A random selection of 16 images from the 2,700+ added to Archnet in 2020
2020 has been an unusually difficult year around the world, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As universities took courses online, Archnet.org, a joint project of the Aga Khan Documentation Center of the MIT Libraries (AKDC@MIT) and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) worked with our partners step up the pace through which we made available quality resources for studying Islamic architecture and the built environment of Muslim societies more broadly. Approximately 3,350 new records have been published on Archnet so far this year. In addition to making over 2,700 new images available for download, we have also published records for 130 sites, 216 publications, 120 videos, and 85 names. We hope some of these have been useful.
Among the highlights of the material that has been added this year are:
- 12 sites and 926 images of the Built Heritage of Lebanon Survey Project
- Digitized slides from the Aga Khan Visual Archive (AKVA) including photographs of sites in Iran, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria. Consult the AKVA on DOME for additional content.
- A series of six lectures in French, “Servir la collectivité, améliorer les conditions de vie et revaloriser l’héritage” focusing on six recipient projects of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture
- The Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s At Home multimedia magazine
- Videos dealing with the built environment in the Maghreb, made from selected episodes of the Maghrib in Past & Present Podcast
- Volumes 31, 32, and 33 of Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World
- The Garden of the Mosques. Hafiz Hüseyin al-Ayvansarayî’s Guide to the Muslim Monuments of Ottoman Istanbul from the series Studies and Sources on Islamic Art and Architecture: Supplements to Muqarnas
- The book Lahore: A Framework for Urban Conservation
- Photographs of Afghanistan and Central Asia from the Josephine Powell collection at Harvard’s Fine Arts Library
- The book Josephine Powell: Photographs of Afghanistan 1959-68
- التجديد و التأصيل في عمارة المجتمعات الإسلامية / Innovation and Authenticity in the Architecture of Muslim Societies (book)
- The 2019 Fiscal Year Report of AKDC@MIT
- Finding aids for the Rifat Chadirji, Ali Tayar and Timurid Research archives
- Newly published items from the Mohamed Makiya, Hisham Munir and Ali Tayar collections
- And so much more it is impossible to list here, so we’ve gathered more of these resources in a 2020 collection on Archnet.
In 2021, look for new content and enhancements to improve searchability. We will also continue to develop our pedagogy collection, so even as we anticipate an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, be sure to let us know what might be helpful to you. As always we welcome your feedback and contributions.
