Islamic Art

The Great Mosque of Sang Cipta Rasa is located in front of the Kasepuhan Palace Complex to the west of the square in front of the Kasepuhan Palace, Cirebon. The construction of this mosque was assisted by Sunan Bonang and Sunan Kalijaga. The physical work was carried out by the former Majapahit architect, Raden Sepat, assisted by 500 of his troops who were former Majapahit troops. (Budi, 2015). The religious shift from the end of the Hindu-Buddhist era to the entry of Islam affected the facade of the Great Mosque of Sang Cipta Rasa in Cirebon. Elements forming a building facade generally include the site entrance, ground floor zone, arcades, windows and building entrances, fences, roofs, and signs. and ornaments. This study uses a descriptive technique in its explanation. The research method used is a qualitative method, by observing the variable character of the facade of the Great Mosque of Sang Cipta. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the facade design of the Great Mosq...

This study explores the connection between archaic construction methods in pottery in Central Asian, mostly that of tandoors (tonurs), and present-day building technologies associated with the use of unbaked clay ("pakhsa", "kuloh", "adobe bricks"). Ethnographic fi eldwork was done in several areas of Central Asia, including the Sughd Region of Tajikistan, the Turkestan Region of Kazakhstan, the Fergana and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan, and the Batkent Region of Kyrgyzstan. Traditions of constructing tandoors were examined; materials relating to various building technologies using clay were collected and systematized. Two main methods of pakhsa construction were identifi ed-lining up undried clay lumps in layers, or backfi lling clay into a mold ("packed techniques"). The fi rst was developed in construction technology using kuloh-dried lumps of clay joined with mortar. The technique of building tandoors from two layers of slabs, with subsequent transformation into a band, and coils connected pairwise during drying, resembles that of pakhsa construction by placing clay lumps in several rows across the width of the wall in strips ("kurses") laid along the entire length of it. This confi rms the common origin of the most archaic construction methods in pottery and construction from clay in architecture.

Simeulue, located in the Indian Ocean, has attracted a lot of people’s attention after the tsunami hit the region in 2004. The low number of casualties in Simeulue compared to other affected made the island a spotlight for further research. Some people argue that some forms of oral traditions exist among the people of Simeulue have played a role in saving many lives from the impact of the disaster. Nandong is a popular oral tradition in Simeulue. This oral tradition is important and considered as local wisdom because it contains norms and values inherited by the Simeulue community from generation to generation. This article aims to explore the substance and existence of this local wisdom in the Simeulue community. This study was conducted using qualitative methods. Our research data were collected during fieldwork through interviews, participant-observation and archival reviews. This research found that nandong is a distinctive oral tradition that is different from other oral tradit...

Répandue de l’Asie orientale à l’Europe depuis l’antiquité, la pratique du don de robe d’honneur constitue un élément central des rituels curiaux en Iran à la période moderne. Le khal‘at est aussi bien un marqueur d’autorité  qu’un élément d’apaisement des relations sociales, fréquemment mentionné dans les sources : il est ainsi distribué au moment du nouvel an, ou en remerciement de services rendus, et peut parfois porter un message politique.
En 1722, la chute de la capitale safavide, Esfahān, devant une invasion afghane, remet brutalement en cause les structures politiques de l’empire et les pratiques de gouvernement. Dans un Iran rapidement exangue du fait de la guerre, de l’émigration et des levées d’impôts, la personnalisation du pouvoir par Nāder Shāh s’oppose à l’administration pléthorique mise en place auparavant. Comment les robes d’honneur accompagnent-elles cette évolution majeure ?
En nous appuyant sur les sources écrites, nous nous interrogerons tout d’abord sur les différentes circonstances dans lesquelles sont conférés les khal‘at : grandes occasions curiales, comme le couronnement de Nāder Shāh, les ambassades ou les cérémonies de nowruz, mais aussi moments spécifiquement militaires, comme les redditions de villes ou le compliment de généraux et de troupes. Nous mettrons ainsi en évidence qu’à la période moderne, la robe d’honneur constitue un langage universel, permettant de créer des liens par delà les contigences historiques, entre empires, entre communautés religieuses, entre vainqueurs et vaincus.
Cette universalité s’explique en partie par la souplesse même de la notion de khal‘at. La « robe d’honneur » ne désigne pas un vêtement précis, mais un don où l’élément textile prend une part importante, qui peut être accompagné d’objets divers, notamment des armes, voire de montures harnachées, et qui donne lieu à des pratiques de vêture cérémonielle. Les descriptions textuelles, mais aussi les représentations et quelques objets conservés permettent d’appréhender la diversité de ces cadeaux, dont la forme est essentielle pour véhiculer le message du donateur au receveur. Afin d’honorer un prélat catholique arménien, Nāder Shāh fait ainsi concevoir, en dehors de toute considération religieuse, un vêtement liturgiques à images christiques, quand son prédécesseur, Shāh Tahmāsp II, avait pu humilier un général en lui envoyant des vêtements de femme.
On peut alors se demander comment les souverains, dans le contexte particulier de l’Iran post-safavide, parviennent à se procurer des robes d’honneur, tant en quantité qu’en qualité. Cette dernière question peine à trouver des réponses précises, les éléments de logistique et les conditions de fabrication des textiles et autres œuvres d’art étant rarement précisés dans les sources. Quelques indices indirects permettent toutefois de proposer des pistes : réutilisation du butin, poursuite des ateliers de production à Kashān, etc.

