Art & About: The Many Faces of Islamic Architecture

NEWS STRAITS TIMES
By Luchien de Guise

Illustrated manuscript from Anwar-i Suhayli,Iran, 1593

MALAYSIA - Links between Malaysia and Russia have always been limited, an exhibition starting next month in St Petersburg will be travelling to Malaysia next year. Architecture and its Representations in Islamic Art at the State Hermitage Museum ends February 2012. Architecture is one of the greatest accomplishments of the Islamic world. Architecture was one of the first expressions of the cultural identity of Islamic society, and remains so to this day. Testimonials to this art form exist not only in the buildings that have survived but also in the legacy that these traditions have left in the other arts. The most detailed evidence of this impact is through the medium of painting. Miniature painting had existed for centuries in the Islamic Middle East but underwent a dramatic and series of developments in the Iranian world between the 14th and 16th Centuries. The most striking feature of architecture in book-painting is the emphasis on decoration. [link]