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4.615

The Architectures of Water

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Explores how human-water interactions have given shape to the built environment in the era before industrialization, focusing on architectures, infrastructures, and landscapes of water supply, irrigation, transport, energy, ritual, health, sanitation, and flood mitigation, among other functions. Introduces examples from across the globe, with an emphasis on the Mediterranean world and Europe during the Middle Ages and early modern period (ca. 1000¿1750). Considers continuity and change in historical water management over the longue durée and its effects on contemporary cities, landscapes, and political and economic systems.

Spring 2002 · The Architecture of Cairo

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. Cairo today 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 world’s architectural community and their numbers are dwindling at an exceedingly alarming pace.

Readings

  • Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Islamic Architecture of Cairo: An Introduction . Leiden: Brill, 1989. ISBN: 9774242033.
    Required
  • Raymond, Andre. Cairo . Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0674003160.
    Required
  • Williams, Caroline. Islamic Monuments in Cairo: A Practical Guide . 4th ed. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1993. ISBN: 9774246950.
    Required
  • Rodenbeck, Max. Cairo: The City Victorious . New York: Knopf, 1999. ISBN: 0679446516.
    Listed reading
  • Abu-Lughod, Janet. Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious . Princeton, 1971. ISBN: 0691030855.
    Listed reading
  • Creswell, K. A. C. Muslim Architecture of Egypt . 2 vols. Oxford, 1959. ISBN: 0878171754.
    Listed reading
  • Briggs, Martin. Muhammadan Architecture in Egypt and Palestine . New York, reprint 1974. ISBN: 0306705907.
    Listed reading
  • Mubarak, `Ali Pasha. al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya al-Jadida . Cairo: Dar al-Kutub, 1969.
    Listed reading
  • Marsot, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid. A Short History of Modern Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad `Ali . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
    Listed reading
  • Raymond, Andre. Le Caire des Janissaires: L’apogee de la ville ottomane sous `Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda. Paris: CNRS Editions, 1995.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Le Caire. Paris: Fayard, 1993.
    Listed reading
  • ———. The Great Arab Cities in the 16th-18th Centuries. New York: New York University Press, 1984.
    Listed reading
  • Rhone, Arthur. L’Egypte a Petites Journees. Paris, 1910.
    Listed reading
  • Petry, Carl F. The Civilian Elite of Cairo in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
    Listed reading
  • Williams, Caroline. Islamic Monuments in Cairo: A Practical Guide. Cairo: AUC Press, 1993.
    Listed reading
  • Gillispie, Charles Coulston, and Michael Dewachter, eds. Monuments of Egypt: the Napoleonic Edition: the Complete Archaelogical Plates from la Description de l’Egypte. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.
    Listed reading
  • Kessler, Christel. The Carved Masonry Domes of Medieval Cairo. Cairo: American University Press, 1976.
    Listed reading
  • Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Azbakiyya and its Environs: From Azbak to Ismail (1476-1879) . Cairo: IFAO, 1985.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Egypt’s Adjustment to Ottoman Rule: Institutions, Waqf and Architecture in Cairo, 16th and 17th Centuries. Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1994.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Islamic Architecture of Cairo: An Introduction. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1989.
    Listed reading
  • ———. The Minarets of Cairo. Cairo: AUC Press, 1985.
    Listed reading
  • Pauty, Edmond. Les palais et maisons d’epoque musulmane au Caire. Cairo: IFAO, 1932.
    Listed reading
  • Lane, Edward William. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians Written in Egypt During the Years 1833-1835. London: East-West Publications, 1978.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Cairo Fifty Years Ago . Edited by S. Lane-Poole. London: John Murray, 1896.
    Listed reading
  • Lambert, Edwige, and Isabelle Vinatier, eds. Autrement Le Caire. Feb 1985.
    Listed reading
  • Migeon, Gaston. Le Caire, le Nil et Memphis. Paris: Librairie Renouard, 1928.
    Listed reading