Es el  segundo volumen sobre Alhambra. Muhammad V, en el que  se estudian los espacios en donde se celebró el mawlid de 764/1362. En este volumen estudia el espacio arquitectónico donde se celebra este acontecimiento que narra Ibn al-Jatib,  esta zona del Palacio de Comares desde su origen, anterior a Muhammad V, la evolución y cambios producidos a lo largo del periodo nazarí y, por último, los cambios y transformaciones que se producen bajo la corte cristiana. Así como las intervenciones y restauraciones realizadas por los diferentes arquitectos conservadores contemporáneos. 
Se analiza el uso de cada espacio, la bella y rica decoración, la geometría de cada composición, así como su epigrafía.
El segundo volumen está documentado con 372 fotografías históricas y modernas, grabados y dibujos realizados por su colaborador, Manuel López Reche que le acompañó en su carrera investigadora como dibujante.

Neslihan KAYA Öz Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'ndaki ilk Katolik misyonerlik faaliyetleri, başta Fransa olmak üzere İspanya ve İtalya'nın desteğiyle 17. yüzyılın başlarında Fransiskenler ve Kapuçinler tarafından başlatılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda Kapuçin misyoner rahipleri, 17. yüzyıl ortalarından itibaren Mardin'e gelerek Süryani, Keldani ve Ermeni Hristiyan topluluklarını Katolikliğe yönlendirme amacıyla faaliyet göstermiş; cemaatlerini Roma (Vatikan) Kilisesi'ne bağlamayı hedeflemişlerdir. Kapuçinler, Mardin, Diyarbakır ve Urfa olmak üzere üç merkezde etkinlik göstermiştir. Mardin'de ise günümüzde I. Derece Kentsel Sit Alanı içinde yer alan Latifiye Mahallesi'nde kilise, manastır, okul ve hastane gibi yapılar inşa edilmiş; rahip ve rahibelere ait yapılarla bölgenin dini ve sosyal yapısında etkili olmuşlardır. 1915 yılına kadar süren bu faaliyetlerin ardından yapıların büyük bir kısmı yol yapım çalışmaları sırasında yıkılmış; günümüze yalnızca zemin ve birinci kattan oluşan bir okul binası ulaşabilmiştir. Bu yapının teras katına açılan güney cephesindeki giriş kapısında Latince ve Arapça kitabeler ile Katolik sembolleri yer almaktadır. Söz konusu yapı, Kapuçin varlığının günümüze ulaşan tek somut örneği olarak kabul edilmekle birlikte, ileride yapılacak araştırmalarda başka yapılara da ulaşılması mümkündür.

