Barakat Culture Vulture
A selection of reports on the culture vulture projects we have supported and funded in the field of Islamic Art, Heritage and Culture since we were founded in 1987
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Remembering Iradj Bagherzade, 1942-2023
We are greatly saddened by the passing of Iradj Bagherzade on 8th January 2023 in London. Born in Vienna, Iradj studied for a degree in law at Oxford University, though he never practised as a lawyer. Instead, his monumental and impactful career in publishing began with Time-Life. After years [...]
Congratulations New Grantee – Romolo Loreto
Congratulations to one of our 2022 grantees! We are thrilled to fund Romolo Loreto in his research. So what is the project? About the project: Since 2009 the Italian archaeological mission in Saudi Arabia has been carrying out archaeological research in Dumat al-Jandal. Since 2016 the study has focused [...]
Congratulations New Grantee – Konstantinos Politis
Congratulations to one of our 2022 grantees! We are thrilled to fund Konstantinos Politis in his research. So what is the project? About the project: The Barakat Trust is delighted to award a grant to Konstantinos Politics for his research into the Islamic heritage of Greece; specifically the Greek city [...]
Matt Saba
Matt is Visual Resources Librarian for Islamic Architecture at the Aga Khan Documentation Center, MIT Libraries. His research interests include imperial building practices in late antiquity and early Islam as well as the history of Islamic art as a discipline. As a librarian he is involved in building MIT's bibliographic [...]
Impermanent Monuments, Lasting Legacies: The Dār al-Khilāfa of Samarra and Palace Building in Early Abbasid Iraq
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 [...]
Hugo Cook
Engagement Coordinator Hugo Cook studied Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford (BA), and Egyptology at the University of Cambridge (MPhil). In addition to promoting the work of the Barakat Trust, Hugo is the Tutor of Egyptology at City Lit teaching courses at the British [...]
Press: Helping Gaza university restore a Sufi institute
We are delighted to be funding the Iwan Center for Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza in an important forthcoming project. This project will undertake essential restoration work on the oldest Mamluk religious site in the Gaza Strip: a 700-year-old Sufi institute called [...]
Hands On Islamic Art Project – Congratulations Grant Winner!
We have some exciting news: our grants committee have made their decisions. It's time to start announcing the grant-winners of this year's Hands On Islamic Art Project, sponsored by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Three fantastic projects have been chosen, and this is one of them... Congratulations to Leighton [...]
Saudi Modern: A new podcast with Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz
How did the discovery of oil transform Saudi Arabia's cities and its architecture? How can art and architecture come together to capture the spirit of modernism in a nation known more for tradition? Join this conversation with Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, two architect brothers, to discover how their curiosity [...]