From mosques to markets, from citadels to cemetries, this text is a survey of the entire field of Islamic architecture. Although Islamic buildings may make an immediate visual impact, it can be useful to know something of the society which they serve. This text relates the architecture to the social areas of religion, power structure, commerce and communal life, placing emphasis on function and meaning rather than on style and chronology. The text contains photographs, drawings and plans that highlight the variety of building type and design. Building materials, techniques, and principles of decoration are also described and explained, and a comprehensive inventory of the key buildings of the Islamic world concludes this study.
George Michell is a world authority on South Asian architecture, and a founder-trustee of the Deccan Heritage Foundation. He is amongst the most distinguished architectural scholars produced by the University of Melbourne.
He was born in Australia and received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from this university in 1968. He then turned his attention to India and obtained his PhD in 1974 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for his dissertation on Early Chalukya temple architecture. In 1976 he played a pivotal role in the ‘Arts of Islam’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London. During the 1970s he directed courses on Asian architecture at the Architectural Association, London, as well as coediting Art and Archaeology Research Papers (AARP), a journal specialising in architecture and art of the Islamic and Indian worlds. In 1978 he edited Architecture of the Islamic World: its History and Social Meaning (republished in 1995).
George lives in London with his partner and splits his time between research trips to the Deccan and writing about its ancient architecture, at home.
(saga tese) Essencial para quem se lança sobre estes temas; uma compilação detalhada dos meandros da arquitectura islâmica, que nos deixa com um entendimento geral do seu funcionamento e esclarece quanto às especificidades tipológicas. Um diamante!
One of the best books on Islamic architecture, detailed and accurate information about architecture in various Islamic countries with high quality pictures, It was beneficial a lot for me in the section of Andalusia. Thanks,