MIDDLE EAST GARDEN TRADITIONS

The Ongoing Catalog of Known Gardens

The Catalog of Plants of Al-Andalus

The Multilingual Glossary

The Historical Dictionary of Ottoman Turkish Terms for Gardens and Gardening

The Joint Bibliography

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List of Contributors

Munazzah Akhtar is a lecturer for the Department of Architecture at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore Pakistan where she has also held the assignment of Studies Coordinator. She also works partly at a private Architectural firm called Wasif Ali & Associates in Lahore. Her research consists of studies based upon the use of wood in Mughal Architecture, cathedrals of Lahore, and Architecture of Pakistan (1980 – 2005).

Mahvash Alemi was born in Iran, and was trained as an architect in Rome where she has practiced since 1981. She has been a faculty member of the Department of Architecture at Tehran University and the Pratt Institute’s Rome Program. Her studies on Persian gardens have raised questions on their presumed fourfold layout, and her findings of unedited drawings and documented restitutions of the urban and landscape contexts of Safavid gardens have opened new perspectives for their understanding. She has published numerous articles, including “I teatri di Shah Abbas nella Persia del XVII secolo dai disegni inediti del diario di Pietro della Valle” in Storia della città (1988), “The Safavid Royal Gardens in Sari” in Environmental Design, Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre (1996), and “The Royal Gardens of the Safavid Period: Types and Models” in Gardens in the Great Muslim Empires (1997).

Antonio Almagro received his Architectural degree from Madrid’s School of Architecture in 1971, his Ph.D. in Architecture in 1978, and in 1975 a diploma for the Restoration of Monuments from the Facolta di Arquitettura de l’Universita degli Studi “La Sapienza” di Roma and the International Centre for Conservation (ICCROM). He is a researcher and former director of the Escuela de Estudios Arabes (1998 to 2005) in Granada, belonging to the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). From 1975 to 1987 he worked at the Department for Monuments in the General Direction of Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture of Spain and taught History of Architecture at the School of Architecture in Madrid from 1980-81, in addition to teaching at numerous other universities. Antonio Almagro carried out archaeological research in the Middle East from 1989 to1999 at the Umayyad Palace in the Citadel of Amman in Jordan while he was the director of the Spanish Archaeological Mission. He has published some of his results in Tres monumentos islámicos restaurados por España en el mundo árabe: Qusayr' Amra, el palacio omeya de Amman, la zauiya de Sidi Qasim en Túnez, at the Instituto de España in Madrid in 1981, as well as in monographs on Qusayr ‘Amra and Amman palaces. Later in Granada he developed new interests in al-Andalus, and in techniques of documentation and virtual reconstruction of historical architecture and gardens. In 2004 he published Levantamiento Arquitectónico at the University of Granada, and in 2005, Albarracín, El Proceso de Restauración de su Patrimonio Histórico with A. Jiménez and P. Ponce de León. He has also contributed to many edited volumes chapters devoted to aqueducts and norias in the Arab tradition at Albarracín, al-Andalus and Moorish houses, the Nazari house of Zafra, architecture around 1000 in Medina al-Zahra, the city planning of Moorish and Mudejar neighborhoods, and several studies on the Alcázar of Seville, to name a few. He is currently a corresponding member of the Deutches Archäeologisches Institut, a member and vice-director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Granada, as well as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of S. Fernando of Madrid.

Shama Anbrine is a Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, at the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore where she teaches Architectural Design, Islamic Architecture and Computer Applications in Architecture. She holds a B.Arch degree from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore. Presently she is writing her M.Arch thesis on advanced technologies for conservation of the built heritage in Pakistan.

Nurhan Atasoy is a renowned scholar of Turkish art and culture. She received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the Department of Fine Arts and Art History at Istanbul University. She was a professor at Istanbul University until her retirement in 1999. During her academic life she attended and lectured at many international congresses and symposia, and participated in research and international meetings on Turkish and Islamic art throughout the world. She has mounted several important exhibitions and in 2000, her book Otag-i Hamayun: the Ottoman Tent Complex won the Textile Society of America’s R.L. Shep Book of the Year Award. Among other honors, she has also received the Council of Europe’s prestigious Pro Merito Medal and an award from the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in recognition of her outstanding performance in the field of fine arts. Dr. Atasoy has published over seventy articles and seventeen books.

B. Deniz Çalýþ received her architectural diploma from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in 1995; a master’s degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY in 1996; and her Ph.D. in Architecture at METU in 2004. She has taught at the Pratt Institute, METU, Bilgi University (Istanbul), and at Yeditepe University (2005-2007; Istanbul) and recently since September 2007 teaching at Bahcesehir University (Istanbul). She has received fellowships from The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (1996-1998) and Dumbarton Oaks (2003-2004.) She is a contributor to several scholarly journals and books in Turkish, English, and Portuguese, and is presently preparing a book in Turkish on the Ottoman Landscape Culture in the Tulip Period.

