New Publication: Proceedings of the First International Congress on Islamic Archaeology
Istanbul, 8-10 April 2005, IRCICA, 2011
IRCICA has the pleasure to present a book that has special significance for its theme and objectives: it focuses on the archaeology of the Islamic period and the Islamic geography and aims to promote studies in this area. These were the governing objectives that had led IRCICA to organise the First International Congress on Islamic Archaeology. The congress was held on the Centre’s premises in Yıldız Palace, Istanbul, with the participation of around one hundred archaeologists and specialists from related fields such as art history and architecture from around the world. The Prime Minister of Turkey H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had accorded his patronage to this event, which underscored the latter’s importance as a founding attempt to emphasize “Islamic Archaeology” as a distinct period and subject within the discipline. After this first congress held in 2005, the Second International Congress on Islamic Archaeology has been organised in Islamabad, Pakistan on 21-23 January 2011, jointly with the National Institute for Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR) of Pakistan, under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Pakistan H.E. Mr. Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. Next to appear after the present book resulting from the first congress is a collection of the papers of the second congress.
In this book the preface by Dr. Halit Eren recapitulates some features of the congress such as the main focuses of the papers contributed and the participants’ recommendations. It recalls the two exhibitions which accompanied the congress: one of them was on Seljukid archaeological finds, contributed by the Municipality of Konya; the other was contributed by the Turkish-Islamic Art Museum (Istanbul) with displays of its collections. The preface is followed by the texts of the addresses delivered at the opening ceremony which can be considered as references on how attention to and treatment of the theme through this congress had developed and metarialised. The addresses were given by Prime Minister Erdoğan (read by the Minister of State Prof. Beşir Atalay), the Secretary General of the OIC H.E. Prof. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Dr. Saad Abdulaziz al-Rashed, Deputy Minister for Antiquities and Museums, Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Chairman of IRCICA Governing Board, and Dr. Halit Eren, IRCICA Director General. The presentations at the congress are grouped in two parts, titled “On-Site Research and Excavations” and “Research, perspectives in Islamic archaeology”. The papers deal with the state and the results of research and excavations on Islamic archaeology in different countries and regions or communicate the outcomes of studies on particular archaeological sites dating from different periods of the Islamic era. At the end of the book is an outline of the participants’ recommendations.