Projects
The Barakat Trust has funded a unique collection of research and projects over the last 30 years, which needs to be collated and archived. We are currently trying to fundraise to develop a digital collection and educational pack to make this research available to the public.
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A selection of the archaeology projects The Barakat Trust has funded and supported
A selection of the conversation projects The Barakat Trust has funded and supported
A selection of the education and engagement projects The Barakat Trust has funded and supported
A selection of the publication projects The Barakat Trust has funded and supported
A selection of the scholarships and research projects The Barakat Trust has funded and supported
Recent Projects
Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts
This book offers an integrated study of the texts and images of illustrated Malay manuscripts on magic and divination from private and public collections in Malaysia, the UK and Indonesia. Containing some of the rare examples of Malay painting, these manuscripts provide direct evidence for the intercultural connections between the [...]
Perspectives on Early Islamic Art in Jerusalem
Lawrence Nees is the current H.Fletcher Brown Chair of Humanities holder at the University of Delaware. He received a grant from the Trust to help publish his book Perspectives on Early Islamic Art in Jerusalem which was released in 2016. His book is a very detailed yet also user friendly [...]
Abbasid painting of the Caliphal Palace of Samarra, Iraq
Fatma Dahmani is a Barakat Trust postdoctoral fellow. Her original project was focused solely on the Abbasid painting of the Caliphal Palace of Samarra and the extent to which it is an original piece. After having conducted further research into the broader city more things caught her eye. This included [...]
Rashid Al-Din : Agent and Mediator of Cultural Exchanges in Ilkhanid Iran
Rashid al-Din (1274-1318), physician and powerful minister at the court of the Ilkhans, was a key figure in the cosmopolitan milieu in Iran under Mongol rule. He set up an area in the vicinity of the court where philosophers, doctors, astronomers, and historians from different parts of Eurasia lived together, [...]
Living with Heritage in Cairo: Area Conservation in the Arab-Islamic City
The Arab-Islamic city has been always a glamorous urban dream in human cultural memory. This is manifested in Cairo, the world's largest medieval urban system where traditional lifestyles are still implemented. Nevertheless, despite the extensive efforts to preserve Historic Cairo, it is sadly vulnerable. Ahmed Sedky investigates the reasons behind [...]
Sultans and Mosques : The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh
Before the Mughal style came to dominate the Islamic architecture of the Indian sub-continent, Bengal and its rulers had developed their own forms. The mosque architecture of the Independent Sultanate period (from the 14th to the 16th centuries) represents the most important element of the Islamic architecture of Bengal. This [...]
Glossary of Arabic terms for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
Glossary of conservation terminology (Arabic-English and English-Arabic) developed by Dr Hossam Mahdy for the ATHAR programme and intended for conservation professionals working in the Arab region. This is a preliminary document distributed to invite discussion and comments. Author : Hossam Mahdy This publication in pdf can be downloaded here : [...]
Osman Hamdi Bey and the Historiophile Mood
Orientalist Vision and the Romantic Sense of the Past in Late Ottoman Culture. Author : Ahmet Ersoy This publication in pdf can be downloaded here : https://www.academia.edu/11300463/Osman_Hamdi_Bey_and_the_Historiophile_Mood
Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt
One of the world's most important collections of medieval Islamic embroideries is to be found in the Department of Eastern Art in Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum. The textiles were collected by the Egyptologist Percy Newberry between 1900 and 1930, while he was living in Cairo. Most of the embroideries were [...]
Constantinopolis/Istanbul: Cultural Encounter, Imperial Vision, and the Construction of the Ottoman Capital
A symbolic locus embodying myriad meanings, the political center of the eastern Mediterranean, and one of the old world’s largest urban centers, Constantinople was the site of large-scale urban and architectural interventions. Changing visions—the changing political, cultural, and religious orientations of those who lived there and those who ruled from [...]
A Survey of Architectural Remains along the Mughal Highway from Agra to Lahore
This study makes use of the primary sources like ancient texts, and medieval chronicles retrieved initially from Indian archives, and studies of archaeological survey of India reports, district and state Gazetteers. Author : Subhash Parihar The publication can be purchase from here : https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9788173053351/Land-Transport-Mughal-India-Agra-Lahore-8173053359/plp
Early Persian Painting : Kalila Wa Dimna Manuscripts of the Late 14th Century
"Kalila and Dimna" or "The Fables of Bidpai" is one of the gems of world culture, having been translated through the centuries everywhere from China to Spain. "Kalila and Dimna", like the fables of Aesop or Lafontaine, are subtle and suggestive moral tales - a kind of repository of wisdom [...]