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IMAGES OF ROUND BAGHDAD: AN ANALYSIS OF RECONSTRUCTIONS BY ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2016

Saba Sami Al-Ali  and
Nawar Sami Al-Ali
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Abstract

This paper examines the architectural renderings of the round city of Baghdad built by the Abbasid caliph Abu Jaʻfar al-Mansur as visualized by archaeologists and historians. Although nothing of the historic city has survived, descriptions by Arab and Persian authors have provided a guide to its appearance. From an architectural perspective, the work of Ernst Herzfeld and K.A.C. Creswell may be considered the most significant. A study of the details of their architectural drawings reveals inconsistencies with the written descriptions. Reconstructions by other scholars are also examined with special reference to the work of Jacob Lassner. The focus is on the first faṣīl (intervallum) and raḥba (entrance courtyard), the majālis (audience halls) over the four city gates, the maṣʻad (gangway) to the audience halls, the ṭaqāt (arcades) and finally the caliph's palace and the congregational mosque, to suggest a revised reconstruction of al-Mansurʼs Baghdad.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 78 , December 2016 , pp. 137 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2016 

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