  • Wiet, Gaston. Cairo: City of Art and Commerce. Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Mohammed Ali et les beaux-arts. Cairo: Dar al-Maaref, 1949.
    Listed reading
  • Rabie, Hassanein. The Financial System of Egypt A.H. 564-741 A.D. London: Oxford University Press, 1972, pp. 1169-1341.
    Listed reading
  • Devonshire, Henriette R. L. Rambles in Cairo. Cairo: R. Schindler, 1931.
    Listed reading
  • Lapidus, Ira. Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
    Listed reading
  • Berque, Jacques. Egypt: Imperialism & Revolution. Edited and translated by Jean Stewart. London: Faber & Faber, 1972.
    Listed reading
  • Revault, Jacques, ed. Palais et maisons du Caire, I- epoque mamelouke. Paris: CNRS, 1982.
    Listed reading
  • Abu-Lughod, Janet. Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971.
    Listed reading
  • Creswell, K. A. C. Muslim Architecture of Egypt . 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
    Listed reading
  • HautecOur, Louis, and Gaston Wiet. Les mosquees du Caire. Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, 1932.
    Listed reading
  • Salmon, M. Georges. Etudes sur la topographie du Caire, la Kal`at al-Kabch et la Birkat al-Fil. Cairo: IFAO, 1902.
    Listed reading
  • El-Gawhary, Mahmoud. Ex-Royal Palaces in Egypt from Muhammad Aly to Farouk. Cairo: Dar al-Maaref, 1954.
    Listed reading
  • Briggs, Martin. Muhammadan Architecture in Egypt and Palestine. New York: Capo, reprint 1974.
    Listed reading
  • Herz, Max. La mosquee du sultan Hassan au Caire. Cairo: Comite de conservation des monuments de l’art arabe, 1899.
    Listed reading
  • Herz, Max. La mosquee el-Rifai au Caire. Milan: H. Allegretti, 1912.
    Listed reading
  • Berchem, Max Van. Materiaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum. Memoires publies par les Membres de la Mission Archeologique Francaise au Caire. 19 (1-4). Paris: Librairie Leroux, 1894-1903.
    Listed reading
  • Volait, Mercedes. L’architecture moderne en Egypte et la revue al-`Imara (1939-1959). Cairo: CEDEJ, 1988.
    Listed reading
  • Meinecke, Michael. Die Mamlukische Architektur in Agypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517). Gluckstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin GMBH, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Amin, Muhammad M. Al-Awqaf wa-l-Hayyat al-Ijtima`iyya fi-Misr (The Waqfs and Social Life in Egypt 684-923 A.H./ 1250-1517 A.D.). Cairo: Dar al-Nahda al-`Arabiyya, 1980.
    Listed reading
  • Rabbat, Nasser. The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995.
    Listed reading
  • Hanna, Nelly. An Urban History of Bulaq in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods. Le Caire: Institut francais d’archeologie orientale, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Habiter au Caire, la maison moyenne et ses habitants aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles. Cairo: Institut francais d’archeologie orientale, 1991.
    Listed reading
  • Vatikiotis, Panayiotis J. The History of Modern Egypt from Muhammad Ali to Mubarak. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
    Listed reading
  • Coste, Pascal-Xavier. Architecture Arabe ou Monuments du Kaire mesures et dessines de 1818 a 1826. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1839.
    Listed reading
  • Anderson, Robert, and Ibrahim Fawzi, eds. Egypt Revealed: Scenes from Napoleon’s Description de l’Egypte. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1987.
    Listed reading
  • Hay, Robert. Illustrations of Cairo. London: Tilt and Bogue, 1840.
    Listed reading
  • Ilbert, Robert. Heliopolis, Le Caire, 1905-1922, genese d’une ville. Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1981.
    Listed reading
  • Lane-Poole, Stanley. The Story of Cairo. Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1902, reprint 1971.
    Listed reading
  • Denoix, Sylvie. Decrire le Caire Fustat-Misr d’apres Ibn Duqmaq et Maqrizi: l’histoire d’un partie de la ville du Caire d’apres deux historiens egyptiens des XIVe-XVe siecles. Cairo: Institut francais d’archeologie orientale du Caire, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Sakr, Tarek. Early Twentieth-Century Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Mitchell, Timothy. Colonizing Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
    Listed reading
  • Haarmann, Ulrich. Quellenstudien zur fruhen Mamlukenzeit. Freiburg: D. Robischon, 1969.
    Listed reading
  • Kubiak, Wladyslaw. Al-Fustat, Its Foundation and Early Urban Development. Cairo: American University Press, 1987.
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Sources