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The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus - Art, Faith and Empire in Early Islam (Hardcover)
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The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus - Art, Faith and Empire in Early Islam (Hardcover)
Series: Gingko Library Art Series
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The Great Mosque of Damascus is an iconic monument of world
architecture, and the oldest mosque still standing in something
close to its original state. This book is the first in-depth study
of its foundation by the Umayyad dynasty, just as the first Islamic
century was drawing to a close. Towards the end of 705, the Umayyad
caliph al-Walid determined to build a new monumental mosque at the
heart of his capital Damascus. This required the seizure of a
church that had stood there since the forceful closure, centuries
earlier, of the Roman temple of Jupiter, the walls of which still
stand today. When the Christians refused to cede their building,
al-Walid decided to take it by force. This controversial act broke
with the consensual politics of the early Islamic empire and
triggered a major crisis, the ripples of which were felt as far
afield as the Byzantine Empire. Still, events ran their course.
Once the rubble of the church was cleared, al-Walid and his
supervisors deployed complex logistics to create a building of
dazzling opulence and splendour that marked a turning point in
mosque architecture. The book anchors the foundation of the Umayyad
Mosque in its pre-Islamic past and brings to life the commotion
that followed the destruction of the church. Alain George explores
the process whereby craftsmen and materials were gathered to build
the new mosque, seeks to reconstruct its Umayyad appearance, and
investigates the subtle aesthetics that underpinned its stupendous
ornament. This beautifully illustrated volume is based upon
extensive research on new textual and visual sources, including
Umayyad court poems and rare nineteenth-century photographs.
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