Readings and amending of five Arabic inscriptions from Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, are hereunder reviewed and amended, where some orientalists and Arab researchers had tried and published them with errors and some lapses. These emendations are complementary to their work, which made us understand them more clearly or differently. The study completed and amended the reading of a decree at the wall of the city of Damascus dated between )851-857 A.H. /1447-1453(. It abolished the forced sale of sugar and salt to the people of the locality of Al-Farayen, in addition to another issue; that was not disclosed by the decree and is still ambiguous. But we have suggested that it relates to a dispute among people about sharing the water of the Barada River, depending on the news reported by historian Mohamed Ibn Tulun al-Dimashqi. The study also amended the reading of an inscription at Bāb al-Maqām in Aleppo, dated around )859-863 A.H.(. Its subject is the warning of taking the taxes of the Dishar ‫راشدلا‬ )sheep and livestock(, thus making us understand the text more fully and accurately. The study also emended reading an inscription in The Madrasa al-Sultaniyya in Aleppo, dated )874 A.H. / 1469(. Its subject is a warning against changing the function of the mausoleum of al-Malik al-Ẓahīr Ghāzī, by forbidding the erection of tents cloth in front of it; in which goods are stored, or using the mausoleum itself as a store. This helped us understand the text differently. The study was also successful in completing a reading of a decree in the Hama Mosque issued to legalize what the detainee pays to the jailer in Hama prison. It was issued by Emir Yashbak b. Haidar, the procurator of Hama in )896 A.H. /1490 A.D.(. Finally, the study emended the reading of an early Ottoman inscription dated )926 A.H. / 1519( on the pulpit of al-Nūrī Mosque in Ḥimṣ. Its subject is the abolition of levies on the remains of those who die by drowning, fire, falling from a high place, or being killed under the rubble. This inscription remained of distorted reading but we succeeded in reading and amended it. Although the study's concern is to correct and amend the reading of those inscriptions without taking care to study the Mamlūk titles, -which will not add much to what we know about the Mamlūk era. However, it interpreted the texts and approximated the historical circumstances that called for their inscription, with little attention to the study of writing script, because the study of inscriptions from the perspective of Paleography requires detail and a broader and more comprehensive investigation, and requires many pages that this study cannot provide. Keywords :Arabic inscriptions in Syria, Mamlūk decrees, excises on sheep, the forced sale of goods, levies on dead bodies. This decree was inscribed on the entrance of Bab al-Maqam in Aleppo and was issued to abolish a tax that was unlawfully imposed on shepherds and their livestock. The Mamluk government had sought to regulate and tax grazing animals, but the decree prohibited such practices and sought to protect the livelihoods of herders. The inscription consists of several lines in Thuluth script, and like other decrees of the period, it includes religious and legal justifications for its enforcement.

This paper approaches the issue of the mechanisms and routes of transmission through the celebrated phenomenon of the translation of scientific works, to and from Greek, Arabic and Latin, that had its beginnings in Baghdad in the eighth century and expanded throughout European Mediterranean centers of scholarship by the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The focus is on the famous De Materia Medica of the first-century CE scholar Dioscorides and specifically on illustrated versions of this text. I analyze the process of textual and visual transmission by introducing the concept of an interactive space of translation as a theoretical framework for understanding how translation operated as a mediator of exchange. The contention here is that through the negotiation of these various intersections, translation served as a dynamic, collaborative and ongoing process that played a significant role in the formation and transmission of both art and scholarship throughout the medieval Mediterranean.

Una experiencia reciente realizada en el Alcázar de Arriba de Carmona ha supuesto una nueva forma de integrar las aportaciones de la arqueología en el marco de un equipo multidisciplinar. La metodología de trabajo empleada en este caso, ha hecho posible que los resultados de la investigación histórica y la arqueología interactúen con las aportaciones de otras disciplinas implicadas durante el proceso de restauración y puesta en valor de este BIC ejemplo de la arquitectura defensiva andaluza. Dentro de la línea de mis trabajos a nivel profesional y de investigación realizada en el Alcázar de Arriba de Carmona y en otros Bienes de la Arquitectura defensiva , este trabajo de fin de máster pretende ofrecer una primera visión de la situación en la que se encuentran los arqueólogos durante su intervención en los Bienes arquitectónicos defensivos, aportar información sobre el tipo de estudio y herramientas necesarias para realizarlo y la metodología que ha de llevarse a cabo durante el proceso de obra para obtener unos resultados correctos y que además sean útiles para la futura divulgación y puesta en valor del Bien sobre el que se actúa. Este trabajo forma parte de mi tesis doctoral matriculada con el nombre de

Dr. Dimitris Liakos (Thessaloniki) "Patronage on Mount Athos in the light of written sources, shinning artworks and recent archaeological findings (10th -early 16th centuries)" Spanning the period from the 10th until to the 16th century, the relations between the Athonite monasteries and several persons, such as emperors, aristocrats, military or administrative dignitaries, rulers of other Orthodox countries, patriarchs, bishops, abbots, monks and laymen, were intense and complicated. Among other things, they are strongly reflected by luxury donations that directly echo the social status and the economic power of their patrons. Moreover, taking into account documents, inventories, wills, etc. numerous artworks kept in Athonite churches and sacristies, we can gain an idea of the wealth that was at the disposal of the monasteries and mainly what has been lost, since such objects have always been vulnerable to theft, fire etc. Ιn this lecture we will focus on patterns of patronage on Mount Athos from the 10th to the 16th century, with a selected presentation of some donations for the building of monasteries, as well as donations of luxury items. Dimitris Liakos studied at the Faculty of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1991Thessaloniki ( -1995) ) and earned his Ph.D. in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art from the Faculty of Architecture at the same university (2000). He currently works at the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalkidiki and Mount Athos, under the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Greece. His research focuses on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine sculpture, woodcarving, metalwork, minor objects, inscriptions, and opus sectile pavements of Mount Athos.

