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Book cover of From Granada to Berlin, The Alhambra Cupola, featuring the octagonal ceiling of dome, with symmetrical kufic inscriptions. Published by Verlag Kettler.

From Granada to Berlin

The Alhambra Cupola

By (author) Anna McSweeney

$48.00

  • Comprehensive biography of the Alhambra cupola
  • Includes extensive new research
  • Part of the series CAHIMConnecting Art Histories in the Museum
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Full Description
This book is the story of an extraordinary survivor from the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain: the Alhambra cupola, now in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. The cupola, a ceiling crafted from carved and painted wood, was made to crown an exquisite mirador in one of the earliest palace buildings of the Alhambra. The book is the cupola’s biography from its medieval construction to its imminent redisplay in Berlin. It traces the long history of the Alhambra through the prism of the cupola, from the Muslim craftsmen who built it, to its adaptation by the Christian conquerors after the fall of Granada in 1492, to its creation as a heritage site.  The cupola was sketched by artists from across Europe, before it was dismantled by a German financier and taken to Berlin in the 19th century. It witnessed the dramatic events of the 20th century in Germany and was eventually bought by the Museum in 1978. In recent decades, the new visibility of the cupola to the wider public has prompted questions about the object and its movement from Granada to Berlin. Its removal from the Alhambra and the complex reasons behind this loss are central to this biography. Setting the cupola within the wider context of Islamic heritage, it considers the role of collecting practices in the transformation of living monuments into heritage sites in the 20th century. This book presents a focused study of this unique object that cuts across academic disciplines and geographic boundaries to reveal a new perspective on the legacy of Islamic art in Europe and its continuing relevance today.
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Specifications
Publisher
Verlag Kettler
ISBN
9783862068319
Published
28th Oct 2020
Binding
Paperback / softback
Territory
USA & Canada
Size
6.69 in x 9.45 in
Pages
196 Pages
Illustrations
67 color, 11 b&w
Name of series
CAHIM - Connecting Art Histories in the Museum
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