Cairo is the quintessential
Islamic city. Founded in 634 at the strategic head of the Nile Delta, the city
evolved from an Islamic military outpost to the seat of the ambitious Fatimid
caliphate which flourished between the 10th and 12th century. Its most spectacular
age, however, was the Mamluk period (1250-1517), when it became the uncontested
center of a resurgent Islam and acquired an architectural character that symbolized
the image of the Islamic city for centuries to come. Between the sixteenth and
the end of the eighteenth century, Cairo was reduced to an Ottoman provincial
capital. Then, it witnessed a short yet ebullient renaissance under the reformist
Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-48) followed by an extended stretch of oscillation
between conservatism and modernization that is still with us today. The resulting
urban and architectural chaos was exacerbated in the twentieth century by acute
problems of rapid expansion, population explosion, and underdevelopment.
Cairo, however, still
shines as a cultural and political center in its three spheres of influence:
the Arab world, Africa, and the Islamic world. Moreover, many of its monuments
(456 registered by the 1951 Survey of the Islamic Monuments of Cairo) still
stand, although they remain largely unknown to the worlds architectural
community and their numbers are dwindling at an exceedingly alarming pace.
In this course we
will recount the history of Cairo. We will review its urban and architectural
developments and interpret them in light of the cultural, political, and social
history of the country, the region, and the world. We will also examine its
architectural types and urban patterns to see how they relate to their wider
Islamic and Mediterranean contexts.
The course is open to graduate students. A number of discussions are scheduled to further address critical architectural and urban issues. Students are encouraged to contribute to these sessions as part of their requirements. Three short essays (7-10 pages each) will be assigned. Graduate students may substitute a research paper for one or more of the essays.
Doris Behrens-Abouseif,
Islamic Architecture of Cairo, An Introduction. Leiden: Brill, 1989.
Andre Raymond, Cairo. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Caroline Williams, Islamic monuments in Cairo : a practical guide. 4th
ed.Cairo : American University in Cairo Press, 1993.
Max Rodenbeck, Cairo:
The City Victorious. New York: Knopf, 1999.
Janet Abu-Lughod, Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious. Princeton,
1971.
K.A.C. Creswell, Muslim Architecture of Egypt. Oxford, 1959. 2 vols (Limited
Access).
Martin Briggs, Muhammadan Architecture in Egypt and Palestine. New York,
reprint 1974.
The Nile and the Site of Cairo
The Legacy of Ancient Egypt
Hellenism
Christianity and the Copts
The coming of Islam: Arabia and Egypt
The Mosque of Amru ibn al-As: the first mosque in Africa
The vocabulary of the mosque: the minaret, the mihrab and the minbar
The Nilometer
The foundation of al-Qatai
The Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Buildings of the Ikhshidids.
First paper assignment.
Behrens-Abouseif,
3-34, 47-57.
Raymond, 7-30.
Walter Kaegi, "Egypt on the Eve of the Muslim Conquest," in The
Cambridge History of Egypt, volume 1, Islamic Egypt 640-1517, ed. Carl F.
Petry. Cambridge, 1998. 34-61.
Rodenbeck, 1-56.
Abu-Lughod, 3-25.
Briggs, 47-62.
Encyclopedia of Islam, 2d Ed., vol. 4, article "Kahira."
Dickie, James. "Allah and Eternity: Mosques, Madrasas, and Tombs,"
In: ed. G. Michell, Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social
Meaning. 65-79.
The first walls of al-Muizz
Fatimid palaces
Comparison with contemporary Islamic cities
The Azhar Mosque and the Institution of religious learning
Mosques of al-Hakim, al-Aqmar, and al-Salih Talai.
Disucssion: The centrality of the mosque in a classical Islamic urban setting
Genealogy as a propaganda tool for the Fatimids
The evolving function of the dome
The appearance of the muqarnas: decorative purposes and symbolic meanings.
The walls of Badr al-Jamali
The gates of Cairo and the question of regional influences
The Crusades, the fall of the Fatimids, and the rise of Salah al-Din
Behrens-Abouseif,
58-77.
Raymond, 31-79.
Briggs, 63-75.
Rabbat, The Citadel of Cairo, 1-17.
Rabbat, "Al-Azhar Mosque: An Architectural Chronicle of Cairo's History."
