Yasser Tabbaa

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IAA706167

 Baghdad

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IAA705739

Images of monuments in Baghdad, Iraq, dating from the medieval Islamic period to modern times.

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IRQ0175

Iraq

Before the foundation of Baghdad, the place where the Kazimiyyah shrine now stands was the location Shunayziyyah cemetery. After the establishment of Baghdad, al-Mansur used this cemetery as the burial ground for the caliph's family. In 799 Imam Musa, the seventh imam, died and was buried at the actual spot of the shrine. The shrine then became a pilgrimage site for the Shi'ite community, a status later reinforced by the subsequent burial in 835 of the ninth Imam who died in Baghdad. The building as it stands today comprises an enclosure that houses the mausoleum of the two imams, and a mosque. The northern and southern sides measure of 131.2 meters while the eastern and western sides span 124 meters. The courtyard walls are constituted of small rooms opening onto the courtyard through pointed arches. Several doors puncture the enclosure among which: Bab al-Farhadiyyah including the Fatihah; Bab al-Mural and Bab el-Qibla in the southern enclosure wall facing the mausoleum. The mausoleum is framed on three sides by tall tarimahs (an Iranian design found in palaces and shrines that composes a portico with a ceiling supported by thin wooden columns with a taller central part). The western tarimah called Tarimah Quraysh is 37 meters long and 6.5 meters wide. The eastern tarimah, 49 meters by 5.2 meters has its ceiling decorated with epigraphical texts and geometric motifs. The southern tarimah, on the qibla wall, measures 47.2 meters by 6 meters and is decorated with mirror mosaics. The tomb chamber, situated in the middle of the rawdah (inner part of the sanctuary building), is composed of two related square spaces paved with marble slabs and covered with two domes. The walls display marble slabs running up to 1.4 meters, above which runs a line of Quranic inscription. In the middle of this inner room and below the two domes lie the two sarcophagi. An ambulatory composed of four riwaqs is decorated consistently with the rawdahs described above. It has six entrances displaying silver and golden decorations; they lead to the rawdahs. Six clerestory windows illuminate the inner rawdah. Between the northern enclosure wall and the sanctuary itself stands a mosque consisting of a large hypostyle prayer hall with a low dome at its southern end distinguishing it from the two over the tomb chamber. The Kazimiyyah shrine has seen several reconstructions and modifications. What comes to us is a Safavid building with some intrusions of local architecture sometimes derived from Ottoman decoration. Under the Buwaihid Shi'ite dynasty, several restoration and addition works were executed. Abd ud-Dawlah first restored the sanctuary after the flood of 978 according to a contemporary description of the structure, the two tombs were described as topped by wooden domes and surrounded by an enclosure. In 1052 the building was described as having a large dome in the middle and minarets on the sides. Several restorations followed in 1097, 1159 and 1154. At that time the sanctuary was used as a madrasa and an orphanage. During the Abbasid caliphate of al-Zahir the dome caught fire and was restored by al-Mustansir. From that time on the shrine was called al Maqbarah al Jadidah meaning the new tomb. It acquired greater significance as it was considered one of Baghdad's principal monuments from the thirteenth century onward. It is described as having a large dome, a library and an orphanage. The sanctuary was preceded by a wide courtyard probably surrounded by rooms and a façade with a large iwan similar to other Seljuq monuments of that same period. It was sufficiently damaged during the Mongol invasion and its first reconstruction dates back to Imad al-Din al-Qazwini. Ibn Battuta describes it in the fourteenth century as having a big enclosure and the tombs being of wood with a silver coating. In 1356, a second flood caused big damages to the shrine. It was then restored according to the previous plan layout with two minarets domes that are probably quite close in design to its current form. In 1508 when the Safavid Shah Ismail entered the city he ordered a total reconstruction of the shrine. The rawdah was enlarged, marble was laid on the floor of the shrine, the sarcophagi were rebuilt of wood, and a Quranic inscription was carved on the outer walls. The minarets were increased to four in number in a way to resemble mosques of that period. One of the major changes to the overall site plan was the building of a mosque on the northern side of the shrine. During the Ottoman period, when Suleiman the magnificent entered Baghdad in 1534, he decided to continue the works started by the Safavids: the northern minaret was thus completed in 1570. Baghdad was conquered in 1623 by the Safavid Shah Abbas who ordered the reconstruction of the shrine that suffered some damage during the Safavid expansion. The corner minarets were in a later period completed by Aqa Muhammad al-Qadjari and a large courtyard that stands until the present date faces the haram. Muhammad Shah and Shah Fath Ali ordered the decoration of the domes and walls of the rawdah and the pinnacles of the four minarets from material made available from the sanctuary of Imam Hussain in Kerbala. In 1864, when Shah Nassir ordered new restoration works to be carried on the complex the kashi tile decoration of the façade was added; the two tarimah before the haram on the southern and eastern sides had their walls covered with marble; and the eastern tarimah covered by a flat roof standing on twenty-two wooden columns was completed. In later years, he sponsored several other restorations and decoration works such as: the golden decoration on the iwan in the middle of the eastern tarimah; the silver applied on door between the rawdah and the southern riwaq; the second storey above the sahn galleries; and the laying of foundations for two clock towers on the eastern and southern sides. These works ended in 1884 and the expenses are said to have reached 200, 000 Ottoman liras. In 1902-3 the mirror decoration in the southern and eastern riwaqs was completed and for the following six years the design was altered by the same decoration on the northern and western riwaqs. The last works carried out in the sanctuary were on the western tarimah that displays twenty columns and is decorated with mirror and floral motifs. The Kazimiyyah shrine is now situated in a western neighborhood of Baghdad known as al-Karkh. In 1970 it was included in the master plan for the city of Baghdad that involved a rehabilitation project aiming to clear slums around the shrine to create spaces for gardens, landscaped squares, and to provide sites for public buildings. Demolition started in 1980 to the north and west part of the shrine. A mosque, baths and some fine houses were destroyed and in the cleared area new bazaars were built. Sources: Strika V., Khalil J. The Islamic Architecture of Baghdad, Instituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli, 1987, 3-14. Uluçam, Abdüsselam. 1989. Irak'taki Türk Mimari Eserleri. Ankara: Kültür Bakanligi, 37-41.

