Books by Patricia Blessing
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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022
In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth c... more In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth century and its connection with broader geographical contexts. Analyzing how transregional exchange shaped building practices, she examines how workers from Anatolia, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Iran and Central Asia participated in key construction projects. She also demonstrates how drawn, scalable models on paper served as templates for architectural decorations and supplemented collaborations that involved the mobility of workers. Blessing reveals how the creation of centralized workshops led to the emergence of a clearly defined imperial Ottoman style by 1500, when the flexibility and experimentation of the preceding century was levelled. Her book radically transforms our understanding of Ottoman architecture by exposing the diverse and fluid nature of its formative period.
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This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. C... more This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. Complex shifts in rule, movements of population, and cultural transformations took place that affected architecture on multiple levels. Beginning with the Mongol conquest of Anatolia, and ending with the demise of the Ilkhanid Empire, centered in Iran, in the 1330s, this book considers how the integration of Anatolia into the Mongol world system transformed architecture and patronage in the region. Traditionally, this period has been studied within the larger narrative of a progression from Seljuk to Ottoman rule and architecture, in a historiography that privileges Turkish national identity. Once Anatolia is studied within the framework of the Mongol Empire, however, the region no longer appears as an isolated case; rather it is integrated into a broader context beyond the modern borders of Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus republics.
The monuments built during this period served a number of purposes: mosques were places of prayer and congregation, madrasas were used to teach Islamic law and theology, and caravanserais secured trade routes for merchants and travelers. This study analyzes architecture on multiple, overlapping levels, based on a detailed observation of the monuments. The layers of information extracted from the monuments themselves, from written sources in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and from historical photographs, shape an image of Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia that reflects the complexities of this frontier region. New patrons emerged, craftsmen migrated between neighboring regions, and the use of locally available materials fostered the transformation of designs in ways that are closely tied to specific places. Starting from these sources, this book untangles the intertwined narratives of architecture, history, and religion to provide a broader understanding of frontier culture in the medieval Middle East, with its complex interaction of local, regional, and trans-regional identities.
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Textile Museum Journal , 2018
This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Midd... more This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Middle Ages and investigates the question of cultural specificity in the use of textile imitations in a range of media. As coveted objects of trade and diplomatic gift exchange, tex- tiles were widely distributed using the cross-cultural networks between Byzantium, the Islamic world, and East Asia. Within this broader world of medieval textile exchange, the notion of textile patterns that are adapted in architecture, ceramics, metalwork, and manuscripts stands at the center of this volume. Questions to be discussed are the portability of textile patterns, the adaptation of textile motifs in a variety of media, and the appropriation of textile forms and patterns from other cultural contexts. Twenty years ago, Lisa Golombek argued for a ‘draped universe of Islam’, ascribing to Muslim culture a sensibility particularly attuned to textiles and their patterns. Golombek rightly emphasized the rich textile production of the Islamic world and the use of architectural decoration that refers to woven models. While this argument is certainly convincing, considering the fluidity with which textile patterns appear in other materials and contexts and how textiles evoke monumental decoration, the phenomenon itself is not exclusively Islamic. Rather, it is part of a broader medieval sensibility that is finely attuned to the subtleties of textiles and intrigued by the possibility to move their patterns and texture back and forth between fabrics, walls, and other objects. The topics of articles in this volume of The Textile Museum Journal range from representations of jewelry in late antique textiles, silks with bird motifs produced in both Iran and the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to women’s clothing in the fourteenth-century Mongol courts of Iran and China.
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Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the... more Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the geographical and chronological juncture between Byzantines and the Ottomans, its story tends to be read through the Seljuk experience. This obscures the multiple experiences and spaces of Anatolia under the Byzantine empire, Turko-Muslim dynasties contemporary to the Seljuks, the Mongol Ilkhanids, and the various beyliks of eastern and western Anatolia.
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In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly stu... more In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly studiedin
a cross-cultural perspective that takes into account
the varied geography and cultures of the region. The
historiography of Anatolia, particularly, has received
close attention as the medieval history and architecture of this period are reevalutated.
1
Within this complex historical context, the connections between architecture in the various regions are often blurred by
divided historiographies, and by the limits of primary
sources. Bringing together studies on various aspects
of architecture opens fruitful avenues for cross-re
gional comparisons that are difficult to maintain in a
single study. The articles in this volume engage with
recent scholarship by investigating case studies from
these regions.
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Papers by Patricia Blessing
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Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task ... more Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task of tracking fragments that originally belonged to the same piece. This fragmentary character of textiles is often the result of early collection practices, which value textiles as examples of patterns for new designs, rather than as functional objects. Early publications of textile research often included plates that omitted aspects such as fading and stitch marks, and reconstruction of possible use. While digital tools have made it easier to imagine and depict such textiles in their original form, the initial problem remains: How can we understand textiles as functional objects, rather than supports for motifs? This chapter argues that histories of collections are fundamental to the study of textiles, as are new ways of considering the function of textiles in their original contexts.
