Beschrijving

This volume serves as a comprehensive guide to the Islamic Art collection within the Benaki Museum (Athens), presenting major works and sectors of the museum’s holdings of Islamic decorative arts, manuscripts, metalwork, ceramics and textiles. It offers rich colour illustrations alongside descriptive texts explaining provenance, stylistic features, historical context and the significance of each work.

The book is structured into thematic and chronological sections: beginning with early Islamic periods and then moving through the major dynasties and cultural centres (Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, Ottoman) as represented in the museum’s collection. For each section the guide highlights key objects — e.g., Qur’an manuscripts, inlaid metalwork, Anatolian tile panels, Persian miniatures — showing how form, material, and ornament speak of cultural interchange, religious devotion and artistic technique.

Finally, the guide reflects on the role of the museum as custodian of cultural heritage and on the meaning of Islamic art in a modern Greek setting. It invites the visitor or reader to engage not only in aesthetic appreciation but also in understanding cross-cultural connections, historic trade routes, the mobility of art objects and the layering of meaning that these pieces carry. As such, it functions both as a visitor’s companion and as a scholarly resource for anyone interested in Islamic art and museum studies.