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List of illustrations

  • Map of the Mediterranean, c. 1000
  • Plan of al-Mahdiyya, Tunisia, c. 921 AD
  • Great Mosque of al-Mahdiyya
  • Great Mosque of Qayrawan
  • Marble relief with musician and seated ruler, holding a cup
  • Bowl depicting a man holding a cup and a flowering branch
  • The Pyxis of al-Mughira, detail with prince, his lutist, and fan-bearer
  • The Great Portico, Madinat al-Zahra'
  • Minaret, Great Mosque of Cordoba
  • Great Mosque of Cordoba, interior
  • Great Mosque of Cordoba, maqṣūra addition
  • Great Mosque of Cordoba, plan, after the expansion under al-Hakam II, c. 962
  • Map of Cairo, c. 1000
  • Mosque of al-Azhar, carved stucco decoration and dome added under the reign of al-Hafiz
  • Mosque of al-Azhar, Cairo, plan
  • Mosque of al-Azhar, courtyard
  • Mosque of al-Azhar, interior
  • Ruins of the Mosque of al-Hakim
  • Mosque of al-Hakim
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, Cairo, plan
  • Mosque of al-Hakim
  • Mosque of al-Hakim (after the Bohra restoration of 1980)
  • Mosque of Ibn Tulun
  • Floriated Kufic detail on the Mosque of al-Hakim (before the Bohra restoration of 1980)
  • Fragment from inscription at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo
  • Map of al-Qahira, c. 990
  • Carved wooden beam
  • Carved wooden beam, detail
  • Carved wooden beam, detail
  • Carved wooden beam, detail
  • Carved wooden beam, detail
  • Architectural detail (example of Samarra style C, the beveled style)
  • Stucco decoration from the Church of al-'Adhra' at Dayr Suryani in the Wadi al-Natrun monastic complex
  • Wooden screen in front of the haikal of the Church of Saint Barbara, Cairo
  • Wooden screen in front of the haikal of the Church of Saint Barbara, Cairo, detail
  • Bowl depicting Coptic priest
  • Shard fragment depicting Christ
  • Exterior view of the complex of the Church of Saint Mercurius in the Monastery of Abu Sayfayn
  • Exterior view of the Hanging Church (al-Mu'allaqa)
  • Muqattam miracle carved on the Muqattam Hills
  • Mosque of al-Hakim
  • Isometric drawing of the Mosque of al-Hakim, Cairo
  • Elevation of the northern minaret of the Mosque of al-Hakim, Cairo
  • Medallion featuring the word Allah
  • Five-pointed star
  • Floriated Kufic inscription, detail
  • Elevation of the western minaret of the Mosque of al-Hakim, Cairo
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, room in western minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, room in western minaret
  • Gold Fatimid dinar with concentric circle motif
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, detail of northern minaret
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, grilled window on northern minaret
  • Mosque of al-Aqmar, detail
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, western minaret enclosed by bastion
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, northern minaret enclosed by bastion, later enclosed by Badr al-Jamali's wall
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, between the northern minaret and bastion
  • Minaret of the Great Mosque of Sfax
  • Minaret of the Great Mosque of Qayrawan
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, inscription on western bastion
  • Mosque of al-Hakim, inscription on western bastion
  • Doors donated to the Mosque of al-Azhar by the Imam-caliph al-Hakim
  • Plaque with the Holy Women at the Sepulchre
  • Church of the Holy Sepulcher, interior with a view of the aedicula and dome
  • Mosaic illustrating the major monuments of Jerusalem
  • Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, plan
  • Great Mosque of Cordoba, plan after al-Mansur's additions, 987–988 AD
  • Great Mosque of Cordoba, al-Mansur's additions
  • Dome of the Rock and Aqsa Mosque on the Haram al-Sharif, view from the Mount of Olives
  • Mosque of al-Lu'lu'a
  • Mosque of al-Lu'lu'a
  • Dome of the Rock and Dome of the Chain
  • Aqsa Mosque
  • Umayyad-era mihrab, Aqsa Mosque, under restoration
  • Dome of the Rock, Fatimid-era restorations
  • Aqsa Mosque, view of the sanctuary looking toward the Fatimid archways and dome (maqṣūra)
  • Aqsa Mosque, detail of the Fatimid-era archway, with inscription at the top
  • Aqsa Mosque, view of archways and the maqṣūra
  • Plan of the Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
  • Aqsa Mosque, recessed roundels in the maqṣūra
  • Aqsa Mosque, recessed roundels in the maqṣūra
  • Aqsa Mosque, recessed roundels in the maqṣūra
  • Haram al-Sharif, arial view
  • Dome of the Prophet on the Haram al-Sharif
  • Dome of the Rock, view looking up at dome
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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
~I owe thanks to the many wonderful teachers, friends, family, and colleagues who have made contributions to this project over the years. My research into Fatimid architecture began as a doctoral dissertation at Harvard University, where I had the honor and privilege to work with not one but two brilliant scholars of Islamic art history—Gülru...
PublisherYale University Press
Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
~Circa 1010 CE, the “mad” Egyptian caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, engaged in one of the most enigmatic acts in the history of Islamic architecture. Seven years after sponsoring masterfully carved, illuminated minarets, replete with esoteric Ismaili Shiʿi symbolism, the caliph ordered the covering of his own towers by an austere, brick...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.1-11
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.001

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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
These two passages describe distinct modes of encountering the Fatimid city. For the Crusader author William of Tyre, the Fatimid palace is a site of material wealth and marvels.He is describing Hugh of Caesaria’s visit to Cairo in the...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.13-45
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.002

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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
~~In art historical scholarship, the Fatimid era is often depicted as an apogee of inter-faith...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.47-67
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.003

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah was the third Fatimid Imam-caliph in Cairo and the first to be born in the new capital city...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.69-93
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.004

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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
In the middle years of al-Hakim’s reign, from 1007 to 1013, we encounter the two great enigmas of his architectural project—the construction of the austere bastions that...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.95-125
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.005

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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
The final years of al-Hakim’s reign were the most enigmatic and disruptive. During these years (from 1017 to 1021) the ruler reversed many of his edicts against the Christian and Jewish religious minority (dhimmī) populations—a decision that, medieval sources show, was often unpopular. Most notably, a new religious movement, which became known as the Druze, began to...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.127-151
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.006

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Description: Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early...
~Architecture played a pivotal role in negotiating power within the kaleidoscope of religious identities in the early Fatimid period (909–1036). The reign of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who is often dismissed as a psychotic anomaly in Fatimid history, was, in fact, a particularly transformative period in terms of setting the architectural...
PublisherYale University Press
Related print edition pages: pp.153-159
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00258.007

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Building the Caliphate: Construction, Destruction, and Sectarian Identity in Early Fatimid Architecture
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