Architecture is a tool for encountering human needs, and in this regard, mosques, as one of the manifestations of Islamic architecture, have a distinct role in meeting human spiritual needs. Mosques over time have unified principles for creating hierarchies. This research seeks to recognize the hierarchy of the mosques of Shiraz in which the obtained information can be applied in contemporary mosques. Accordingly, first, by referring to architectural texts and experts' views, the principle of spatial hierarchy is recognized and then the scientific definition of the word and its foundations are found. For this purpose, a descriptive-analytical method is applied to obtain theoretical foundations; furthermore, the method of space method with the help of Depthmap software was also used to analyze four mosques. The research findings express the view that the mosques of shiraz behold public spaces such as the courtyards in first degree and other areas that were more cloistered and are...

Historical cartographic materials provide us with significant evidence not only about the evolution of spatial setting in a city and region, but also conception of it from different worldviews. In this context, Bodrum, the site of ancient Halicarnassus in the Eastern Mediterranean, can be considered as a perfect laboratory for the observation of this evolution and conceptions owing to the availability of a number of historical maps belonging to the different eras and traditions. By revealing four mapping traditions for elaboration of the historical cartographic materials available for Bodrum, the study re-read the history of Bodrum city with reference to, on the one hand, the evolution of spatial configuration of the old and remarkable buildings in the city, and on the other hand, the manifestation of the different world views and conceptions, which is realized by employing a two-folded lens that reformulates history as cartography while contextualizing cartography as history. Geore...

Here are the contents of JIM 16/2 (2025): Arabic Encrypted Texts: Bābur Shāh’s Coded Qur’ān (Afghanistan, 10th/16th Century) ARIANNA D’OTTONE Peeking through the Bookshelves: Book Culture in 13th-/19th-Century Bilād al-Shām: The Case of Yūsuf Ṣayfī’s Manuscript Collection at the University of Leeds MATTEO PIMPINELLI À propos d’un ancien manuscrit du Coran en écriture coufique, donné à la Grande Mosquée de Malaga ÉLÉONORE CELLARD Patrick Russell et les manuscrits des Mille et une nuits IBRAHIM AKEL

The "Bilderverbot", the ban on images of living creatures in Islam, and its circumventions, have been the subject of constant debate for several centuries. As far as we know, the first traces of such debates, or more accurately accusations, date back to the Council of Nicaea II in 787. The first "Critical Dissertation" devoted to "this question, whether the figures of men and animals are banned in the Alcoran" was published in 1789 (Toderini 1789). There are still many publications on the topic today. These debates themselves have been the subject of historiographical analyses, for example by Christiane Gruber (Gruber 2019) or Finbarr Barry Flood (Flood 2022). The longevity and passionate nature of the discussion can be explained, among other things, by the fact that it is marked by the radical paradigms of incoherence and even contradiction. As Islam is generally considered to be "a fiercely trancendent and iconoclastic doctrine" (Moin 2015), the image is often confined to the limbo of anomaly, from "irregularity" (Toderini 1789) to "implausibility" (Papadopoulo 1976). 6 e Congrès des études sur le Moyen-Orient et les mondes musulmans du GIS MOMM Strasbourg, Le Patio (22 rue René Descartes) 24-27 juin 2025

This was a contribution to a  large-format "coffee table" book, that emphasized the artistic elements of Bengal Sultanate coinage, circa 1205-1576. It highlighted a series of high-definition close-ups of selected coin specimens, that together illustrated the wide variety of artistic themes and calligraphic styles that unfolded over the centuries in medieval Bengali silver coinage.