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Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association , 2021
In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light o... more In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light of the discussions that have taken place since the transformation happened on 24 July 2020. Let us begin with the initial reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, especially in mainstream media in the US and Europe. In much of that reporting, Hagia Sophia's Byzantine past was emphasized, and narratives of Ottoman conquest connected to misleading notions of Islamic iconoclasm followed. Thus, the building's life as a church (537-1453) has obscured its history as a mosque (1453-1934). Among reactions to the 2020 transformation, writing that also carefully considered the Hagia Sophia's Ottoman context, and the fact that the building was affected by changes in Ottoman political and religious life over time, was slow to emerge. 1 Why does this matter? Hagia Sophia is a Byzantine monument, it is an Ottoman monument, and it was until 2020 one of modern Turkey's most important museum-monuments. This statement should be self-apparent, yet in reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, Hagia Sophia at times appeared only as a Byzantine monument that has now-through the insistence of Turkey's current government, fulfilling a long-time dream of right-wing politics-turned into a mosque to the detriment of its Byzantine past. We contend that this view is mistaken because it does not take into account the entire history of the building, and it neglects the multiple and complex past(s) of both the monument and the city where it is located. Interestingly in Turkey, we have a mirror image of this one-dimensional representation of Hagia Sophia, this time as a mosque. The Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, according to the supporters of Hagia Sophia's conversion, was seen as an almost eschatological event, resulting in the building's rebirth
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International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2021
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Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on ... more Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on the historical content that usually appears in these inscriptions, including the date of the foundation and the patron. Since the written sources from this region, such as chronicles and Sufi hagiographies, rarely refer to patronage with any amount of detail, monumental inscriptions often become the single source on this topic. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Anatolia and the Caucasus present intricate cases of the use of inscriptions within monuments that are expressions of a frontier society at the intersection between Byzantium, the Christian kingdom of the Caucasus, and the Islamic world. Based on case studies that include the Buruciye Medrese (1271-72) in Sivas (Turkey), the Yakutiye Medrese (1310) in Erzurum (Turkey) and the Selim Khan/ Orbelian Karavanserai (1330s) south of Lake Sevan (Armenia), this article discusses how inscription programs were part of carefully conceived schemes to guide the viewer. Thus, inscriptions were placed deliberately in order to create an itinerary through the building, in which the viewer is guided by the size and script of the inscriptions, their location and (for the reader able to understand the content), the text itself. Often more so than chronicles of the time, these inscriptions reflect the complex dynamics of identity, language, and frontier cultures that were at stake in the region.
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Books by Patricia Blessing
The monuments built during this period served a number of purposes: mosques were places of prayer and congregation, madrasas were used to teach Islamic law and theology, and caravanserais secured trade routes for merchants and travelers. This study analyzes architecture on multiple, overlapping levels, based on a detailed observation of the monuments. The layers of information extracted from the monuments themselves, from written sources in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and from historical photographs, shape an image of Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia that reflects the complexities of this frontier region. New patrons emerged, craftsmen migrated between neighboring regions, and the use of locally available materials fostered the transformation of designs in ways that are closely tied to specific places. Starting from these sources, this book untangles the intertwined narratives of architecture, history, and religion to provide a broader understanding of frontier culture in the medieval Middle East, with its complex interaction of local, regional, and trans-regional identities.
a cross-cultural perspective that takes into account
the varied geography and cultures of the region. The
historiography of Anatolia, particularly, has received
close attention as the medieval history and architecture of this period are reevalutated.
1
Within this complex historical context, the connections between architecture in the various regions are often blurred by
divided historiographies, and by the limits of primary
sources. Bringing together studies on various aspects
of architecture opens fruitful avenues for cross-re
gional comparisons that are difficult to maintain in a
single study. The articles in this volume engage with
recent scholarship by investigating case studies from
these regions.
Papers by Patricia Blessing
The monuments built during this period served a number of purposes: mosques were places of prayer and congregation, madrasas were used to teach Islamic law and theology, and caravanserais secured trade routes for merchants and travelers. This study analyzes architecture on multiple, overlapping levels, based on a detailed observation of the monuments. The layers of information extracted from the monuments themselves, from written sources in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and from historical photographs, shape an image of Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia that reflects the complexities of this frontier region. New patrons emerged, craftsmen migrated between neighboring regions, and the use of locally available materials fostered the transformation of designs in ways that are closely tied to specific places. Starting from these sources, this book untangles the intertwined narratives of architecture, history, and religion to provide a broader understanding of frontier culture in the medieval Middle East, with its complex interaction of local, regional, and trans-regional identities.
a cross-cultural perspective that takes into account
the varied geography and cultures of the region. The
historiography of Anatolia, particularly, has received
close attention as the medieval history and architecture of this period are reevalutated.
1
Within this complex historical context, the connections between architecture in the various regions are often blurred by
divided historiographies, and by the limits of primary
sources. Bringing together studies on various aspects
of architecture opens fruitful avenues for cross-re
gional comparisons that are difficult to maintain in a
single study. The articles in this volume engage with
recent scholarship by investigating case studies from
these regions.
These far-reaching economic and cultural networks were facilitated by the span of the Mongol Empire, into which Anatolia was integrated in the second half of the thirteenth century, under the so-called Pax Mongolica. They fostered the exchange of ideas and the formation of fluid styles – Byzantine, Seljuk, Armenian in the case of Anatolia – and identities among different religious (mostly Christian and Muslim) and ethnic groups. Paying close attention to the fluid identities of medieval Anatolia, this dissertation discusses cultural networks within a geographical, rather than a political framework, that serves as the breeding ground for creativity and innovation in architecture as Anatolia progressively developed from a Christian to a Muslim region.
This dissertation questions the exclusive role ascribed to dynastic patronage in the shaping of architectural style, which is especially relevant in a frontier region such as Anatolia, rife with instability and shifting boundaries. Thus, this study argues that in medieval Anatolia, the discrepancy between the levels of politics, patronage, and stylistic developments is particularly acute, even more so with the increasing influence of the Mongol Ilkhanids throughout the second half of the thirteenth century. Political, economic, and cultural factors shaped the ways in which the potential of Eurasian networks was translated into architecture differently in adjacent regions.
In Anatolia, these dynamics shifted several times within a matter of years, taking the complexity of architecture beyond the correlation between rule, patronage, and style suggested by historiographical categories such as Seljuk or Ilkhanid. Close analysis of selected monuments, paying attention to the details of structure and decoration, are combined with primary sources in order to render both the visual and textual understanding of architecture in thirteenth-century Anatolia.