Cosmology and architecture in premodern Islam : an architectural reading of mystical ideas / Samer Akkach.

Main entry:

Akkach, Samer.

Title & Author:

Cosmology and architecture in premodern Islam : an architectural reading of mystical ideas / Samer Akkach.

Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2005.

Description:

xxv, 262 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Series:

SUNY series in Islam

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-253) and index.
Ch. 1. Discursive order -- Ch. 2. Metaphysical order -- Ch. 3. Cosmic order -- Ch. 4. Architectural order -- Afterword : architecture and cosmic habitat.

Summary:

"This interdisciplinary study reveals connections between architecture, cosmology, and mysticism. Samer Akkach demonstrates how space ordering in premodern Islamic architecture reflects the transcendental and the sublime. The book features many new translations, a number from unpublished sources, and several illustrations." "Referencing a wide range of mystical texts, and with a special focus on the works of the great Sufi master Ibn 'Arabi, Akkach introduces a notion of spatial sensibility that is shaped by religious conceptions of time and space. Religious beliefs about the cosmos, geography, the human body, and constructed forms are all underpinned by a consistent spatial sensibility anchored in medieval geocentrism. Within this geometrically defined and ordered universe, nothing stands in isolation or ambiguity; everything is interrelated and carefully positioned in an intricate hierarchy. Through detailed mapping of this intricate order, the book shows the significance of this mode of seeing the world for those who lived in the premodern Islamic era and how cosmological ideas became manifest in the buildings and spaces of their everyday lives. This is a highly original work that provides important insights on Islamic aesthetics and culture, on the history of architecture, and on the relationship of art and religion, creativity and spirituality."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Full text of book available.
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Table of contents

ISBN:

0791464113 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
9780791464113 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
0791464121 (pbk.)
9780791464120 (pbk.)

Subject:

Islamic art and symbolism.
Symbolism in architecture.
Islamic architecture.
Islamic cosmology.
Sufism.
Symbolisme islamique.
Symbolisme en architecture.
Architecture islamique.
Cosmologie islamique.
Soufisme.
Architektur
Islam
Islamische Architektur
Islamische Kunst
Kosmologie
Sufismus
Symbolik

Added entries:

SUNY series in Islam.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 236675
Call No.: BIB 166513
Status: Available

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