Readings and amending of five Arabic inscriptions from Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, are hereunder reviewed and amended, where some orientalists and Arab researchers had tried and published them with errors and some lapses. These emendations are complementary to their work, which made us understand them more clearly or differently. The study completed and amended the reading of a decree at the wall of the city of Damascus dated between )851-857 A.H. /1447-1453(. It abolished the forced sale of sugar and salt to the people of the locality of Al-Farayen, in addition to another issue; that was not disclosed by the decree and is still ambiguous. But we have suggested that it relates to a dispute among people about sharing the water of the Barada River, depending on the news reported by historian Mohamed Ibn Tulun al-Dimashqi. The study also amended the reading of an inscription at Bāb al-Maqām in Aleppo, dated around )859-863 A.H.(. Its subject is the warning of taking the taxes of the Dishar ‫راشدلا‬ )sheep and livestock(, thus making us understand the text more fully and accurately. The study also emended reading an inscription in The Madrasa al-Sultaniyya in Aleppo, dated )874 A.H. / 1469(. Its subject is a warning against changing the function of the mausoleum of al-Malik al-Ẓahīr Ghāzī, by forbidding the erection of tents cloth in front of it; in which goods are stored, or using the mausoleum itself as a store. This helped us understand the text differently. The study was also successful in completing a reading of a decree in the Hama Mosque issued to legalize what the detainee pays to the jailer in Hama prison. It was issued by Emir Yashbak b. Haidar, the procurator of Hama in )896 A.H. /1490 A.D.(. Finally, the study emended the reading of an early Ottoman inscription dated )926 A.H. / 1519( on the pulpit of al-Nūrī Mosque in Ḥimṣ. Its subject is the abolition of levies on the remains of those who die by drowning, fire, falling from a high place, or being killed under the rubble. This inscription remained of distorted reading but we succeeded in reading and amended it. Although the study's concern is to correct and amend the reading of those inscriptions without taking care to study the Mamlūk titles, -which will not add much to what we know about the Mamlūk era. However, it interpreted the texts and approximated the historical circumstances that called for their inscription, with little attention to the study of writing script, because the study of inscriptions from the perspective of Paleography requires detail and a broader and more comprehensive investigation, and requires many pages that this study cannot provide. Keywords :Arabic inscriptions in Syria, Mamlūk decrees, excises on sheep, the forced sale of goods, levies on dead bodies.

While there have been some studies on the transnational functioning of literatures over the past decade, their historical, geographical and material scope is usually fairly limited. The very few frameworks that are available have mostly been developed to function for post-nineteenthcentury literatures and, as such, are often difficult to reconcile with pre-modern situations; the very concept of 'transnationalism,' with its implicit idea of a nation, is even anachronistic from a long-term historical point of view. The great exception is Sheldon Pollock's book on Sanskrit cosmopolitanism, The language of the gods in the world of men : Sanskrit, culture, and power in premodern India, that already dates from 2006 and has inspired much discussion but did not have as much consequences. This conference wants to respond to these knowledge gaps by exploring the following topics: (1) Transnational awareness: To what extent do premodern literatures exhibit an awareness of their own transnational functioning? For instance, how do they present and negotiate the relationship between transnational functioning on the one hand and more local/regional CONFERENCE Pre-modern Literary Transnationalism from a Historical-Comparative Perspective

The discovery around 1990 of three world-maps centred on Mecca and fitted with a complex mathematical grid for finding the distance and direction of any locality to Mecca marked a new stage in our understanding of Muslim achievements in this aspect of applied mathematics. The scene  was Isfahan, regarded as the most beautiful city in the world, and the time was the 17th century. The makers of the three maps were the two sons of the leading mathematician in Iran at the time, Muhammad Baqir Yazdi. The author presents evidence that the theory underlying the maps was developed in 9th- and 10th-century Baghdad, at the time the mathematical capital of the world.

Tous droits réservés Composition et mise en pages Emmanuelle Capet, UMR 8167 Couverture Carte de l'Arabie d'après les différents morceaux qu'a donnés M. Niebuhr de cette partie de l'Asie et d'après M. Danville pour l'intérieur des terres, 178-; source gallica.bnf.fr/Bibliothèque municipale du Havre 4 e de couverture Monogrammes composés de lettres sudarabiques représentant le prénom et le nom de Christian Robin selon l'usage des habitants de l'Arabie du Sud ancienne. Dessin : Mathilde Kania Ouvrage publié avec le soutien de l'UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée,

Convened by Nur Sobers Khan (Honorary Senior Research Fellow) and William Gallois (Professor of the Islamic Mediterranean)

Abstract
At the close of The Venture of Islam, Marshall Hodgson famously wrote that “It is possible that eventually Islam (like Christianity already in some circles) will prove to have its most creative thrust by way of the great ‘secular’ literature in which its challenge has been embedded, and will move among its heirs like a secret leaven. This workshop constitutes one of the first collective attempts to map the spiritual and mystical challenges which lie embedded within Sufi art forms, connecting specialised philosophical and theological literatures to the study of a set of emblematic visual texts from the Balkans, South Asia and the Maghreb. The symposium also provides a training opportunity in visual methodologies for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in Islamic Studies, as well as exploring the archival resources of Exeter’s Special Collections, Arab World Documentation Unit and the Digital Archive of the Middle East."