Muqarnas 13 (1996): 45-67.
Jonathan Bloom, "The Mosque of al-Hakim in Cairo," Muqarnas
1 (1983) 15-36.
Idem, "The Mosque of the Qarafa in Cairo," Muqarnas 4 (1987):
7-20.
Behrens-Abouseif, "The Façade of the Aqmar Mosque in the Context
of Fatimid Ceremonial," Muqarnas 9 (1992): 29-38.
Caroline Williams, "The Cult of the Alid Saints in the Fatimid Monuments
of Cairo. Part 1: The Mosque of al-Aqmar," Muqarnas 1 (1983): 37-52.
Idem, "The Cult of the Alid Saints in the Fatimid Monuments of Cairo.
Part 2: The Mausolea," Muqarnas 3 (1985): 39-60.
Irene Bierman, Writing Signs: The Fatimid Public Text. Berkeley, 1998,
1-59.
Paula Sanders, Rituals, Politics and the City in Fatimid Cairo. N.Y.,
1994. 39-67.
The emerging importance of the citadel as the residence of the ruler
The Roda Citadel and the urban development of Cairo in the Ayyubid period
The mausoleum of al-Imam al-Shafei
The introduction of the madrasa:
The Madrasa of al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub
The political and social functions of the madrasa
The mausoleum of the ruler
First paper due.
A brief introduction to the Mamluk system
The Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars and traditional forms
The Complex of Qalawun and the Syrian import
Second paper assignment
The City under al-Nasir Muhammad
The charitable institutions of al-Nasir Muhammad's princes
The Waqf system
The royal madrasas on the main thoroughfare of Cairo
The Madrasas of Sultan Hasan
A brief survey of residential architecture up to the Mamluk period
Royal and princely palaces of the fourteenth century
A short film, Medieval Cairo by Nezar AlSayyad
Behrens-Abouseif,
35-44, 78-132.
Abu-Lughod, 27-36.
Raymond, 80-164.
Jean-Claude Garcin, "Outsiders in the City," " in The Cairo
Heritage.Papers in Honor of Layla Ali Ibrahim, Doris Behrens-Abouseif, ed.
(Cairo, AUC Press, 2001), 7-15.
Briggs, 76-109, 145-64 (Domestic Architecture).
Rabbat, The Citadel of Cairo, 283-95.
Idem. "Mamluk Throne Halls: Qubba or Iwan." Ars Orientalis
23 (1993): 201-18.
Idem. "The Changing Concept of Mamluk in the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt
and Syria," in Slave Elites in the Middle East and Africa: A Comparative
Study, Miura Toru And John Edward Philips, eds. (London and New York: Kegan
Paul International, 2000), 81-98.
Leonor Fernandes, "The Foundation of Baybars al-Jashankir: Its Waqf, History,
and Architecture," Muqarnas 4 (1987): 21-42.
Oleg Grabar, "Reflections on Mamluk Art," Muqarnas 2 (1984):
1-12.
Howyda al-Harithy, "The Complex of Sultan Hasan in Cairo: Reading between
the Lines," Muqarnas 13 (1996): 68-79.
Idem, "The Patronage of al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, 1310-1341"
Mamluk Studies Review 4 (2000): 219-36.
Sylvie Denoix, "A Mamluk Institution for Urbanization: The Waqf,"
The Cairo Heritage, 191-202.
R. Stephen Humphreys, "The Expressive Intent of the Mamluk Architecture
in Cairo: a Preliminary Essay," Studia Islamica 35 (1972): 69-119
Th. Emil Homerin, "Saving Muslim Souls: The Khanqah and the Sufi
Duty in Mamluk Land, Mamluk Studies Review 3 (1999): 59-83.
Laila A. Ibrahim, "Residential Architecture in Mamluk Cairo," Muqarnas
2 (1984): 47-59.
John Alden Williams, "Urbanization and Monument Construction in Mamluk
Cairo," Muqarnas 2 (1984) 33-45.
Urban complex from Barquq to Khayer Bak
Second paper due
The royal charitable complexes from Umm Anuk to Qaytbay
Third paper assignment.
The development of the dome, the minaret, and the Qaa under the Mamluks
The development of Mamluk decorative techniques and patterns
The urban changes in Cairo from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
Ottoman mosques in Cairo: wavering between the local and the official
The stabilization of a hybrid type
Comparison with houses of other Ottoman provinces
The French Expedition and the Description de l'Égypte
Behrens-Abouseif,
133-67.
