Summary An in-depth exploration of a unique archive of Middle Eastern topographical photographs dating from the early-20th century. Professor Sir Keppel Archibald Cameron Creswell (1879 – 1974), a pioneer of medieval Islamic architectural scholarship, travelled extensively in the Middle East, photographing sites along the way and leaving an extremely important [...]

Summary The Barakat Trust's Grant applications for 2018 opened on 3 January 2018 and closes on 31 March 2018. Applicants will be informed of a decision shortly after the end of April 2018. Categories of AwardsThe Academic Advisory Committee annually defines the categories and values of awards within which applications may be [...]

Summary Misr and Mosque: Architectural Splendour and Political Authority in Medieval Cairo  Illustrated talk explores the meaning and function of Cairo’s Friday mosques as discussed in a collection of legal opinions (fatwas) by the 14th century Sunni jurist al-Subki. For a city famous for its soaring minarets and magnificent architecture, Cairo has surprisingly few [...]

Summary The vast Muslim cemeteries of Cairo, known as the “City of the Dead”, were always also meant to be a city for the living. Today, they stretch for more than eight kilometres, forming a unique urban and social environment, part of a World Heritage Site and home to approxmiately [...]

Summary The arabesque was a common design used in the architecture of Islamic Cairo. In the early periods, it was used on stucco and continued to develop on many different other métiers, not as individual patterns, but rather on inscriptions. It then developed in stone, wood, glass and metal and [...]

18:30 – 20:30 Summary Pop-Up Palaces: A journey through 1000 years of Egypt's ceremonial tent-making tradition In one of medieval Cairo’s last remaining covered streets is a community of tentmakers whose work has transformed the Egyptian landscape at times of celebration and festivity. For at least a millennium, these craftsmen [...]

Unrequited Love and the Beauty of the Beloved: Literary and visual themes in a 17th century manuscript of the Divan of Baki. This talk will explore the relationship between the miniatures in the Divan of Baki and its text to analyse these themes and place them in the context of the Safavid illustrated [...]