Course Contents

This course explores gardens and landscape of the Indo Islamic World, covering a breadth of historical, cultural, geographic, and environmental contexts. After being introduced to the Islamic world, the nature of specifically “Islamic” gardens and landscape is considered. While formal design and aesthetic experience is emphasized throughout, religious, social, and political implication of landscape design are studied through historic cases. Evidence for past gardens, archaeology, and garden conservation are addressed as well.

Course Synopsis

From the 7th century to the present, the Indo Islamic world extended at various times from Spain, across northern Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans to Central and South Asia and Indonesia. The built environment is characterized by architecture centered around large open courtyards, often gardened, and a sophisticated system for organizing, irrigating, and cultivating the landscape. The themes for this course, which is both topical and historical, include the greening and settlement of the desert, the formation of an Islamic visual culture, the agricultural landscape, gardens of myth and memory, architectural and garden typology and symbolism, and architecture as a theater for political display specifically in Subcontinent.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the successful completion of the course students will: • Gain a historical and visual knowledge of Islamic gardens and landscape • Be able to identify, interpret and evaluate a range of Islamic objects, stylistic periods and source materials used in Indo Islamic Gardens. • Acquire knowledge of the broad concepts and key issues in Islamic Landscape • Understand the linkages between agriculture, technology, society, religion, and cultural expression used in Islamic Gardens • Develop the ability to appraise the methods and approaches used by art historians, archaeologists and scholars who document and interpret Islamic material culture