The Umayyad Mosque Of Damascus (art, Faith And Empire In Early Islam)

By (author) George Alain; Edited by Gibson Melanie
Short description/annotation
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.
Description
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.
Review quote
Alain George offers the results of a fascinating investigation into the earliest mosque of Islam. Mobilizing literary as well as documentary sources, archaeology, art history, and old photographs, the book provides a vivid picture of the monument as it was designed and erected at the very beginning of the eighth century. At the crossroads of wars against Byzantium, theological debates and imperial construction, the Umayyad mosque stands as a stone palimpsest and a poem to the glory of Islam. An amazing scientific and aesthetic tour de force, which will become an indispensable reference for historians and will seduce architecture lovers. Mathieu Tillier, Sorbonne Universite; The Umayyad mosque in Damascus is one of the great monuments of Islamic architecture and the most impressive surviving eighth century building in Western Eurasia. It also has a long and complex history of rebuilding after fires and other disasters. For the first time we now have a book which does full justice to it. Alain George has used text, archaeology and perhaps most revealingly, old photographs to produce a rich scholarly, readable and exciting account of the mosque. This book marks a major advance in our understanding of the building and will be the first port of call for scholars and students alike who want to understand it. It is a magnificent achievement.- Hugh Kennedy SOAS, London University; This is an important study that brings many fresh insights to a building that has already generated much scholarship. Alain George is to be commended on his masterful examination of architectural, archaeological, textual, and photographic evidence. The author is sensitive to the need to resolve discontinuities between primary textual accounts and the physical record of the standing structures and excavated material. Comparative evidence is used effectively to illuminate the wa