Mashhad al-Kazimiyya

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IAA706404

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IRQ0173

The Khulafa Central Mosque was architect <a href="http://archnet.org/authorities/13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mohamed Makiya</a>’s first major public works project.&nbsp;In 1960, the Iraqi Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) commissioned him to build a mosque on the same site that the Abbasid caliph Muqtafi had built one in the early 10th century, and to incorporate into it the only structure still standing on the site, the 13th-century&nbsp;<a href="http://archnet.org/sites/3842" target="_blank">Suq Al Ghazl Minaret</a>.&nbsp; An even more significant challenge came from the site's dimensions and location in an urban section of Baghdad, amid tall commercial buildings.&nbsp;According to his son, Kanan, Mohamed Makiya fought with the Ministry of Awqaf for two years, in an unsuccessful effort to enlarge the parcel so he could build a structure proportional to the minaret's importance. For Dr. Makiya, building a new mosque that incorporated such a significant historical monument into such a modern environment challenged him to "express traditional character in a new architectural ambience.”1 Ultimately, he says, “I had to build a cathedral in an area suitable for a chapel.”2&nbsp;The project was completed in 1964.&nbsp; Kanan Makiya describes the mosque as a collection of discreet elements, with the refurbished minaret as its focal point.&nbsp;The other elements, a domed prayer hall and three riwaqs (porticos), are “placed and sized with reference to it."3 <ul><li>The <a href="http://archnet.org/sites/3842" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">minaret</a> is set in a small sunken court in the southeast corner of the sahn (courtyard).&nbsp;The minaret had just been refurbished in 1960 when Mohamed Makiya was charged with building a mosque to incorporate it.&nbsp;The minaret is constructed of brick and mortar and rises from a twelve-sided foundation.&nbsp;Both the base and balcony feature layers of muqarnas.&nbsp;The brickwork on the shaft forms a complex geometric pattern, and it is decorated with Kufic calligraphy.&nbsp;Makiya sought continuity between these decorative elements and his design for the new mosque.&nbsp;</li></ul> <ul><li>The prayer hall is octagonal, and 14 meters high with a dome rising an additional 7 meters.&nbsp;Columns and a cantilevered ring beam support the dome.&nbsp;At its base is an arched gallery and a black-and-white ceramic frieze band.&nbsp;The frieze features highly geometric, interlaced, Kufic calligraphy, intended to harmonize with the more traditional styles of Kufic calligraphy on the minaret.&nbsp;The exterior of the dome is covered in geometric yellow brickwork that matches the minaret's brickwork.&nbsp;The exterior walls of the prayer hall are also covered in varying shades of yellow bricks, arranged in geometric patterns.&nbsp;The interior walls are decorated with precast concrete, arranged in two bands: geometric patterns above pointed arches.</li></ul> <ul><li>The riwaqs and walls - According to a proposal submitted for the expansion of the Khulafa Mosque in 1981, the riwaqs and boundary walls, each approximately 12 meters in height, are designed to protect the minaret “from the overpowering domination of the numerous surrounding tall buildings, which sadly conflict in scale and massing with the minaret."4&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>The largest riwaq runs along the northwest edge and provides an entrance to the mosque from Khulafa Street, a major divided artery running alongside the southwest façade.&nbsp;Bent steel rails that form Islamic calligraphy and organic patterns decorate the arches.&nbsp;The riwaq terminates in the courtyard, but the northern boundary wall continues to the north corner of the mosque.&nbsp;&nbsp; A second riwaq enters the courtyard from a small road that delineates the southern boundary of the mosque, but does not run parallel to the perimeter.