You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Jaipur Nama is the story of one of India's most fascinating cities, as seen through the eyes of both its residents and its visitors, who witnessed and recorded different moments in Jaipur's history between the 18th and 20th centuries. The triumph, follies and foibles of its rulers, the passions and drama of palace intrigues, the splendor of royal rites and entertainments, and the bustle and energy of tis bazaars and ateliers, all come to life through the vivid and detailed accounts of chroniclers as diverse as an Austrian Jesuit, a French naturalist, a court priest, a city merchant and a pilgrim from Banaras. Many of these accounts are here translated into English for the first time. Each re...
An enduring monument of haunting beauty, the Taj Mahal seems a symbol of stability itself. The familiar view of the glowing marble mausoleum from the gateway entrance offers the very picture of permanence. And yet this extraordinary edifice presents a shifting image to observers across time and cultures. The meaning of the Taj Mahal, the perceptions and responses it prompts, ideas about the building and the history that shape them: these form the subject of Giles Tillotson’s book. More than a richly illustrated history—though it is that as well—this book is an eloquent meditation on the place of the Taj Mahal in the cultural imagination of India and the wider world. Since its completio...
An architectural biography of Jaipur, and a concise history of Indian architectural theory over the last 300 years.
Understanding Architecture is a comprehensive introduction to architecture and architectural history and exceptional in its approach.
Giles Tillotson provides a fascinating account of Delhi's built heritage, from the traces of the earliest settlements at Indraprastha, through the grand legacies of the Delhi Sultans and the great Mughals to the ordered symmetries of Lutyens' Delhi and the towering skyscrapers of Gurgaon. Filled with quirky details and original insights, as well as a section on important monuments, this is a lively and informed account of the many fascinating twists and turns in the national capital's built history and an original reflection on the many transformations of its urban landscape.
This Book Looks At Ancient Fortress Capital Such As Chittor And Gwalior, Cities Established At The Height Of Rajput Cultural Achievement Such As Udaipur And Bikaner And Provides A Detailed Yet Accessible Examination Of This Spectacular But Little Studied School Of Architecture.
None
This collection of essays provides a timely reassessment of nineteenth-century Islamic art and architecture. The essays demonstrate that the arts of that era were vibrant and diverse, making ingenious use of native traditions and materials or adopting imported conventions and new technologies. However, traditionalists, revivalists and modernists all referred in one way or another to an Islamic heritage, whether to reinvent, revive or reject it. Beginning with an historical introduction and an assessment of changing attitudes towards the visual arts the following essays provide case studies of architecture and art in Ottoman Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, sub-Saharan Africa, Iran, Central Asia, India and the Caribbean. They examine such issues as patronage, sources of artistic inspiration and responses to European art. The essays have a relevance and importance for our understanding of the societies and attitudes of that time, and have a direct bearing on the more general debate concerning cultural identity and the integration of modern ideas in the Muslim world. The book is richly illustrated with very many illustrations in black-and-white and in full colour.
A collection of essays exploring the Bharany's seminal role as collectors of Indian art and showcasing exquisite highlights from their collection.
In this ground-breaking study the traditional Indian science of architecture and house-building, Vastu Vidya, is explored in terms of its secular uses, at the levels of both theory and contemporary practice. Vastu Vidya is treated as constituting a coherent and complete architectural programme, still of great relevance today. Chakrabarti draws on an impressive amount of textual material, much of it only available in Sanskrit, and presents several extremely valuable illustrations in support of the theories expounded. Each chapter deals with one architectural aspect, and chapters are divided into three sections. For each aspect, the first section explains the prescriptions of the traditional texts; the second section deals with the rather arbitrary use of that aspect by contemporary Indian architects trained in the western manner but striving to relate to Indian roots; while the last section in each chapter explores the selected use of that particular aspect by contemporary Vastu pundits, with their disregard for architectural idiom.