Opening of the updated permanent exhibition "The Art of the Islamic Middle East. Mamluk Sultanate"
February 14, 2017, the day of the readings dedicated to the memory of Academician BB Piotrovsky, in the State Hermitage after a long break, the renewed permanent exhibition "The Art of the Islamic Middle East. Mamluk Sultanate" opened.
The three halls on the third floor of the Winter Palace (No. 385 - 387) present monuments of art and culture from the countries of the Middle East in the 13th – 15th centuries: the Mamluk Sultanate, a state formed in the middle of the XIII century in the vast territory of Egypt, Syria, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the Emirate of Granada - the last Muslim state in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
The exhibition was opened by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum.
“This is a Hermitage style of displaying oriental art,” Mikhail Borisovich noted. “Wonderful things are the result of the Hermitage’s collecting works for many years. This exhibition is followed by a “draft” of a grand exposition that will go further - the Iranian collection and the Ottoman, Turkish, part. The permanent exhibition of the Department of the East is an example of how we begin to master the third floor of the Winter Palace in the Hermitage style. Many halls of the third floor have become free, thanks to the fact that we have created an exposition in the General Staff Building, and now the exposition of the Winter Palace is gradually acquiring a new form. ”
From 1250 to 1517 the Mamluk Sultanate played a leading role in the political, economic and cultural life of the Middle East.
Mamluks called the slaves of the sultans and emirs, who were trained in military affairs and became personal guards. The tradition of using slaves as professional military officers has existed in many Muslim countries for centuries (many of them subsequently sought top posts not only in the army, but also in administrative positions, and often arranged palace coups).
The power in the Mamluk Sultanate passed by right of force, despite the numerous attempts of the rulers to transfer it to their heirs. Two periods and two conditional dynasties of the Mamluks are distinguished: Bahri - mainly Turks from the southern Russian steppes (1250-1382, 1389-1390); and Burjis - Circassians from the Caucasus (1382-1389, 1390-1517). The name Bahri is derived from the Bahriya corps on the Nile river, and the Burji's from the corps located in the Burj of the Citadel of Cairo.
The highest flowering of art and culture falls on the reign of Sultan Muhammad ibn Qaloun. At this time (1293-1341) numerous mosques were built, madrasas, elaborately decorated manuscripts, utensils, on which the name of the customer was sometimes indicated, and his “coat of arms” were placed. It is to the reign of this Mamluk sultan that the best works of applied art made in the Hermitage collection, made of bronze and richly decorated with silver and gold inlay, belong to the Hermitage. No less valuable are linen and silk fabrics, exposed to the renewed exposition, lamps with gilding and painted with colored enamels, which decorated the interiors of mosques and madrasas, public buildings and private houses, and wood panels with ivory inserts.
From the end of the 14th century, the applied art gradually fell into decay, instead of bronze, they increasingly use tinned copper, items from which are also in the museum collection. A repeated flourishing occurs in the second half of the 15th century, under Sultan Kaitbay (1468-1496). But in 1516, the war began between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Selim I (1514-1520), which ended with the execution of the last Mamluk Sultan Tuman-bai II and the inclusion of Syria, Egypt and Hijaz into the Ottomans.
Objects from the museum’s collection also demonstrate the particular importance attached to the images of various emblems and signs of the emirs and sultans on things. The rudiments of heraldry appeared under the Ayyubids, the early Mamluk sultans used symbols of power adopted from the Seljuk Rum, in Byzantium and the Crusaders, such as the lion (leopard), eagle, lily or crescent. In addition to the sultans, the signs were used only by the emirs. The signs are based on the symbols of the ceremonial departments in which they served. The most common are: chalice; saber or dagger (squire), pencil case (secretary), handkerchief (keeper of the palace wardrobe), hockey sticks (polo master). Under the Sultans of Burji, the signs become more complicated when they consist of several elements, the main ones of which are: a bowl, a handkerchief, a pencil case, powder flasks.
At the beginning of the 14th century, epigraphic cartouches appeared: round shields, divided into three fields, where initially there was an inscription praising the sultan in all three.
Since the Mamluk heraldry did not come to that developed system of codification and heredity, as in Europe, the shape of the shield, its color and the color of the elements differed, but were more likely due to the taste of the customer than the strict need to follow the canons. The whole range of colors used in Mamluk heraldry is best manifested in glassware with enamels and architecture. In other cases, the color of the sign is more subordinate to the material itself (in bronze products it is mainly silver, occasionally gold).
The Mamluk Sultanate maintained active trade contacts with other states of both the East and the West. The last Muslim state in the territory of Spain remained the Granad Emirate (1238-1492), at the head of which stood the Nasrid dynasty (1232-1492). Its founder was Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar, who built his lineage to one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad. In 1232, Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar launched an uprising against the ruler of Murcia Ibn Hud and captured Archon, and in 1238 Granada, where he transferred the capital of his state. In the same year, the reorganization of the citadel began and the construction of the residence-palace of the Alhambra (from the Arabic "al-Hamra" - red). The construction of the Alhambra was continued by his heirs, and gradually a whole complex of palaces, courtyards with fountains and ponds, gardens and mosques was formed.
The efforts of Muslim masters who arrived at the Nasrid court from the lands seized by Christians led to the emergence of an outstanding monument of Muslim architecture. For the decoration of the Alhambra used carved stone, wood, tiles. Unfortunately, only two of the seven palaces that once existed have survived (Komares and Lviv Palace). The exhibition presents carved marble capitals and wooden consoles, originating from one of the palaces of Nasrid.
