Studies in Arabian Architecture

Based on extensive architectural and archaeological research, these papers present a series of studies on the art, buildings, settlement patterns, and land use in Iraq, Yemen and Oman, from the pre-Islamic period to modern times. Many of the monuments and sites were studied here for the first time, and have subsequently disappeared or become inaccessible. Among the main themes emerging from Professor Costa’s work are the continuity of Arab craftsmanship, in both technical and aesthetic terms, from Late Antiquity into the Islamic period; the relationship between the natural and the built environment; and the dependence of architecture and settlement patterns on the exploitation of natural resources, especially water.

Contents: Preface; Islamic shrines on the Sat al-Nil; The Great Mosque of San’a’; The Mosque of al-Janad; Problems of style and iconography in South-Arabian sculpture; Patterns of urban settlement in ancient Arabia; Notes on settlement patterns in traditional Oman; Notes on traditional hydraulics and agriculture in Oman; The architecture of Salalah and the Dhofar Littoral; Historical interpretation of the territory of Muscat; Index.

Paolo M. Costa