Michel Conan is the Director of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. (www.Doaks.org) He holds a PhD in City Planning from Créteil University and a Habilitation (HDR) in Sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris.) His most recent publications are the Essais de Poétique des Jardins, (Florence: Olschki, 2004- Premio Hanbury 2005,) The Crazannes Quarries by Bernard Lassus : An Essay Analyzing the Creation of a Landscape (Washington DC: Spacemaker Press and Dumbarton Oaks, 2004), and a re-edition with an introductory text of “Gabriel Thouin, Plans raisonnés de toutes les espèces de jardins,” (Paris: Tchou, 2004.) He is the co-editor with Chen Wangheng of Contributions of Gardens to City Life and Culture, He is also the editor of the last ten symposium volumes published at Dumbarton Oaks in the Colloquium Series on the History of Landscape Architecture, and a contributor to a large number of journals and edited publications.

Yucel Daðl, is a lecturer in the Department of Data and Document Management at Marmara University Faculty of Science and Literature since 2001 He received a Masters’s degree in Turkish Language and Literature from Istanbul University in 1994 for his work on Evliya Çelebi’s travels. From 1987 until 1996 he was the Head of the Computer Department at the Ottoman Archive Office, and from 1996 to 2000 he was a lecturer in the Archiving Department at Istanbul University Faculty of Literature. Among many publications is the co-author with Robert Dankoff and Seyit Ali Kahraman of the nine volumes edition of Evliya Celebi Seyahatnamesi, published in Istanbul by, Yapi Kredi Publications, From 1999 to 2006. He is the master of the www.middleeastgarden.com website and the author of the Ottoman-Turkish Dictionary of Garden terms on this website, and a member of the Ottoman Garden History Group with Nurhan Atasoy and Seyit Ali Kahraman.

Mohammed El Faïz, economist and historian of Agronomy and Arab gardens, is currently researching and teaching at the Université Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech (Morocco). He is known worldwide for his contribution to the defense of the historic landscape of the city of Marrakech, and for the protection of its gardens and oasis landscapes. His publications range on a variety of topics concerning water, agronomy and gardens in the Arab-Muslim civilization. Most importantly: Agronomie de la Mésopotamie antique: Analyse de l’Agriculture Nabatéenne de Qûtâmä (1995); Les jardins historiques de Marrakech: mémoire écologique d’une ville impériale (1996); Les jardins de Marrakech (2000); Ibn al-Awwâm, Livre de l’Agriculture (Kitâb al-Filâha) (2000); Marrakech: patrimoine en péril (2002); Jardins du Maroc, d’Espagne et du Portugal: un art de vivre partagé (ouvrage collectif) (2003); and Histoire de l’hydraulique arabe: conquêtes d’une école oubliée (2004).

Rona Shani Evyasaf received her B.A. degree in landscape architecture from the Technion in Haifa in 1991. Between 1991 and 1999 she worked as a landscape architect on different projects. During the last few years she has been studying for her M.A. degree in classical archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The subject of her research is "The Hellenistic and Roman Gardens in the Eastern Mediterranean". Since 1998 she has been working as a lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology. During the last seven years she has been a senior member of the Sepphoris Excavations Expedition directed by Prof. Z. Weiss of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Expiración García Sánchez is a researcher at the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Granada, Spain. She received her Ph.D. in Semitic Philology, specializing in Arabic, and completed graduate studies in Geography and History with Medieval History as her speciality. She was a lecturer in Islamic History (al-Andalus) in the Islamic History Department at the University of Granada from1978 to 1985. She was the vice-director of the School of Arabic Studies in Granada from 1998 until 2005. She is a member of the Editorial Board of scientific journals and series, such as the Al-Qantara, Suhayl, Ciencias de la Naturaleza en al-Andalus and Estudios Árabes e Islámicos. Monografías, as well as a member of the Union Européenne d’Arabisants et d’Islamisants, the Société Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques ‎‎(C.N.R.S.)‎, the Sociedad Española de Estudios Árabes, and the Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies. Dr. García Sánchez is a specialist on the History of Scientific Knowledge in al-Andalus, with major publications on alimentation, agriculture and botany, and related topics such as pharmacology, history of gardens, and ethnobotany. She is the author of eleven books and monographs as well as eighty-five research articles and scientific contributions, among which the 1992 publication of the twelfth century “Treatise on Food” (Kitab al Aghdhiyah), by Abd al-Malik ibn Ibn Zuhr and Abu Marwan; and three volumes on “The Studies on Nature in Al Andalus” in 1990, 1992 and 1994.