&nbsp;Instead, the entrance of the riwaq intersects the perimeter at a right angle and extends into the courtyard, ending in front of the prayer hall. Glazed arches line the passageway connecting the riwaq to the prayer hall. &nbsp;A false riwaq composed of two stacked arcades runs along the northeast perimeter to the prayer hall.&nbsp;The bottom layer is essentially a dense wall separating the courtyard from the street.&nbsp;It is decorated with embedded arches made from yellow carved brick.&nbsp;&nbsp;It supports a ledge, decorated with a frieze of yellow brick that forms Kufic calligraphy.&nbsp;Narrow columns on the ledge support a concrete canopy of pointed arches.&nbsp;The rear wall of the upper arcade is open to the sky, creating a sense of scale beyond the actual dimensions of the wall. Some construction materials were salvaged from the site.&nbsp;The principal building materials are locally produced clay bricks, stone, and wood, with steel and concrete also used in the ceilings and the dome.&nbsp;The floors are stone.&nbsp; Even after construction was completed, Mohamed Makiya continued to want to develop the site.&nbsp;In 1981 Makiya Associates, in association with consulting architects and engineers Archicentre, presented the Mayor of Baghdad with proposals arguing for the building of a new mosque built on a “more grand and suitable scale reflecting and regenerating the historical importance of the site."5 The proposal also argues for significant expansion of the site to include living quarters, a larger prayer hall, a library, dining facilities, and a larger courtyard.&nbsp;The new plan proposed a new, much larger mosque and presented several options for the use of the existing structure.&nbsp;These included conversion into a library, or a proposal that the existing mosque serve as a weekday mosque when fewer people would be praying, and the larger mosque to be used on Fridays and holy days.&nbsp;No action was ever taken on the proposal.6 --<a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/2691" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael A. Toler</a>, AKDC@MIT, June 2014 Notes:1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Aga Khan Award for Architecture Nomination Form, Project Summary. 1980,2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kanan Makiya, Post-Islamic Classicism, 43.3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kanan Makiya, Post-Islamic Classicism, 45.4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Khulafa Mosque and Environs Proposals, 2.25.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Khulafa Mosque and Environs Proposals, 2.36.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Khulafa Mosque and Environs Proposals, 2.3 Sources:&nbsp;Khalil, Jabir and Strika, Vincenzo. The Islamic Architecture of Baghdad; the Results of a Joint Italian -Iraqi Survey. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1987. Khulafa Central Mosque.&nbsp;Aga Khan Award for Architecture Nomination Form.&nbsp;Geneva, Switzerland: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, September 15, 1979. Kultermann, Udo.&nbsp;Contemporary Architecture in the Arab States: Renaissance of a Region.&nbsp;New York:&nbsp;McGraw-Hill, 1999. Makiya Associates and Archicentre.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.archnet.org/publications/8799" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Khulafa Mosque and Environs Development Proposals</a>. Baghdad, 1981. Makiya, Kanan. Post-Islamic Classicism: a Visual Essay on the Architecture of Mohamed Makiya.&nbsp;London: Saqi Books, 1990. Makiya, Kanan.&nbsp;The Monument: Art, Vulgarity, and Responsibility in Iraq. London:&nbsp;Andre Deutsch, 1991. Manarat Suq al-Ghazl. ArchNet. Accessed March 22, 2015. <a href="http://archnet.org/sites/3842" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://archnet.org/sites/3842</a>. Michell, George. ed. Architecture of the Islamic World; Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thanes &amp; Hudson, 1978.

