Borrowing the model of the palimpsest, George’s The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus: Art, Faith and Empire in Early Islam takes the reader on a vivid tour of the renowned mosque’s history, meaning, and significance.
Quran
Posted inArt
The Sale of a Rare, Gold-painted Qur’an at Christie’s Raises Questions of Provenance
Experts have criticized auction house practices that prioritize dropping the hammer on sales rather than on looters or art smugglers.
Posted inNews
British Library Digitizes One of the World’s Oldest Qur’an Manuscripts
One of the world’s oldest Qur’an manuscripts is now online, digitized in full by the British Library. The text dates from the 8th century — making it the oldest of its kind in the institution’s collection.
Posted inArt
A Qur’an Transcribed by Hand Presents Parables of Contemporary American Life
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — In the midst of growing Islamophobia in the US, artist Sandow Birk embarked on a nine-year project to transcribe and illustrate the entire Qur’an by hand.
Posted inBooks
Five of the World’s Largest Religious Manuscripts, from Devil’s Bible to Buddhist Labyrinth
Marcel Proust may have written a novel over 4,000 pages long, but there are other books out there of goliath proportions not in their length, but their size.
Posted inNews
Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts
What happens when a wide swath of history — previously only explored by white-gloved librarians and erudite historians — is made available to anyone with a solid internet connection? Thanks to the Pope, we’ll soon find out.