The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

Art and Architecture of Islam, 650–1250 (1987) by Richard
Ettinghausen and Oleg Grabar and The Art and
Architecture of Islam 1250–1800 (1995) by Sheila Blair
and Jonathan Bloom. Another invaluable book full of
scholarly information is the Blue Guide: Egypt by Veronica
Seton-Williams and Peter Stocks (1988). All the other
material is contained in academic papers, catalogues and
books dealing with separate branches of the decorative
arts, such as Richard Ettinghausen’s Arab Painting (1977)
and Alan Caiger-Smith’s Lustre Pottery (1991).
The purpose of this book has been to bring
together the scholarship of these works and other recent
material into one convenient volume. I have wanted, in
effect, to create a book that would update what Stanley
Lane-Poole attempted in 1886. It has involved fitting
together pieces of a complex and incomplete jigsaw
puzzle and contextualizing the material in one
continuous narrative. By this means I hope I have made
the material accessible and meaningful to the general
reader. It is by its nature an eclectic work and I am
particularly indebted to the above-named scholars
whose works I have freely used, quoted and
acknowledged. The book is also substantially based on
personal observation and experience, since I spent many
years drawing and painting the monuments of Egypt
(both Pharaonic and Islamic) before undertaking this
work. Above all, I would hope that this book helps
redress the cultural balance by recognizing and
celebrating Egypt’s ignored and neglected Islamic art
and architecture. The ignorance of the West is
compounded by the neglect of the Egyptians themselves
– a neglect due to a chronic lack of resources. John
Romer and others, with all the publicity of television,
have successfully drawn attention to the ecological
dangers threatening Egypt’s Pharaonic monuments. The
same factors are causing Cairo’s Islamic monuments to
fall apart, as well as recent earthquake damage and
general neglect. Cairo’s buildings need rescuing as
urgently as those of Venice. We all know that Venice is
beautiful and unique, but the task ahead is to persuade
the rest of the world that the same is true, in a very
different way, of the buildings in Cairo. I would be more
than happy if this book contributes in some small
measure towards that end.
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