This study explores textual and visual representations of nature in the Ottoman Empire by focusing on Ottoman route manuals (menzilname or menzil books). Menzil books are a subgenre within the travel literature that systematically records various information about the condition of the route and way stations, landscape, plants, vegetation, animals, food and water supplies. Hence, this study examines ten exemplary route manuals written in Turkish by Ottoman subjects between the 16th and 19th centuries covering pilgrimage journeys, military expeditions, and official journeys for various purposes to reflect the wide variety of their content in terms of period and imagined interlocutor. It starts by defining the term “menzil” and continues by scrutinizing the textual and visual reflections of “nature” in aspects of landscape, flora, and fauna of the selected corpus. It argues that these route manuals’ textual and visual depictions of nature aim to provide the reader and future traveler with practical information rather than to provoke an aesthetic sensation or record a scientific description.

This article focuses on the architects, stonemasons and craftsmen of the Ayyūbid period (12 th-15 th centuries) in Upper Mesopotamia. Founded in Egypt in 1174, the Ayyūbid dynasty spread to Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Upper Mesopotamia, making significant artistic and architectural contributions to these regions. From 579H/1183 the Ayyūbids were active in important cities such as ʿAyntāb, Ar-Ruhā, Ḥarrān, Ᾱmid, Mayyāfāriqīn, Ḥiṣn Kayfā and Siʿirt in Upper Mesopotamia. Ḥiṣn Kayfā became one of the most important centres of the Ayyūbids in the region from the 12 th to the 15 th century. In addition, in cities such as Ᾱmid, Mardin, Dūnaysīr and Mayyāfāriqīn, the Artuqids lived under the Ayyūbids and minted coins reflecting this affiliation, bearing the names of Ayyūbid rulers. Arabic inscriptions on buildings often include the names of craftmen. Examples of architects working with the Artuqids and Ayyūbids can also be found in Ᾱmid and Mayyāfāriqīn. The Ayyūbid craftsmen included architects, stonemasons, minbar makers and plasterers. This study represents the first comprehensive examination of the workers of Ayyūbid architecture in Upper Mesopotamia from the 12 th to the 15 th centuries.

Pendahuluan Arsitektur merupakan cerminan kebudayaan suatu masyarakat yang berkembang seiring waktu, dipengaruhi oleh faktor geografis, sosial, ekonomi, dan keagamaan. Di kawasan Asia Tenggara, khususnya di Indonesia, akulturasi budaya telah memperkaya bentuk dan gaya arsitektur tradisional, termasuk arsitektur Melayu yang berkembang di wilayah Aceh (Siregar, 2015). Sebagai daerah yang memiliki sejarah panjang dalam hubungan perdagangan dan penyebaran Islam, Banda Aceh menjadi tempat bertemunya berbagai pengaruh budaya, salah satunya adalah pengaruh arsitektur Arab. Pengaruh arsitektur Arab mulai terasa sejak masuknya Islam ke Nusantara pada abad ke-13 melalui jalur perdagangan dan dakwah. Sebagai salah satu pintu masuk utama Islam di Indonesia, Aceh mengalami proses Islamisasi yang tidak hanya menyentuh aspek keagamaan, tetapi juga seni dan budaya, termasuk seni bangunan (Nasution, 2014). Bentuk-bentuk seperti kubah, lengkungan, dan ukiran kaligrafi menjadi bagian dari identitas visual yang mulai diadopsi oleh masyarakat lokal.

