Essentials of Islamic Art & Architecture

Mosques, Calligraphy, Geometric Decoration, and More...

This course takes a look at the advent of Islam and the art and architecture it quickly precipitated within the context of the wider world stage of the sixth and seventh centuries C.E. Exclusive images and content about some of the earliest mosques which exist in the Islamic world today- the Great Mosque of Sana'a and the Great Mosque of Ibb, both in present-day Yemen- provide a rare glimpse into the earliest architectural and artistic conventions of Islam as well as these monuments' endangered status today. We trace the art and architecture of Islam from originally Arabian origins north into the formerly-Byzantine lands of Syria and Palestine and follow the Umayyad and 'Abbasid Caliphates' legacies across the Mediterranean Basin to Spain and into Mesopotamia with the foundation of the new city Baghdad. Additionally, we look at the technological and mechanical contributions of the Golden Age of Islam within the broad arch of their histories from Hellenistic Egypt to Medieval Western Europe.