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The Minbar of Saladin: Reconstructing a Jewel of Islamic Art - Stairway To Heaven
With HRH The Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Ghazi, Sir Christopher Frayling, Dr. Khaled Azzam, Professor Keith Critchlow and Dr. Minwer al-Meheid
The Minbar of Saladin is the story of an ancient and magnificent work of sacred art, whose loss not only shook the art world, but triggered the shocking realisation that traditional Islamic knowledge and skills have all but vanished.
In 1969, the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was attacked by a fanatic, and in the blaze that followed, one of the world's most precious works of art, the minbar of Saladin, originally installed in 1187, was destroyed. The minbar lay in ashes. Fortunately some black and white photos survived, which showed an intricately constructed pulpit from more than 16,000 hand-carved pieces of walnut, ivory and ebony, held together without glue or nails. Using sacred geometry and the richness of symbolism, the minbar was a masterwork of Islamic art.
Thirty years later, the Royal family of Jordan, as the traditional guardians of the Al-Aqsa mosque, decided to reconstruct the minbar. The chronicles the journey to recreate the Saladin minbar and its final restoration in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, as well as how the consequences of a tragic event have come to symbolise the renaissance of Islamic art around the world.
From the Sky Arts feature length documentary (2008)
Produced by DCD-owned West Park Pictures in association with The Prince's Charities Events
Thames & Hudson
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