Museum of Islamic Art - photos
Photos and information of a selection of exhibits shown at the Museum of Islamic Art, located in the Pergamon Museum on the Berlin Museum Island.
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The Umayyads (661 -750)
After the death of the prophet Mohammed and the four caliphs who succeeded him, the Umayyads established the first Islamic dynasty. During this epoch, the victories of great army commanders allowed the caliphate to spread to unprecedented dimensions. It now extended from Spain in the west to central Asia and northern India in the east. Under the Umayyads. the centre of the Islamic empire was moved from the city of Medina on the Arabian Peninsula to Damascus in Syria.
Important administrative reforms were carried out during this period, and Arabic became the official language. Social unrest, arising in connection with the economic integration of non-Arabs, led to the gradual decline of the dynasty, which was superseded by that of the Abbasids in 750.
Developments in the arts initially drew their inspiration from Byzantine traditions of late antiquity in Syria as well as from the arts in the conquered empire of the Sasanians in Iraq and Iran.
The Umayyad rulers were active as architectural patrons. The most significant religious buildings erected include the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem build under 'Abd al-Malik 691-92 and the Great Mosque in Damascus, which was built under the Rile of the caliph al-Walid and completed in 714 - 15. Their numerous palaces are of particular significance. The facade of the palace of Mshatta exhibited in the Mshatta Hall is the most important work of architecture within the Berlin museums dating from the Umayyad epoch.
(Text in the Museum of Islamic Art)
See also in UiU:
Mshatta Façade
Special presentation with large photos
Desert Castles Tour
Umayyad palaces, bath houses and hunting lodges in Jordan
© Photo: Haupt & Binder
Photos and information of a selection of exhibits shown at the Museum of Islamic Art, located in the Pergamon Museum on the Berlin Museum Island.