Palaces like the Aljafería and the Alhambra rank among the highest achievements of the Islamic world. In recent years archaeological work at Córdoba, Kairouan and many other sites has vastly increased our knowledge about the origin and development of Islamic palatial architecture, particularly in the Western Mediterranean region. This book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Islamic palace architecture in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and southern Italy. The author, who ha...

The Golden Gate Bridge links the urbanity of San Francisco with the wildheadlands of Marin County, as if to suggest the paradox of Californiaand America itself-the place that Fitzgerald saw as the last spotcommensurate with the human capacity for wonder. The bridge, completedin 1937, also announced to the world America's engineering prowess andfull assumption of its destined continental dominance. The Golden Gateis a counterpart to the Statue of Li...

Faces of Compassion introduces us to enlightened beings, the bodhisattvas of Buddhist lore. They're not otherworldly gods with superhuman qualities but shining examples of our own highest potential. Archetypes of wisdom and compassion, the bodhisattvas of Buddhism are powerful and compelling images of awakening. Scholar and Zen teacher Taigen Dan Leighton engagingly explores the imagery and lore of the seven most important of these archetypal figures, bringing them alive as psycho...

The book provides an updated reading on the fortification of the city of Bosa, and the castle church, the Palatine chapel of the judges of Arborea, from an architectural and artistic perspective. Particular attention and emphasis have been placed on the presence inside the sacred building of a cycle almost entirely preserved, a unique example in Sardinia, of fourteenth century frescoes on the themes of Franciscan spirituality.

Finalist for a 2017 Hamilton Literary Award, the Kerry Schooley AwardUnbuilt Hamilton presents the Ambitious City at its most ambitious, exploring the origins and fates of unrealized building, planning, and transportation proposals from the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first.Marvel at the sweeping vista down Hamilton’s own version of the Champs-Élysées as you enjoy a concert in the escarpment amphitheatre. Drive up the Gage Avenue tunnel, o...

Held in Philadelphia from May 10 through October 10, the 1876 Centennial Exhibition celebrated the 100th anniversary of American independence. Philadelphia hosted 37 nations in five main buildings and 250 additional structures on 285 acres of land. The celebration looked backward to commemorate the progress made over the 100-year period, and it announced to the world that American invention and innovation was on a par with that of our foreign counterparts. Patriotism abounded, as did messa...

Postcolonial theories have transformed literary, historical and cultural studies over the past three decades. Yet the study of medieval art and visualities has, in general, remained Eurocentric in its canon and conservative in its approaches. 'Postcolonising', as the eleven essays in this volume show, entails active intervention into the field of medieval art history and visual studies through a theoretical reframing of research. This approach poses and elicits new research questions, and ...

The first specialized critical-aesthetic study to be published on the concept of hybridity in early Mughal painting, this book investigates the workings of the diverse creative forces that led to the formation of a unique Mughal pictorial language. Mughal pictoriality distinguishes itself from the Persianate models through the rationalization of the picture’s conceptual structure and other visual modes of expression involving the aesthetic concept of mimesis. If the stylistic and iconograp...

The book provides a detailed description of the architectural structure and the different phases of construction of the monastic complex. Particular attention is devoted to the pictorial cycle, to the architectural sculptures of the porch, and of those randomly placed inside the church, especially to the binate capitals from the cloister. Finally, a stylistic and iconographic reading of the Retablos, formerly belonging to the Basilica, and now preserved at CE. DO. C. Of Codrongianos, compl...

This authoritative reference contains a vast amount of information about Oriental rugs.Oriental Rugs: A Complete Guide is the first large volume on the subject to be printed in the past forty-five years is meant for the individual who is interested in purchasing his first Oriental Rug, as well as the collector, museum, and rug importer.The volume is divided into three main parts. Part I, entitled "General Discussion devotes one chapter to each of t...

Natural Materials of the Holy Land and the Visual Translation of Place, 500-1500, focuses on the unique ways that natural materials carry the spirit of place. Since early Christianity, wood, earth, water and stone were taken from loca sancta to signify them elsewhere. Academic discourse has indiscriminately grouped material tokens from holy places and their containers with architectural and topographical emulations, two-dimensional images and bodily relics. However, unlik...

The Ventura County coast has been illuminated for more than a century by three distinctive lighthouses, united in their mission of warning mariners of coastal hazards and guiding ships to safe passage. Port Hueneme�s original 1874 Victorian Stick Style lighthouse stood sentry until it was replaced in 1940 by the still-standing art moderne structure, which guards the only deepwater port on the California coast between San Francisco and San Pedro. The Anacapa Island Light, a cylindrical bric...