“Lighting the Great Mosque of Cordoba:Interiors, Vision, and Memory”
Part One of a Two-part Series Cosponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Middle East Center
Friday, November 3, 2017 | Winnet Building, Room S2-19
9:10–10:10 a.m. Illustrated Lecture
10:15-10:45 a.m. Q & A with Refreshments
For more than a thousand years, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, in Andalusia, Spain, has been one of the world's most stunning buildings. The vast interior served as a center for prayer, political power, Islamic law and social gathering. The architecture features beautiful intersecting arcades with intricate geometric designs. Were these built just for structural or ornamentation purposes? Are they best understood as examples of Moorish craftsmanship? Do they help shed light on cultural memory as well as the those navigating their way below? The renowned architectural historian, Professor Renata Holod, will share her original research using Computer Graphics Rendering Techniques. Dr. Renata Holod, is a professor of the History of Art and the curator, Near East Section, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, at the University of Pennsylvania. She has conducted fieldwork in Syria, Iran, Morocco, Turkey, Central Asia, Tunisia and Ukraine. She is co-author and co-editor of City in the Desert (1978); Architecture and Community: Building in the Islamic World Today, (1983); The Mosque and the Modern World (1997); The City in the Islamic World (2008) and An Island Through Time: Jerba Studies (2009). She has been Chair, Master Jury of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.