Synagogues in the Islamic World

An ACSA Distinguished Professor, Mohammad Gharipour serves as a Professor and Director of the Architecture Program at the University of Maryland, USA. He has published 15 books and has received awards and grants from many organizations, including AIA, NEH, NIH, Fullbright, SAH, ARCC, and ACSA. He is the director and founder of the award-winning International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA), the director and co-founder of the Epidemic Urbanism Initiative, and the president of the Society of Architectural Historians.

With fascinating insights and abundantly illustrated in color...this book is the first serious attempt to assess the architectural heritage of Jews across the Muslim world. Its editor is to be commended on his remarkable achievement.

• Introduction, Mohammad Gharipour1. Architecture of Synagogues in the Islamic World: History and the Dilemma of Identity, Mohammad Gharipour2. Prologue: Historic Relations Between Muslims and Jews, Reuven Firestone I. Synagogue and the Urban Context3. Shrines of the Prophets and Jewish Communities: Ancient Synagogues and Tombs in Medieval Iraq, Sara Ethel Wolper 4. Reflection of Sacred Realities in Urban Contexts: The Synagogues of Herat, Ulrike-Christiane Lintz5. Synagogues of the Fez mellah: Constructing Sacred Spaces in 19th Century Morocco, Michelle Craig6. Emotional Architecture: Cairo’s Sha’ar Hashamayim Synagogue and Iconography’s Global Reach, Ann ShaferII. Synagogue and the Cultural Context7. The Prevalence of Islamic Art amongst Jews of Christian Iberia: Two Fourteenth-Century Castilian Synagogues in Andalusian Attire, Daniel Muñoz Garrido8. The Ottoman Jews of the 19th-century Istanbul and the Socio-cultural Foundations of the Yüksek Kaldırım Ashkenazi Synagogue, Meltem Özkan Altınöz9. The Architecture and Décor of the Nahon and Bendrihen Synagogues of Tangier: Modernization and Internationalization of the Jewish Community, M. Mitchell Serels10. Synagogues and Sacred Rituals in Tehran: An Ethnographic Analysis of Judeo-Persian Identities and Spaces, Arlene DallalfarIII. Architecture and Interior Design11. Decorating Synagogues in the Western Islamic World: The Role of Sephardi Traditionalism, Vivian Mann12. Djerbian Culture and Climate As Expressed in A Historic Landmark: The Case of El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, Nesrine Mansour and Anat Geva13. Synagogue Architecture in Kerala, India: Design Roots, Precedents, Tectonics, and Inspirations, Jay A. Waronker 14. Immigrants’ Sacred Architecture: The Rabi Meir Baal-Hanes Synagogue in Eilat, Israel, Anat Geva 15. Epilogue: Sensitive Ruins: On the Preservation of Jewish Religious Sites in the Muslim World, Susan Miller Appendix 1: CaptionsAppendix 2: BibliographiesAppendix 3: Biographies