Baghdad (AR)

Eye's Delight

  • Series Qatar Museums
  • Binding Paperback with flaps
  • Size 22 x 28 cm
  • Pages 304
  • Illustrations 155
  • Language Arabic
  • Year 2022
  • ISBN 9788836651443
  • Price € 40,00  € 38,00
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Abstract

There is hardly a city in the history of the Islamic world that evokes such powerful images of greatness and sophistication as Baghdad. ‘Mother of the World’, ‘Mistress over the Countries’, ‘Navel of the Globe’, ‘City of Peace’, ‘Dome of Islam’, ‘Spring of Wisdom’, ‘Mine of Wonders’, and ‘Paradise on Earth’ are amongst the numerous accolades the city has received throughout its history. Even after 30 years of recent war and violence, Baghdad still holds a special place in the hearts of those from the region; it will forever remain one of the most significant centres of medieval Arab and Islamic civilisation, evoking grandeur, sophistication and erudition.

The exhibition catalogue Baghdad: Eye’s Delight celebrates Baghdad as the most important and influential city ever created in the Islamic world, revealing its outstanding heritage as the capital of the great Abbasid caliphs (750-1258 CE) but also its renewed period of prosperity in the 20th century thanks to the discovery of oil.
Through the pages the readers will take on an imaginary tour across centuries, highlighting Baghdad's role as a city of power, scholarship and riches, ending with a look at the city's social fabric, its cosmopolitan population, and many traditions, which have - despite war and destruction - enabled the city to thrive, time and time again.

Contents

Foreword
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Introduction
Julia Gonnella

BAGHDAD CITY OF
PEACE

The Making of the ‘Round’ City of Baghdad: On Abbasid Glory, the Sense of Order, and Urban Surveillance
Avinoam Shalem

Baghdad Lives On in Poetry and Prose
Beatrice Gründler

Baghdad under Buyid, Seljuq and Mongol Rule
Vanessa Van Renterghem

Urban Strategies in Baghdad: Reviewing a Century of Socio-Urban Schemes (1880–1980)
Caecilia Pieri

Baghdad under King Faisal II: A Mecca for International Architects
Pedro Azara

Palimpsestic Urbanism: Glimpses of Post-World War II Baghdad
Amin Alsaden

Visions for the Future: Iraqi Architects of Baghdad
Reem Aboughazala and Sheikha Aljohara Al Thani

BAGHDAD CITY OF
PALACES

Builders of Glory: The Lost Palaces of the Abbasid Dynasty
Thomas Leisten

‘And the Eyes Gaze, Roaming in a Brilliant Place’: Behind the Walls of Abbasid Palaces
Simone Struth

Dress to Impress: Fashion at the Early Abbasid Court
Tara Desjardins

The Palaces of Baghdad during the 19th and 20th Centuries
Ihsan Fethi

From Slave to Queen: The Story of al-Khayzuran
Nicoletta Fazio and Simone Struth

BAGHDAD CITY OF
KNOWLEDGE

‘You Have a Wisdom That Made Life Continue’: Searching for Knowledge in Baghdad
Nicoletta Fazio

The Translation Movement in Abbasid Baghdad
Kevin T. van Bladel

Book Culture and Manuscript Production in Baghdad: From the Mongols to the Ottomans
Massumeh Farhad and Simon Rettig

Baghdad and Its Historians
Jens Scheiner

Books, Libraries, al-Mutanabbi Street
Wassilena Sekulova

BAGHDAD CITY OF
MARKETS AND COMMERCE

Baghdad and the Markets
Hugh Kennedy

Basra, Gateway to the Indian Ocean from the 10th to the 20th Century
Andrew Petersen

Between the Desert and the Sown: The Canals of Baghdad
Magnús T. Bernhardsson

Modern Baghdad and the Art of Infrastructure
Peter H. Christensen

Abbasid Gold: Textiles and Jewellery
Tara Desjardins

BAGHDAD CITY OF
THE PEOPLE

‘New York on the Tigris’: Demography, Society and Daily Life in Baghdad
Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya

Baghdad at the Crossroads of Musics from the Arab and Near Eastern Worlds
Véronique Rieffel

The Arabic Free Verse Poets: A Baghdadi Avant-Garde Literary Movement in the 20th Century
Shathil Nawaf Taqa

Whose Modern Baghdad? Artistic Depictions of City Life in the Mid-20th Century
Sarah Johnson

Eyewitness in Iraq: Photography of Everyday Life
Giles M. Hudson

Exhibited Works

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Image Credits

Events
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