Romanesque and Gothic
This term was coined in the early 1800s to describe medieval European buildings with rounded arches, barrel vaults, and relief sculpture, emphasizing their connections to ancient architecture.
Romanesque
This Fatimid structure, built in 1125, is significant for its elaborately decorated façade, which Behrens-Abouseif connects to a broader program of ceremonial revival in Cairo.
Al-Aqmar
The personifying inscriptions on this palace in Granada, Spain, serve as a collaboration of text and image, with the architecture seemingly speaking for itself.
Alhambra/Qal'at al-Hamra
Anderson suggests that this practice, which studied the influence of celestial bodies on human affairs, may hold the key to understanding the iconography of the pyxis of al-Mughīra.
Astrology
This city served as a powerful locus of memory for medieval Christian pilgrims, inspiring contemplation, recollection, and imagination.
Jerusalem
This architectural innovation allowed Gothic builders to create taller and more elaborate structures.
Flying buttresses
Behrens-Abouseif interprets carvings of a door and the arched window grille as symbols for the relationship between these two figures, based on where they would have appeared during Fatimid ceremonies.
The caliph and the vizier
The absence of a crown in a representation of the Byzantine emperor might be understood as a visual expression of this chaotic concept.
Ataxia
This lavishly decorated book may have been commissioned by King Fulk of Jerusalem around 1134/1135 in an effort to reconcile with his wife.
The Psalter of Melisende
This material was traded south across the Sahara, stimulating the production of luxury arts in West Africa.
Copper
This Benedictine abbey in France was one of the most important centers of Romanesque art and architecture.
Cluny Abbey
This grand, privately-funded building in the Mudejar tradition was built in Toledo in 1360 for the treasurer of King Peter I of Castile.
Synagogue of Samuel Halevi or El Tránsito
These niche-like architectural elements, found primarily in Islamic architecture, also appear in the compartmentalized ceiling of the Cappella Palatina.
Muqarnas
Caviness draws a parallel between the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and this medieval building, suggesting that both structures, despite invoking female forms, ultimately served the interests of male dominance
Chartres Cathedral
This church in Bologna replicates key elements of the Holy Sepulchre, serving as a "Jerusalem" in the West.
Santo Stefano
The veneration of these played an important role in the development of Romanesque art and architecture, as pilgrims traveled to see them and churches were built to house them.
Relics
Ousterhout suggests that the use of these different types of vaults at the Chora inspired the choice of mosaic or fresco for the decoration.
Pumpkin domes and ribbed domes
According to Ruggles, these architectural features of the Alhambra in Granada serve as a "monumentalized gaze" and embody the concept of sovereignty.
Miradors
This garment, miraculously preserved from a fire in 1194, was a treasured relic at Chartres Cathedral.
The Virgin Mary's tunic
Instead of attempting to attribute art objects to a single production site, Hoffman suggests considering the implications of this concept.
Portability
This 13th-century artist left behind the most famous medieval architectural sketchbook, which includes drawings of churches, animals, and mechanical devices, becoming an invaluable record of medieval construction techniques.
Villard de Honnecourt
The unique placement of this scene in a domical vault in the Chora’s chapel may be inspired by its proximity to a tomb, or have suggested a location for the tomb.
The Last Judgment
Tronzo suggests that the layout of the Cappella Palatina was influenced by this Byzantine ceremony, which involves greeting and bowing before an emperor.
Proskynesis
Glaire Anderson proposes this woman, a consort of the Cordoban Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Rahmān III, may have commissioned the pyxis of al-Mughīra as a gift for her son.
Al-Mushtaq
Hoffman argues that this art historical approach, which often relies on modern classification systems, may be inadequate for understanding portable Islamic Art.
Taxonomy