Rethinking the Present: Art, Imagination and Alternative Futures, in Climate Change: Artistic Interventions and Alternative Futures - 2025
The Summer School “Climate Change: Artistic Interventions and Alternative Futures” explores the pressing issues surrounding climate change and the role of artists in proposing new social and economic dynamics. Through an interdisciplinary approach involving scholars from usually distant academic fields such as art history, economics, management, sociology, and education, a speculative approach will be developed, aimed at understanding the dramatic environmental condition that has taken shape with the advent of the Anthropocene. In particular, the educational project moves from a reconsideration of cultural practices as the driving force behind social processes based on forms of public engagement, aimed at developing hypotheses of futuristic societies that are at least as desirable as they are practicable. Director: Francesco Maria Spampinato, UNIBO–DAR

As I recently concluded the first semester of a course exploring the cultural and social dimensions of language, with a particular focus on the intricate interplay between Arabic and Hebrew, I found myself reflecting on the broader philosophical and artistic implications of linguistic boundaries. Language, as a system of meaning, is both an enabler of expression and a constraint of thought. The limits of language, as famously articulated by Ludwig Wittgenstein, raise profound questions about the nature of communication, interpretation, and the inexpressible. These very ideas find a striking visual and conceptual resonance in the work of Saudi artist Nasser Al Salem, whose exhibition The Edge of Language interrogates the material and metaphysical boundaries of linguistic expression.

This essay seeks to intertwine Witgenstein’s philosophical insights on the limits of language with Al Salem’s artistic exploration of script, silence, and meaning. In doing so, it will also engage with the broader implications of language in the context of Arabic and Hebrew—two languages that are deeply entwined yet distinct, mutually reflective yet politically charged. By examining how Arabic and Hebrew serve as sites of convergence and conflict, I argue that language is not merely a neutral conduit for communication but a contested space where meaning, identity, and power are constantly negotiated.

This text tried to analyse social advancements of Afro descendants in the last years of slavery and the first decades of Republic following their strategies of survival during those years of social transformation and reorganization, facing remaining conflicts from the slave quarters. The main source studied were the processes of guardianships of under age Afro descendants (67 processes involving 135 children -1869-1900). Criminal process and the local newspapers were used too. Thanks to them was possible follow the success and failure of those actors, their relationship with the Establishment. Were emphasized the social advancements of * Artigo recebido em 13.09.2004 e aprovado em 13.01.2005.

“The Neighbours of [God’s] Messenger Deserve to Be Honoured and Endorsed”: A Letter Roll from the Medinan Notables to Sultan Süleymān (TSMA E. 7750), in Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya, Gazing at Mecca and Medina:  Premodern Representations of the Ḥaramayn (Leiden: Brill, 2025), 32-61

Turkish musical terminology is a highly specialized field of inquiry, dealing not only with the linguistic aspects of the contemporary Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) used by Turkish musicians and musicologists, but also with complex socio-cultural issues originating from the history of the reforms of both Turkish music and Turkish language. In this chapter, the author focuses solely on the Ottoman Turkish era. She presents 64 musical terms of Greek and Italian origin collected from 10 Ottoman Turkish dictionaries (17th-19th centuries). She puts the linguistic data into a wider context focusing on two specific diachronic aspects of her broader research on Turkish terminology of art music: 1) how the Greek and Italian languages used by the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire influenced terminology of the makam music, and 2) to what extent the westernizing reforms of the Ottoman musical culture conducted in the first half of the 19th century are reflected in the lexicography of the period. To answer both questions, she employs a sociocultural understanding of lexicography by seeing the lexicographer as an active observer of not only the language which he describes in a dictionary, but also of the culture of the people who use that language.

El arte de la alfarería alcanzó en la Granada nazarí una de sus más elevadas cotas, no solo por la diversidad de sus técnicas y diseños decorativos, y por la excepcionalidad de los “jarrones de la Alhambra”, monumento de la loza dorada, sino también por la renovada función ornamental y simbólica de sus motivos caligráficos y por el extenso empleo de la cerámica vidriada en la arquitectura áulica y residencial. Dentro de la enorme variedad tipológica de la producción cerámica nazarí, que comprende desde elementos para las cubiertas y la infraestructura hidráulica de las construcciones hasta candiles y pequeños juguetes y silbatos, pasando por las vasijas para el almacenaje y los distintos usos culinarios, fabricadas unas sin ornamentación ni vidriado, otras con decoración parcial o completa aplicada con técnicas simples o mixtas (estampillado, esgrafiado, cuerda seca, vidriados policromados con o sin reflejos metálicos dorados, etc.), buena parte de las piezas, y también de la azulejería parietal de los palacios, conservan el protagonismo que tuvo la caligrafía árabe y sus contenidos en etapas precedentes del arte islámico andalusí y oriental, a la vez que aportan interesantes innovaciones formales y una decidida poetización de los objetos.