Jami' al-Khulafa

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IRQ0168

This famous mausoleum was constructed by the late Abbasid caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah for his mother, Zumurrud Khatun, at the end of the twelfth/sixth century AH. In European sources, it was misidentified as the tomb of Sitta Zubayda, the wife of Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. Located in an expansive cemetery, this brick tomb exhibits a nine-layered, cone-shaped muqarnas cover capped by a small cupola that rises to great height from an octagonal base, similar to the Imam Dur in Samarra. Hazarbaf decoration covers the exterior of the base while each façade is partitioned into four sunken square panels, two on the bottom and two on the top, themselves featuring decorative brickwork. Today, the tomb is entered from a square-planned, domed structure that was built to replace an earlier one. From this area, a staircase rises up to the base of the muqarnas dome while a tight corridor just over one meter large leads to the octagonal burial chamber. The light inside the vault emanates from small holes cut in the muqarnas dome producing a glowing effect. The mausoleum has been restored periodically throughout its lifespan. Sources: Khalil, Jabir and Strika, Vincenzo. The Islamic Architecture of Baghdad; the Results of a Joint Italian -Iraqi Survey, 18-22. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1987. Michell, George. ed. Architecture of the Islamic World; Its History and Social Meaning, 247. London: Thanes &amp; Hudson, 1978. Ettinghausen, Richard and Grabar, Oleg. The Art and Architecture of Islam 650-1250, 296-297. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987.

Turba Zumurrud Khatun

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IRQ0174

The Suq al-Ghazl Minaret stands on the site of the original Khulafa Mosque, constructed between 902 and 908 by the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/2352" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Abbasid</a> caliph Muqtafi. It was reconstructed multiple times, most significantly in 1272 after being burnt to the ground in 1258 during the Mongol invasion of <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/3469" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Baghdad</a>. The minaret was built in 1279, probably by the order of 'Ata Malik al-Juwaini, making it a product of the <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/2364" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ilkhanid</a> period (1256-1353). The minaret was referred to as Suq al-Ghazl Minaret, in reference to the wool and cotton market that developed to the east of the site. Suleyman Pasha constructed a small <a href="https://www.archnet.org/collections/2368" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ottoman</a> mosque to its west that was known as the Suq al-Ghazl Mosque, but it was demolished in 1957. While initial efforts to restore this monument were executed in 1917, it wasn't until 1960 that it was completely finished. In 1960, the Ministry of al- Awqaf commissioned <a href="https://www.archnet.org/authorities/13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mohamed Makiya</a> to build a new mosque that would integrate the minaret.Makiya's monumental architecture was developed around the only remaining artifact of the mosque once occupying the space: the dilapidated minaret of al-Ghazl.&nbsp;Makiya’s innovative design for the mosque, located in the Sabbabigh al-Aal neighborhood of Old Baghdad, embodied ideas of urban conservation, regionalism in form, and continuity of architectural heritage; ideas which informed his work henceforth as well as that of younger generations of architects. Constructed in brick, the minaret rises from a twelve-sided foundation featuring four layers of muqarnas that support an enclosed passageway. Above this the cylindrical shaft continues and is capped by another five layers of muqarnas extending outwards and supporting another circular gallery. Above this ascends another small column that buttresses a pointed dome. The minaret exhibits elaborate arabesque-carved brickwork and geometric patterns. This is the only minaret in Iraq with a twelve-sided base. Sources: Al-Janab, Tariq Jawad. 1982. Studies In Medieval Iraqi Architecture. Baghdad: Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Culture and Information State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage, 91-96. JPC Inc. 1984. Rusafa: Study on Conservation and Redevelopment of Historical Centre of Baghdad City/Republic of Iraq, Amanat al Assima. Japan: JCP Inc., 60. Khalil, Jabir and Strika, Vincenzo. 1987. The Islamic Architecture of Baghdad; the Results of a Joint Italian -Iraqi Survey. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 42-45. Michell, George. ed. 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World; Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thanes &amp; Hudson, 248. Ettinghausen, Richard and Grabar, Oleg. 1987. The Art and Architecture of Islam 650-1250. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 296.