Curators - Anastasia Teplyakova, Researcher, Sector of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Department of the East; and Dmitry V. Sadofeev, Junior Researcher, Byzantium and Middle East Sector, Department of the East.
The three halls on the third floor of the Winter Palace (No. 385 - 387) present monuments of art and culture from the countries of the Middle East in the 13th – 15th centuries: the Mamluk Sultanate, a state formed in the middle of the XIII century in the vast territory of Egypt, Syria, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the Emirate of Granada - the last Muslim state in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.
The exhibition was opened by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum.
“This is a Hermitage style of displaying oriental art,” Mikhail Borisovich noted. “Wonderful things are the result of the Hermitage’s collecting works for many years. This exhibition is followed by a “draft” of a grand exposition that will go further - the Iranian collection and the Ottoman, Turkish, part. The permanent exhibition of the Department of the East is an example of how we begin to master the third floor of the Winter Palace in the Hermitage style. Many halls of the third floor have become free, thanks to the fact that we have created an exposition in the General Staff Building, and now the exposition of the Winter Palace is gradually acquiring a new form. ”
From 1250 to 1517 the Mamluk Sultanate played a leading role in the political, economic and cultural life of the Middle East.
Mamluks called the slaves of the sultans and emirs, who were trained in military affairs and became personal guards. The tradition of using slaves as professional military officers has existed in many Muslim countries for centuries (many of them subsequently sought top posts not only in the army, but also in administrative positions, and often arranged palace coups).
The power in the Mamluk Sultanate passed by right of force, despite the numerous attempts of the rulers to transfer it to their heirs. Two periods and two conditional dynasties of the Mamluks are distinguished: Bahri - mainly Turks from the southern Russian steppes (1250-1382, 1389-1390); and Burjis - Circassians from the Caucasus (1382-1389, 1390-1517). The name Bahri is derived from the Bahriya corps on the Nile river, and the Burji's from the corps located in the Burj of the Citadel of Cairo.
The highest flowering of art and culture falls on the reign of Sultan Muhammad ibn Qaloun. At this time (1293-1341) numerous mosques were built, madrasas, elaborately decorated manuscripts, utensils, on which the name of the customer was sometimes indicated, and his “coat of arms” were placed. It is to the reign of this Mamluk sultan that the best works of applied art made in the Hermitage collection, made of bronze and richly decorated with silver and gold inlay, belong to the Hermitage. No less valuable are linen and silk fabrics, exposed to the renewed exposition, lamps with gilding and painted with colored enamels, which decorated the interiors of mosques and madrasas, public buildings and private houses, and wood panels with ivory inserts.
From the end of the 14th century, the applied art gradually fell into decay, instead of bronze, they increasingly use tinned copper, items from which are also in the museum collection. A repeated flourishing occurs in the second half of the 15th century, under Sultan Kaitbay (1468-1496). But in 1516, the war began between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Selim I (1514-1520), which ended with the execution of the last Mamluk Sultan Tuman-bai II and the inclusion of Syria, Egypt and Hijaz into the Ottomans.
Objects from the museum’s collection also demonstrate the particular importance attached to the images of various emblems and signs of the emirs and sultans on things. The rudiments of heraldry appeared under the Ayyubids, the early Mamluk sultans used symbols of power adopted from the Seljuk Rum, in Byzantium and the Crusaders, such as the lion (leopard), eagle, lily or crescent. In addition to the sultans, the signs were used only by the emirs. The signs are based on the symbols of the ceremonial departments in which they served. The most common are: chalice; saber or dagger (squire), pencil case (secretary), handkerchief (keeper of the palace wardrobe), hockey sticks (polo master). Under the Sultans of Burji, the signs become more complicated when they consist of several elements, the main ones of which are: a bowl, a handkerchief, a pencil case, powder flasks.
At the beginning of the 14th century, epigraphic cartouches appeared: round shields, divided into three fields, where initially there was an inscription praising the sultan in all three.
Since the Mamluk heraldry did not come to that developed system of codification and heredity, as in Europe, the shape of the shield, its color and the color of the elements differed, but were more likely due to the taste of the customer than the strict need to follow the canons. The whole range of colors used in Mamluk heraldry is best manifested in glassware with enamels and architecture. In other cases, the color of the sign is more subordinate to the material itself (in bronze products it is mainly silver, occasionally gold).
The Mamluk Sultanate maintained active trade contacts with other states of both the East and the West. The last Muslim state in the territory of Spain remained the Granad Emirate (1238-1492), at the head of which stood the Nasrid dynasty (1232-1492). Its founder was Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar, who built his lineage to one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad. In 1232, Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar launched an uprising against the ruler of Murcia Ibn Hud and captured Archon, and in 1238 Granada, where he transferred the capital of his state. In the same year, the reorganization of the citadel began and the construction of the residence-palace of the Alhambra (from the Arabic "al-Hamra" - red). The construction of the Alhambra was continued by his heirs, and gradually a whole complex of palaces, courtyards with fountains and ponds, gardens and mosques was formed.
The efforts of Muslim masters who arrived at the Nasrid court from the lands seized by Christians led to the emergence of an outstanding monument of Muslim architecture. For the decoration of the Alhambra used carved stone, wood, tiles. Unfortunately, only two of the seven palaces that once existed have survived (Komares and Lviv Palace). The exhibition presents carved marble capitals and wooden consoles, originating from one of the palaces of Nasrid.
Curators - Anastasia Teplyakova, Researcher, Sector of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Department of the East; and Dmitry V. Sadofeev, Junior Researcher, Byzantium and Middle East Sector, Department of the East.
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