J. Esteban Hernández Bermejo received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering and is currently a professor of Agricultural Botany at the University of Cordoba, and chair of the research group on “Wild species with economic potential in Agronomy, Forestry and Gardening.” He is the director of the Botanic Gardens in Cordoba and director of the Andalusian Plant Germplasm Bank of the CBG. Dr. Hernández Bermejo is the general secretary of the International Association of Botanic Gardens (since 1993); president of the Ibero-Macaronesian Association of Botanic Gardens (1985-1988; 1990-1992; 2000-2004); consultant for various programs sponsored by FAO and PNUMA (United Nations); and member of the International Working Group for the redaction of the report on Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and for “The Gran Canaria Delaration II on Climate Change and Plant Conservation” (2006). His research includes studies in biodiversity and wild phytogenetic resources, conservation techniques, germplasm banks, extinction risk evaluation; ethnobotany; plant species with economic potential, neglected crops, plant domestication; agronomy and gardening history; plant ecology and phytogeography; plant taxonomy; and weed research. His publications include nine books, forty chapters in edited volumes, sixty-two publications in scientific magazines, and numerous conference lectures, among others.

Yizhar Hirschfeld (1950- 16 November 2006) received his Ph.D. in 1987 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After his post-doctoral studies at Yale University in 1988–89, he spent two additional years in the United States (1996–97 and 2003–2004), both at Dumbarton Oaks. He has been an associate professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1998, and was previously a Senior Archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority. He has directed excavations at numerous archaeological sites, including Hammat Gader, Ramat Hanadiv, En-Gedi, and currently Tiberias. His other research interests include the monasteries and churches of the Holy Land and the archaeology of the Dead Sea region. In addition to final reports on his excavation projects, he has published five monographs and more than 100 articles. He was engaged in a very innovative line of archaeological research as he attempted to demonstrate the role of balsam in ancient Judea, and to find traces of this fabulous plant that has vanished out of existence. He participated to a dialogue with the Muslim world both through his research and as an active participant of the research group on the Middle East Garden Traditions. His books include The Judean Desert Monasteries in the Byzantine Period (1992), The Palestinian Dwelling in the Roman-Byzantine Period (1995), The Roman Baths of Hammat Gader (1997), The Early Byzantine Monastery at Khirbet ed-Deir (1999), Ramat Hanadiv Excavations (2000), Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence (2004) and Excavations at Tiberias (1989-1994) (2004).

Jennifer Joffee is an assistant professor of Art History at the College of St. Benedict /St. John’s University. She received her Ph.D. in Asian and Islamic Art History from the University of Minnesota in 2005. Her doctoral dissertation, Art, Architecture, and Politics in Mewar (Rajasthan, India), 1628-1710, which she is currently revising for publication, focuses on the use of imperially-sponsored art and architecture as political propaganda.

Seyit Ali Kahraman works at the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul since 1992 where he has been a Department Director since 1993. He received a bachelor and a master‘s degree in philosophy from the Istanbul University in 1977 and 1980. He has taught philosophy at Kayseri/Tomarza HÝgh School and at Marmara University before he joined the Ottoman Archive. He has published a large number of studies of Ottoman texts, and Ottoman archives in Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Algeria. He is in particular a co-author with with Robert Dankoff and Yücel Daðl of the nine volumes edition of Evliya Celebi Seyahatnamesi, published in Istanbul by, Yapi Kredi Publications, from 1999 to 2006. He is also a contributor to the Ongoing Catalog of Gardens with Nurhan Atasoy, and a member of the Ottoman Garden History Group with Nurhan Atasoy and Yücel Daðl.

Luis Ramón-Laca holds a doctorate in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has developed his research on historical landscape at the School of Arabic Studies (CSIC) of Granada and the Royal Botanical Garden (CSIC) of Madrid and has taught at the SEK University of Segovia and is currently under contract at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Abdul Rehman is professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan. He holds a National Diploma in Architecture from the National College of Arts, Lahore and a Ph.D. from the Ion Mincu Institute of Architecture in Bucharest, Romania. He also serves as a consultant for the conservation of historic buildings and in this respect he is currently working as project coordinator for the conservation of Asaf Khan Tomb, Lahore being funded by Global Heritage Fund, U.S.A. He is author of Earthly Paradise: The Garden in the Times of the Great Muslim Empires; Historic Towns of Punjab: Ancient and Medieval Period; and principal author of Pivot of the Punjab: The Historical Geography of Medieval Punjab along with James L. Wescoat Jr. He has received fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks and CASVA / National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

D. Fairchild Ruggles is a professor in Landscape Architecture, Art History, and Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds two A.B. degrees with honors from Harvard University and the M.A and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Art History. She is the author of Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain (2000) and has written extensively in the field of Islamic art and architectural history. Her new book, Islamic Gardens and Landscapes (2007), explores the form, symbolism, literature, science, and imagination of garden-making in the Islamic world from the seventh through the twenty-first centuries. She edited Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies (2000), and she is co-editor of Sites Unseen: Landscape and Vision (2007