Suq al-Ghazl Minaret

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IRQ0171

Madrasa Mirjaniyya in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood al Rusafah on Rashid Street close to Suq al Thulatha' no longer exists in its integrity. During a public works program in 1945 involving the enlargement of Al Rashid Street, part of the madrasa was destroyed. The entrance gate and the minaret attached to it remain. Later, near the entrance, a new mosque was built using materials including inscribed slabs (founder's waqfiya) from the old prayer hall of the madrasa. Some of the madrasa's decorations were taken to the museum of Baghdad while others were put in the palace of Qasr 'Abbasi. Built in 1357 by Amin ad-Din Mirjan, Wali of Baghdad under the reign of Shaykh Hassan, the founder of the Jalayirid dynasty, it was to serve the Hanafi and Shafi'i mazhab (Sunni theological school). An inscription over the entrance façade refers to the financial sources coming from Shaykh Hasan's mother. In addition Mirjan donated several waqfs for his madrasa preservation and survival that were inscribed on the madrasa walls. The building, almost square, measures 39.2 by 36.8 meters on two floors that are chamfered at the northern corner. It is mostly built of bricks set in mortar. It houses a school with thirty student cells and classrooms, a mosque and a mausoleum arranged around the courtyard. The combination of theses three functions under one roof is the only available example in Baghdad. It recalls earlier Seljuk buildings, especially in its distinctive entrance decoration. The complex is accessible through a monumental portal with a pointed arch set in a rectangular frame reaching two floors, in the style of the later Seljuk Ilkhanid constructions. The arch is made of several recessed alternating concave and convex bands of lavishly incised stucco with terracotta inserts with deep arabesque designs, rope and floral motifs. The entrance is formed by a barrel vaulted passageway intersecting with a square vaulted chamber with recesses on its two sides similar to two iwans with pointed arched openings. It communicates through the courtyard with a similar opening. Above the entrance lies the watchman's room with two windows looking onto the courtyard and the street. Around the window on the façade are several lines of elaborate inscriptions explaining the intention of the patron, while geometric and floral motifs carved in stucco frame the lower openings. The entrance in flanked by two semicircular decorated buttresses of 10.8 meters, the left hand side of which forms the base of the minaret. Its lower part is decorated with geometric patterns similar to the ones of the gated iwan while the upper trunk bears no decoration. It ends with a balcony built on eight bands of brick muqarnas and topped with a circular dome at 26.4 meters high from ground level. The inner courtyard is almost a square measuring 21 by 20 meters. It is surrounded by the mosque, the tomb of the founder and an iwan with several rooms or cells opening onto the courtyard. Four staircases insure vertical circulation to the upper story consisting mainly of student cells. Three doors underneath a wooden tarimah (overhang on wooden slim columns with a higher central section) built in the courtyard constitute the mosque access. The central door is the largest entrance, it faces the qibla wall and the mihrab. A second mihrab is situated in the left section of the prayer hall. The mosque is thus divided into three chambers by means of two large pointed transverse arches supported by the longitudinal wall on both sides. A large dome with eight windows, sits on three sided pendentives. It covers the central bay of the mihrab, while two smaller domes on concave pendentives cover the two side bays. The central dome pendentives are decorated with terracotta geometric honeycomb patterns. The mihrab located in the central bay below the biggest dome is a pointed arched niche enclosed in a rectangular frame where the original structure was built. The niche is flanked by incised borders displaying leaf scrolls motifs, each subtly different. Facing the prayer hall is an opened iwan leading onto the courtyard. It was used as the main outdoor study space; it spans the two floors and reaches 10.8 meters high. The iwan displays a pointed barrel vault with an inner wall decorated with floral motifs and inscriptions carved. This stucco work is now exhibited at the Baghdad museum. Facing the main entrance of the madrasa was the tomb chamber of Mirjan. He was buried there in 1372. It is now destroyed. The tomb chamber is accessible from the courtyard through an arched doorway set in a plain rectangular recess bearing no ornament except an arched window with mashrabiyya located above. The tomb chamber is square in plan with recesses on its four sides in a way similar to four iwans creating the impression of a cross-shaped plan. The tomb chamber is topped with a dome that has no equal in Iraq. It is built on a high ribbed circular drum of hazar-baf construction brickwork (the are also called engaged columns), The pointed arched profile dome is separated from the ribbed drum with a band bearing a geometrical pattern in two colored glazed tiles. The interior has minimal decoration, as it was not supposed to be his tomb. On the lower section there are varied decorative patterns derived from palmette motifs, star and cruciform motifs interlaced with vegetal motifs, stalactites, and inscriptions. The dome from the interior is composed of a shell with twenty-four ribs. It sits on three layers of muqarnas of different shape that insure the transition from square to circle. The muqarnas layers are perforated by two windows lighting the space below. The tomb chamber is connected by a doorway to a side hall toped by a smaller dome. Suleiman Pasha, Wali of Baghdad in 1785, started the first restoration of the complex. It is illustrated by a poem inscribed on a glazed tile panel placed above the main entrance of musalla. According to which: he enlarged the prayer hall by adding two halls, one on each side that was reached by large openings with segmental arches; he covered the original brick mihrab with decoration; built a brick minbar covered with glazed tiled of light green and white; tiled the lower part of the walls up to one meter level with the same glazed tiles; built a square platform for ablutions. These additions suggest that Suleiman Pasha's objectives were to transform this madrasa to a congregational mosque which would later be called Jami' Mirjan or Mosque al Mirjan. The musalla was later, during the reign of Midhat Pacha in 1871, coated with plaster. The latest restorations were carried in 1926 sponsored by Vizier Muhammad Amin Ali Pasha: he repaved the courtyard; renewed the zulla with a modern one; replaced the brick minbar with a new wooden one. He also restored the tarimah in front of the prayer hall and enlarged its three doors, decorating its walls with colored motifs and repairing the inscriptions on the outer entrance façade. Modifications to the façade resulted in meaning distortions due to the omitting of some words and the replacement by others. Sources: Al-Janab Tariq Jawad, 1982, Studies in Medieval Iraqi Architecture, Baghdad, Ministry of culture and Information, State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage, 113-139. Meinecke, Michael. 1992. Die Mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517). Glückstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin, I/127. Michell, George, Ed: 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World. London, Thames and Hudson, 248. Strika V., Khalil J. 1987. The Islamic Architecture of Baghdad. Napoli: Instituto Universitario Orientale, 46-51 Uluçam, Abdüsselam. 1989. Irak'taki Türk Mimari Eserleri. Ankara: Kültür Bakanligi, 113-118.

