Architecture and the Construction of Early Modern Islamic Empires
Three great empires partitioned the Eastern Islamic lands from the Balkans to Bengal during the early modern era. In this context, the Mediterranean-based Ottomans, the Safavids in Iran, and the Mughals in India, developed their own visual cultures with distinctive architectural and ornamental idioms, originating from a shared Turco-Mongol Timurid cultural heritage. The lecture series analyzes the capital cities, socio-religious monuments, and garden palaces of each empire during the 16th and 17th centuries from a comparative perspective. The intimate connection between empire building and architecture is explored with respect to aesthetics, historical contexts, religious orientations, imperial ideologies, and theories of dynastic legitimacy.