Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning - Hardcover

Hillenbrand, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0748604790 ISBN 13: 9780748604791

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 1994

Synopsis

Winner of the American Publishers Association's Award for an outstanding Professional and Scholarly title and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 1996 from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. In a dazzling display of erudition, Robert Hillenbrand surveys the major building-types of the Islamic World: religious architecture (the mosque, the minaret, the madrasa), the mausoleum 'between Heaven and Earth', and the caravansarai and the palace representing the secular side. All the building-types are discussed in art-historical terms, with the interplay of form and function taken as the underlying theme of the analysis. All are comprehensively illustrated with a full range of colour and black-and-white photographs, analytical drawings, thumbnail comparative assemblies and ground plans. This major reference work, covering from Spain to Afghanistan and c. 700 to c. 1700, is a source of fascination for all seeking to appreciate the rich heritage of the Islamic World. Recurrent themes and patterns take on a wider significance - a persistent reminder that the Islamic faith and the particular type of society which it engendered makes light of vast gulfs of time and space. Features: *24 colour plates *300 black-and-white photographs *1246 line drawings *Section of composite drawings and ground plans Available in Hardback (originally published in 1994) and a revised paperback edition published in 2000. This new paperback edition includes a previously unpublished index, designed to make the book more user-friendly.

About this title

Review

This book is a treasure trove ! a refreshing contribution to the field of Islamic architecture. The publication in paperback of Robert Hillenbrand's Islamic Architecture will be a boon to those who want to study the subject in depth ... Since this book first appeared in 1994 it has provided readers with an opportunity to grasp the vast scope of architectural history in the Islamic world and to understand how its traditions developed. The author discusses the evolution of Islamic architecture from its origins in Medina to its flowering in diverse and far-flung territories from Spain to Afghanistan. His task was daunting, but in an impressive lifetime of study he has personally experienced the architecture in all but one of the countries he covers...with his scholarly guidance and broad perspective, countless readers will gain a broader perspective and a deeper understand of Islamic architecture. Islamic Architecture is an awesome achievement ... Hillenbrand's arguments are incisively presented in a prose [which] occasionally develops an eloquence that mesmerises. Islamic Architecture is a work on a grand scale ... admirable for its intellectual rigour. Marvellous ... no other work comes close remotely close to this wealth of illustrations and informed discussion This book is a treasure trove ! a refreshing contribution to the field of Islamic architecture. The publication in paperback of Robert Hillenbrand's Islamic Architecture will be a boon to those who want to study the subject in depth ... Since this book first appeared in 1994 it has provided readers with an opportunity to grasp the vast scope of architectural history in the Islamic world and to understand how its traditions developed. The author discusses the evolution of Islamic architecture from its origins in Medina to its flowering in diverse and far-flung territories from Spain to Afghanistan. His task was daunting, but in an impressive lifetime of study he has personally experienced the architecture in all but one of the countries he covers...with his scholarly guidance and broad perspective, countless readers will gain a broader perspective and a deeper understand of Islamic architecture. Islamic Architecture is an awesome achievement ... Hillenbrand's arguments are incisively presented in a prose [which] occasionally develops an eloquence that mesmerises. Islamic Architecture is a work on a grand scale ... admirable for its intellectual rigour. Marvellous ... no other work comes close remotely close to this wealth of illustrations and informed discussion

From the Back Cover

Robert Hillenbrand explores the range of public architecture in the Middle East and North Africa from the medieval period to 1700, focusing on the relationship between architecture and society. Included are chapters on religious and secular architecture and the architecture of tombs, each one providing a lucid and penetrating overview of a characteristic building type. Buildings are discussed in terms of form and function, the roles of specific building types in the Islamic order and the expression of different sociocultural groups in architectural terms.

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0748604790
• ISBN 13: 9780748604791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672