Madrasa al-Mirjaniyya

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IRQ0172

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IRQ0170

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IRQ0169

Baghdad Monuments (Tabbaa Archive)

<div style="text-align: justify;">Dr.&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/authorities/9259" target="_blank" data-bypass="true">Yasser Tabbaa</a>, a prominent scholar in Islamic art and architecture, donated his teaching collection of 35mm slides to the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT in the summer of 2015. The collection also included two&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/collections/1305/details " target="_blank" data-bypass="true">original notebooks</a>&nbsp;documenting some of Dr. Tabbaa's travels. In addition, the online collection includes a select number of his&nbsp;<a href="https://archnet.org/collections/1304/details " target="_blank" data-bypass="true">publications</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The collection spans the majority of the Islamic world but is particularly strong in its documentation of the medieval Islamic architectural heritage of Syria, eastern Turkey, and Iraq. Together, this core group of original photographs records many of the most significant monuments in the historical regions of the Jazira (or Jazirat Aqur, the term medieval geographers used to denote the lands between the northern parts of the Tigris and Euphrates, including Mosul, Raqqa, Diyarbakir and Mardin) and Bilad al-Sham (a medieval toponym denoting greater Syria-Palestine with its major cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Damascus, Jerusalem, and their hinterlands). Pertinent to the events of today, Dr. Tabbaa’s collection documents many of the monuments damaged or destroyed in recent conflicts in Iraq and Syria. His images and notes will be used in the continuing effort of AKDC to substantiate and record the loss of cultural heritage throughout the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The digital collection is divided into groups to reflect the general system of geographic and chronological organization of sites in Dr. Tabbaa's slide cabinets. These groups appear as thumbnails on the main collection page and the images within them can be accessed by clicking on the thumbnail and then clicking "view collection."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Please note: This collection is under development and digitization of Dr. Tabbaa's slides is ongoing.&nbsp; Images will be made available as soon as possible. &nbsp;A <a href="https://www.archnet.org/publications/10400" target="_blank" data-bypass="true">preliminary inventory</a> is available to offer an idea of the scope and contents of the collection. If you need specific images from this collection, please contact <a data-bypass="true" target="_blank" href="mailto:akdc@mit.edu">AKDC</a> directly.</div> (<a data-bypass="true" target="_blank" href="http://archnet.org/authorities/2684">Sharon C. Smith</a>, 8 October 2015)

Yasser Tabbaa Archive

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IAA708422

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Baghdad Monuments (Tabbaa Archive)

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