Project Reports
This book offers a new interpretation of early Abbasid palaces as “impermanent monuments.” Synthesizing an array of sources, ranging from archaeological finds and classical Arabic literature to modern studies on the social and intellectual history of Islamic civilization, it reveals ways in which the Abbasid court designed, decorated, presented, and [...]
Grantee: Hallie Nell Swanson In summer 2019, with the support of The Barakat Trust’s Barakat Postgraduate Student & Early Career Award, I travelled to Hyderabad to take part in the “Working in an Indian Archive” Indo-Persian Summer School, a workshop focused on reading Indo-Persian manuscripts, run by the University [...]
Join Wael Sabry on his quest to save the ancient craft of Kundekari - complex wooden geometry. Sabry is tracking down the few remaining master carpenters in Turkey and Egypt, trying to learn their carefully-guarded secrets, hidden even from father to son. Discover how he is using technology to [...]
Joining an emergent literature of “local art histories,” Fantasmic Objects offers the first English-language study of modern art in Lebanon. It is, moreover, the first study of Lebanon through art. An historical ethnography of “art acts” which played a significant role in co-founding the nation during French occupation (1920-1950), [...]
The concern of this research is to reconstruct the inward orientation of space within the domestic architecture of Surame. The traditional domestic and by extension, the community environments are some of the important archaeological material manifestations of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. Between January 7-February 3, 2022, this author conducted [...]
BRIEF FINAL REPORT season 2021 Introduction The project, as part of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Saudi Arabia (season 2021), took place from 10/17/2021 to 11/19/2021, proceeding with both the archaeological research and excavation work and the restoration work for the immediate consolidation of the structures excavated inside the Dūmat [...]
This month, May Al-Ibrashy is our selected expert. Dr. May Al-Ibrashy is a conservation architect who undertakes projects to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of Egypt, especially Cairo. She focuses on working with local communities and ensuring that they are an integral part of any heritage preservation project. She [...]
As a result of the Syrian crisis, many people have left their homeland and started to live abroad. Some came to reside in the United Kingdom. The experience of this change has been overwhelming for many; while others have adapted to their newfound homes with relative ease. In these times, [...]
Between January 13-18, 2020, the Urban Recovery Platform at the Beirut Urban Lab, the American University of Beirut, conducted a capacity building workshop funded by the Barakat Trust and the Ford Foundation. The workshop focused on post-conflict urban recovery and took the city of Aleppo in Syria as [...]
As a first stage towards preserving a valuable neighbourhood of historic Cairo, a team of four art historians and two conservation architects will survey and assess the conservation state of historic commercial buildings in the area of Bulaq, Cairo, the city's historic river port. Bulaq is a largely overlooked quarter [...]
