the initial identification of architectural types with their miniature counterparts in the plastic arts, Margaret Graves develops a series of new frameworks for exploring the intelligent art of the allusive object. These address materiality, representation, and perception, and examine contemporary literary and poetic paradigms of metaphor, description, and indirect reference as tools for approaching the plastic arts. Arguing for the role of the intellect in the applied arts and for the communicative potential of ornament, Arts of Allusion asserts the reinstatement of craftsmanship into Islamic intellectual history.

Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture [2 volumes]

Download Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture [2 volumes] PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1610691784
Total Pages : 857 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture [2 volumes] by : Coeli Fitzpatrick Ph.D.

Download or read book Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture [2 volumes] written by Coeli Fitzpatrick Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-04-25 with total page 857 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This in-depth examination of the life, history, and influence of Muhammad as discussed by leading scholars provides a wide-ranging look at the prophet's legacy unlike any other in the field of Islamic and culture studies. Within the Islamic world, the prophet Muhammad's influence is profound. But even outside of the religion of Islam, this visionary had a wide-ranging impact on history, society, literature, art, philosophy, and theology. Within this work's more than 200 A–Z entries, internationally recognized scholars summarize views of Muhammad from the earliest editors of the Qu'ran to contemporary Muslim theologians. This detailed resource explores the traditions, ceremonies, and beliefs of Islam as they have spread worldwide, and examines Muhammad's role in other religious traditions as well as the secular world. Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God distills 14 centuries of thinking about Muhammad, fully capturing his enduring legacy. This encyclopedia will benefit any reader seeking a greater understanding of the founder of Islam, the fastest-growing religion in the world. No other publication discusses Muhammad at such a high level of detail while remaining easily accessible to non-specialist, Western audiences.

Muqarnas, Volume 25

Download Muqarnas, Volume 25 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9047426746
Total Pages : 406 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (474 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Muqarnas, Volume 25 by : Gülru Necipoglu

Download or read book Muqarnas, Volume 25 written by Gülru Necipoglu and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Muqarnas is sponsored by The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Muqarnas articles are being published on all aspects of Islamic visual culture, historical and contemporary, as well as articles dealing with unpublished textual primary sources.

Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500

Download Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
ISBN 13 : 1474411312
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (744 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500 by : Patricia Blessing

Download or read book Architecture and Landscape in Medieval Anatolia, 1100-1500 written by Patricia Blessing and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the geographical and chronological juncture between Byzantines and the Ottomans, its story tends to be read through the Seljuk experience. This obscures the multiple experiences and spaces of Anatolia under the Byzantine empire, Turko-Muslim dynasties contemporary to the Seljuks, the Mongol Ilkhanids, and the various beyliks of eastern and western Anatolia. This book looks beyond political structures and towards a reconsideration of the interactions between the rural and the urban; an analysis of the relationships between architecture, culture and power; and an examination of the region's multiple geographies. In order to expand historiographical perspectives it draws on a wide variety of sources (architectural, artistic, documentary and literary), including texts composed in several languages (Arabic, Armenian, Byzantine Greek, Persian and Turkish). Original in its coverage of this period from the perspective of multiple polities, religions and languages, this volume is also the first to truly embrace the cultural complexity that was inherent in the reality of daily life in medieval Anatolia and surrounding regions.

Islamesque

Download Islamesque PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Hurst Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1805261878
Total Pages : 453 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Islamesque by : Diana Darke

Download or read book Islamesque written by Diana Darke and published by Hurst Publishers. This book was released on 2024-11-14 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who really built Europe's finest Romanesque monuments? Abbots and bishops presiding over holy sites receive mentions aplenty throughout history, while their highly skilled creators remain anonymous. But the buildings speak for themselves. In this groundbreaking book, Middle East cultural historian Diana Darke explores the evidence embedded in medieval monasteries, churches and castles across Europe, from Mont Saint-Michel and the Leaning Tower of Pisa to Durham Cathedral and the Basilica of Santiago de Compostela. Tracing the origins of key decorative and architectural innovations during this pre-Gothic period--acknowledged as the essential foundation of all future European construction styles--she sheds new light on the mystery masons, carpenters and sculptors behind these masterpieces. Her discoveries are dramatic. At a time when Christendom lacked such expertise, Muslim craftsmen, with their advanced understanding of geometry and complex ornamentation styles, dominated the high-end construction industry in Islamic Spain, Sicily and North Africa, spreading their knowledge and techniques across Western Europe. Challenging Euro-centric assumptions about the continent's built heritage, Darke uncovers the profound influence of the Islamic world in 'Christian' Europe, and argues that 'Romanesque' architecture, a fiction first invented by nineteenth-century French art historians, should be recognised as what it truly is: Islamesque.