Salah satu hasil kajian yang dilakukan oleh peneliti di Kantor Balai Pelestarian Nilai Budaya Sumatera Barat yakni mengkaji dan kemudian menerbitkan para maestro yang ada di Propinsi Sumatera Selatan. Direktorat Internalisasi dan Diplomasi Budaya Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan telah mendefinisikan maestro dengan cukup jelas. Maestro seni adalah “seseorang yang berkiprah dan sebagai pelopor dalam bidang kreativitas di bidang seni tradisi yang unik/khas, langka atau hampir punah dengan kriteria sebagai berikut : (1) berusia di atas 60 tahun dan telah berkiprah di bidangnya sekurang-kurangnya 35 tahun, (2) memiliki kemampuan sebagai pelopor dalam bidang kreativitas yang ditekuninya, (3) seni tradisi yang ditekuninya adalah sesuatu yang unik/khas, langka atau hampir punah (kelangkaan seni yang ditangani/ditekuni), dan (4) melakukan alih pengetahuan atau mewariskan keahliannnya kepada generasi muda. Khasanah itu kemudian oleh Kantor Balai Pelestarian Nilai Budaya Sumatera Barat me...

أمدتنا المقابر المصرية القديمة بعدد كبير من الصور والنماذج لسفن ومراكب بأنواع وأحجام مختلفة، كان للمصريين الريادة في صنعها، وأبحروا بها، ولدينا أوان خزفية يربو تاريخها على 3000 سنة ق.م، زينت أسطحها الخارجية بصور لمراكب مختلفة، منها الشراعية، كما عثر في مقبرتين، واحدة في سقارة والأخرى في حلوان، على بقايا مراكب مصرية، طول الواحد منها يتجاوز 18 متراً، وعمرها يتخطى 5000 سنة.
وحدث التحول من استعمال مراكب البردي إلى مراكب مصنوعة من الأخشاب قد حدث في حدود منتصف الألف الرابع ق.م.
ويعد الشراع واحداً من العناصر المهمة في عملية الإبحار، سواء أكان ذلك عن طريق ركوب البحر أو النهر على وجه سواء، ولا سيما إن كان هذا الإبحار يتماشى مع اتجاه الرياح، فلابد من وجود شراع يساعد القارب في الذهاب لوجهته المنشودة بأقل مشقة.
وهناك ما يؤكد وجود نشاط تجاري وأيضاً عسكري مصري مستمر، ارتكز في جانب كبير منه على استعمال السفن، وربما أن النشاط التجاري قد بدأ بانتظام منذ عهد الأسرة الأولى.
ولدينا أمثلة مشهورة لمناظر سفن شراعية مثل رحلة الملكة حتشبسوت إلى بلاد بونت وسفن رعمسيس الثالث التي هزمت شعوب البحر عندما هاجموا مصر.
وطالعنا سفن ذات أشرعة مربعة ومستطيلة وبيضاوية ومثلثة وهلامية ومخروطية الشكل.
كما كان لأشرعة السفن استعمالات دينية في عقيدة المصريين باعتبارها تساعد المتوفى في عملية التنفس والانتعاش واستعادة نفس الحياة.

Assessing the presence of Black Africa in Iberia through medieval visual
culture is complicated by the multiple identities and meaning that medieval artists and viewers assigned to the dark-skinned figures that are often read by modern viewers as unproblematically “African.” This article examines a rare medieval attempt to represent African identity within a historical frame: the depiction of a black man among pilgrims at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, found in an illustrated manuscript of the Cantigas de Santa María, made for King Alfonso X of Castilla in the late 1270s. Analyzing this image against the backdrop of changing European textual and visual traditions related to Ethiopia and Ethiopians, I suggest that unlike the more fantastical black stereotypes deployed elsewhere in the manuscript, this figure signals a growing Castilian awareness of the actual Ethiopian Christians who were present at the site and with this a new interest in the
reality of black Africans as part of a shared world of faith, pilgrimage, crusade, and commerce.

Se analizan en este artículo el contraste entre la simbología de la victoria y el buen lugar en los palacios de la Alhambr con las imágenes y conceptos extraídos de la poesía carcelaria nazarí y andalusí, que contó también con autores pertenecientes a la élite social nazarí y vinculados con los constructores de la Alhambra, con el fin de observar el modo en que los estereotipos representativos de la epigrafía, la arquitectura y la pintura áulicas conviven, se entreveran y contrastan con los del material lírico carcelario que nos ha llegado, en el que la subjetividad emocional parece aflorar con más nitidez.