In 2011, the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin celebrated the 100th anniversary of the German excavations of the Islamic-medieval site Samarra. The former Abbasid capital (836-892 A.D.) around 125 km north of Bagdad is one of the largest archaeological ruins in the world and one of the key sites in the field of Islamic art and archaeology. The excavations led by Ernst Herzfeld and Friedrich Sarre between 1911 and 1913 represent a primary moment in the establishment of the field. Today, a hundred years later, our knowledge on Abbasid art has widened immensely. This volume includes papers given at an international symposium organised by the EHG together with the Museum of Islamic ARt from June 30 to July 02, 2011 to discuss the latest state of research on the former Abbasid city and its impact on Islamic art. Articles touch the history of the excavations, the city of Samarra and its finds as well as other recently studied Abbasid sites.
About the Author
Julia Gonnella is curator at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin (SMB). She has published on many aspects of Islamic Art. For the new installation of the museum galleries in 2019, she is coordinating the various projects connected with the Samarra holdings. Rania Abdellatif is currently working as a trainee curator at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin (SMB). She is preparing her PhD at Sorbonne / Paris IV University, dealing with the Zangid and the Ayyubid congregational mosques in Bilad al-Sham. Simone Struth has studied history of Islamic art in Munich/LMU with a strong interest in both the medieval and contemporary arts of the Arab speaking Middle East. She is currently working for the Samarra-Project MOSYS 3D (HTW-Berlin) at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, specialising on the stucco decoration.