Raymond, 165-288.
Abu-Lughod, 37-79.
Briggs, 110-44.
Rabbat, "Maqrizi's Khitat: An Egyptian Lieu de Mémoire" in
The Cairo Heritage. 17-30. Behrens-Abouseif, "The Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda
Style in 18th century Cairo," Annales Islamologiques 26 (1992): 117-26.
Christel Kessler, The Carved Masonry Domes of Medieval Cairo. (Cairo, 1976).
Idem, "Funerary Architecture Within the City," Colloque International
sur l'Histoire du Caire (27 Mars-5 Avril 1969). 257-67.
Juan Eduardo Campo, The Other Sides of Paradise: Explorations into the Religious
Meanings of Domestic Space in Islam. Columbia, S C, 1991. 74-94.
Irene Bierman, "Art and Architecture in the Medieval Period," in The
Cambridge History of Egypt, volume 1, Islamic Egypt 640-1517, 339-74.
Jonathan Berkey, "Culture and Society during the Late Middle Ages,"
in The Cambridge History of Egypt, volume 1, Islamic Egypt 640-1517, 375-411.
Charles Gillispie, and Michael Dewachter (eds), Monuments of Egypt: the Napoleonic
Edition: the complete archaelogical plates from la Description de l'Égypte.
Princeton, 1987. 1-30.
The Mosque at the Citadel
The Westernization of the palatial architecture
The modernization of the city of Cairo
Ethnographer-Painters and the romanticization of Cairo
The Comité de preservation des monuments du Caire and preservation
Historicism and the Mamluk revival
The Mosque of al-Rifai
Other Orientalizing styles
Cosmopolitan architectureThird Paper Due
The works of Hasan Fathy, Ramses Wissa Wasef, and their students
Population explosion and urban chaos
Problems of preservation and accommodation
Discussion: The image of Cairo: past and present
Behrens-Abouseif,
167-70.
Abu-Lughod, 83-117.
Raymond, 291-377.
Idem. "Cairo," in The Modern Middle East. A. Hourani, P. Khoury
& M. Wilson (eds.), Berkeley, 1993. 311-37.
Edward William Lane, Cairo Fifty Years Ago. Edited by Stanley Lane-Poole.
London, 1896.
Mohammad al-Asad, "The Mosque of Muhammad Ali in Cairo," Muqarnas
9 (1992): 39-55; idem, "The Mosque of al-Rifai in Cairo," Muqarnas
10 (1993): 108-24.
Khaled Asfour, "The Domestication of Knowledge: Cairo at the Turn of the
Century," Muqarnas 10 (1993): 125-37.
Michael Meinecke, ed. Islamic Cairo: Architectural Conservation and Urban
Development of the Historic Centre. (AARP, June 1980) 8-46.
Robert Ilbert and Mercedes Volait, "Neo-Arabic Renaissance in Egypt, 1870-1930,"
Mimar 13 (1984): 26-34.
Nasser Rabbat, "Writing the History of Islamic Architecture of Cairo"
Design Book Review 31 (Winter 1994): 48-51
Idem, "The Formation of the Neo-Mamluk Style in Modern Egypt." In
The Education of the Architect: Historiography, Urbanism and the Growth of
Architectural Knowledge. Essays Presented to Stanford Anderson on his Sixty-Second
Birthday. Martha Pollak, ed., (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1997), 363-86.
Idem, "Restoration Projects in Islamic Cairo Critiqued," in Medina
13 (May-June 2000): 48-51.
Ronald Lewcock, "Working with the Past," in Theories and Principles
of design in the Architecture of Islamic Societies. AKPIA, 1988, 87-96.
Caroline Williams, "Islamic Cairo: Endangered Legacy" Middle East
Journal 39, 3 (1985): 231-246.
Irene A. Bierman, "Urban Memory and the Preservation of Monuments,"
in Jere Bacharach, ed. The Restoration and Conservation of Islamic Monuments
in Egypt (Cairo, AUC Press, 1995), 1-10.
John Rodenbeck, "The Present Situation of the Historic City: A Road Not
Taken," in The Cairo Heritage, 327-40.