Tag Archives: historic photographs

ARCHNET Content Manager to Participate in Bicentennial Conference of the Tangier American Legation, Morocco

Michael Toler, Archnet Content Manager, will participate in the annual April Seminar of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies, headquartered in the old American Legation in the medina of Tangier, Morocco. Though the building has completely transformed over the past 200 years, the property was originally gifted to the young nation of the United States in 1821, making 2021 the bicentennial anniversary of the Legation. In celebration of the occasion and the long friendship between the United States and Morocco that it represents, this year’s annual April Seminar has the theme of “The Tangier American Legation’s First 200 […]

AKDC@MIT and The Met Museum Collaborate to make images available on Archnet

The Aga Khan Documentation Center has collaborated with the Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) to digitize, catalog, and make available a number of historical photographs of Islamic architecture. The photos, most of which date between the 1880s and 1950s, show some of the great monuments of the Islamic tradition, both general and detailed views, often before modern restoration projects. The first batch of nearly 300 photos is now available on Archnet. These are among the oldest of the collection, taken by pioneering photographers such as the Turkish photographer Pascal Sébah, his son Jean […]

Happy Birthday Michel Écochard

Architect, archeologist, and urban planner Michel Écochard (d. 24 May 1985) would have been 115 on March 11, 2020! Écochard’s career began in 1932 when he was assigned to the Antiquities Service in Syria where he participated in the restoration of numerous historic monuments. Simultaneously, he served as a consulting architect to the Syrian government. It was during this period that he designed the Antioch Museum in what is now Antakya, Turkey. and in 1940 became Director of Urban Planning. He documented this period in albums he compiled on historic sites in Damascus, Aleppo, and across Syria. In 1946 he […]

42 elements added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List

On Thursday, December 12, 2019, the 14th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage announced additions to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 42 elements were added to the list, including Date palm, knowledge, skills, traditions and practices, Byzantine Chant, Practices and craftsmanship associated with the Damascene rose in Al-Mrah in Syria, Malaysian Silat, Ak-kalpak craftsmanship, traditional knowledge and skills in making and wearing Kyrgyz men’s headwear, Kwagh-Hir theatrical performance from Nigeria, and many other cultural traditions in the Iran, Iraq, Kenya, the Philippines, Spain (and Mexico), Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Elements from 55 countries were included […]

Exhibition from the Archive of Paul Collart Includes Previously Unpublished Images of Palmyra

Archnet announces a new collection of black and white photographs taken by the Swiss archeologist Paul Collart (1902-1981) during travels in Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Turkey. The collection is curated by Lobna Montasser, Media and Documentation Officer at the office of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva. It provides a representative sampling of Collart’s photography in the region, and features previously unpublished photographs taken while Collart was leading an excavation of Baal Shamim in Palmyra. Montasser selected the images in the Archnet collection from thousands of photographs in the Paul Collart archive at the Institute of Archaeology […]

The Kamil and Rifat Chadirji Photographic Archive comes to AKDC@MIT

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC@MIT) is pleased to announce that it is now the home of the Kamil and Rifat Chadirji Photographic Archive. Kamil Chadirji (1897-1968), born to an influential Baghdad family, played a central role in the political life of lraq as founder and President of the National Democratic Party. His position allowed him unique opportunities to take photographs throughout Iraq. Kamil’s son, Rifat Chadirji (b. 1926), perhaps better known as one of the most influential Iraqi architects of the 20th century[1], was also an accomplished photographer, author, teacher, and critic. Together, their vast collection spans […]

New opening date: 25 August 2017. Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov: Turkmen Village Life, 1960 – 80s

The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT is proud to support the upcoming exhibition, Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov Turkmen Village Life, 1960 – 80s. Durdy Bayramov (1938-2014) grew up in an orphanage in Turkmenistan and overcame the significant challenges of his youth to become an acclaimed Eurasian artist and photographer. Through a prolific career as a painter that spanned more than 55 years, Bayramov was best known for his compelling portraits. His tender approach evokes the special character and qualities within each of his subjects, with whom he shared a deep rapport. Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov: […]

New material on Algiers, Isfahan, Riyadh, and Tlemcen

Some of the material recently made available on Archnet: Images of architecturally significant sites in Algiers and Tlemcen by Anas Soufan, AKPIA@MIT Fellow in 2015. Sites in Isfahan ranging a Fire Temple originally constructed ca. 1400 BCE to houses built in the 19th c. The new material is from the archive of the Isfahan Urban History Project, recently donated to AKDC@MIT. Documentation of the restoration of a farm house in the vicinity of Riyadh An introduction to Tlemcen, a city known for is Medieval Islamic architecture, by Amine Kasmi from the Department of Architecture at the University of Tlemcen. Follow this site for future updates.

Virtual Exhibition: Tangier Then and Now

The exhibition Tangier Then and Now is now available on Archnet. The collection, an expanded version of the exhibit International Tangier on display in Rotch Library through December 27th, contains selected, edited photographs from the collection of glass negatives of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies, paired with photographs from 1976-1977, and labels with contemporary images.