Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum: Architecture in Islamic Arts

by Margaret S. Graves

The exhibition, Architecture in Islamic Arts: Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum, is divided into five sections: The Fortress and the City, which features architectural elements and depictions of fortified towns; Sacred Typographies, which explores the sites and monuments of Islamic pilgrimage through paintings and drawings; Religious and Funerary Architecture, which examines mosques and commemorative shrines; The Palace, which looks at the residences of royal families; and Gardens, Pavilions and Tents, which examines palace life when it is extended into nature.

The catalogue to the exhibition features a preface by His Highness the Aga Khan and essays by Sussan Babaie, Margaret Graves, Renata Holod, Nasser Rabbat, David Roxburgh, Kishwar Rizvi, and James Wescoat.

364 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Horus]

This lavish and oversized book is a wonderful catalogue of much of the permanent collection housed at the Aga Khan Museum. The photographs are plentiful although more close-ups would have just added to the amount of information included herein. There are many informative essays regarding the history, mainly, of khufic scripts, calligraphy and portraiture in the Islamic tradition. This book is definitely for those interested in calligraphy and illumination (there are some discussions of historical process) but certainly for all art types and middle eastern history.

[reveurdart]

Excellent.

[reveurdart]

Excellent.