Islamic Art - The Barakat Trust

Episódios

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  S6E8: The Arts and England's Early Relations with the Islamic World, with Jerry Brotton 23.08.2026 46min

  Tune in to Jerry Brotton as he tells the story of some of England’s earliest interactions with the Islamic world, specifically the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco during the Elizabethan period. At this unique time, Queen Elizabeth I sought to forge alliances that could act as a bulwark against the Catholic kingdoms of Spain. The result was the arrival of Abdel Wahid al-Annuri, the Moroccan ambassador, in London. His six month stay was emblematic of a wider interaction that took place in the period...
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  S6E7: Pointed Tips: Maghribi Script and the Arabic calligraphic tradition, with Umberto Bongianino 29.07.2026 42min

  Join Umberto Bongianino as he walks us through one of the western Islamic world’s least appreciated artistic treasures: its calligraphy. For years, Maghribi calligraphy has been treated as amateurish, archaic, and unruly in contrast with the highly theorised conventions of Mashriqi calligraphy in the so-called centre of the Islamic world of Egypt, the Levant, and Anatolia. In this episode, Umberto challenges this view, emphasising the interaction of Maghribi calligraphy with multiple tr...
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  S6E6: A Shrine Online: The Case of Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin, with Keelan Overton 25.06.2026 48min

  In the city of Varamin, some 50km southwest of Tehran, lies the Shrine and Mausoleum of Emamzadeh Yahya, a site of pilgrimage and veneration for Shi’i Muslims. During the nineteenth century, all of the shrine’s luster tiles, including its mihrab, were stolen and then dispersed to museums worldwide. The focus of this podcast is the project, supported by The Barakat Trust, that has sought to reunite the disconnects that have long afflicted this site, its worshippers, and audience. The project...
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  S6E5: The Shrines of Alexandria’s Lake Maryut region, with Ismael Awad 25.05.2026 29min

  On the periphery of Alexandria in the surrounding countryside is the Lake Maryut region, a vast expanse of flat agricultural land that used to be Lake Maryut, now just 18% of its earlier size. The lake separated the city of Alexandria from the rest of the country further south. Yet despite the shrinking of the lake and integration of the rural hinterland with the city during the 20th century the countryside and the cultural heritage that it contains remains under appreciated in Alexandria, as...
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  S6E4: Renewal in West Africa: The Great Mosque of Djenné with Michelle Apotsos 29.04.2026 40min

  This month’s podcast takes us to the far south-west of the Islamic world, to the Inner Nigel Delta in Mali where stands the Great Mosque of Djenné in all its magnificence. Join Michelle Apotsos as she discusses the story of this vibrant place of worship built solely out of mud and wood at the centre of a town with deep historical links south to the Atlantic coast and north across the Sahara desert to the Maghreb. In the annual tradition of renovation and reconstruction, the Great Mosque offer...
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  S6E3: Through Uzbekistan: Histories of the Persianate World, with Fuchsia Hart 02.04.2026 37min

  This month’s podcast episode takes us through Uzbekistan along the route that The Barakat Trust took on our trip to the country in November 2025. We begin in Tashkent before moving to Samarkand and finishing in Bukhara, exploring a number of architectural sites, crafts and traditions along the way. In our discussion we ask how the richness of Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage came to be considered on the periphery of the Persianate world. Our guest is Fuchsia Hart is The Sarikhani Curator for th...
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  S6E2: The Story of a Stone: Fatimids in Ethiopia, with Mikael Muehlbauer 25.02.2026 34min

  This month’s podcast episode takes us to Ethiopia, specifically the rock-cut church of Wuqro Cherqos in Tigray where a tantalisingly cryptic piece of carved stone can tell us a whole story of interconnection up and down the Red Sea. This is a journey of merchants, artistic ideas, and political power in a place where you may not have expected it. Our guest is Mikael Muehlbauer, Lecturer in the Discipline Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. He is a specialist in the architecture...
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  S6E1: The Armenian Architects of the Ottoman East, with Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan 04.02.2026 29min

  In this new podcast episode, the first in our series on Peripheries, we discuss the place of Armenian architects in the towns and cities of eastern Anatolia in the late Ottoman empire. Our guest is Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan, Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Lincoln, where she has taught for ten years in the School of Humanities and Heritage. In 2026, she’ll take up a new two-year fellowship at the University of Oxford. Her research looks at the roles of Armenian architects hai...
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  S5E8: Islamic Silver in a Viking Treasure Hoard, with Jane Kershaw 30.11.2025 20min

  Join us in this episode as we discuss the exciting finds from the Bedale hoard in North Yorkshire, England. In 2012 a group of amateur metal detectors discovered a hoard of late 9th century Viking silver in Bedale. The items found were ingots, necklaces, arm-bands, and a sword pommel. What makes this particular collection peculiar is that when the silver used to make the items was scientifically analysed it was discovered that it was from the Islamic world. Listen to the podcast to disc...
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  S5E7 The Mamluks: A Louvre Exhibition, with Carine Juvin 06.06.2025 33min

  Join curator Carine Juvin as she discusses the fascinating topic of her new exhibition at the Louvre: The Mamluks. Listen as she goes beyond the usual discussion of war and plunder, and dives into the rich world of Mamluk culture and society: from how the sovereignty of slave-soldiers changed monumental architecture, to what that world was like for women, and from how the Mamluks affected European art, to how Mongol nobles learnt to thrive in Cairo.
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  S5E6 Ancient Arabia: A New UNESCO Site, with Juan de Lara 21.08.2024 27min

  Join Juan De Lara as he takes us on a tour through the colourful history of Arabia's Qaryat al Faw; a fascinating gem in the desert rich with treasure-laden tombs, frescoes of Egyptian goddesses, statues of Greek demigods, and marvellous inscriptions. Listen in as Juan discusses the wonders of the Incense Routes, the brilliance of the famed Nabataeans, and the importance of this site for understanding - and appreciating - the dawn of Islamic art.
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  S5E5 Teaching Islamic Art in Schools, with Rizwan Iqbal 17.07.2024 35min

  Join Rizwan Iqbal as he explores how to get young people excited about Islamic art. Listen as he details the problems faced, solutions he has discovered, and the exciting work he has done as part of our Hands On Islamic Art project, which connects the wider UK to Islamic art collections, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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  S5E4 Seals of Sumatra, with Annabel Gallop 17.06.2024 27min

  Join Annabel Gallop as she takes us to the Indonesian province of Aceh, where she introduces us to the Ninefold Seal, and through it, takes us on a tour through Mughal power, Chinese trade, European conquest, and the wonderful artistic expression of the people of Sumatra.
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  S5E3 Lost Libraries of Tunis, with Laura Hinrichsen 04.05.2024 26min

  Join Laura Hinrichsen as she walks us through her fascinating new research, reconstructing the great libraries of 16th century Tunis, once thought completely lost, by hunting down fragments scattered across the world. Listen as she explores the great conquest that destroyed these libraries, the sort of things you could read there, and the clever ways we might go about finding the contents of lost historic libraries.
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  S5E2 Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, with Rachel Dedman 27.03.2024 23min

  Join Rachel Dedman as she explores the beauty and politics of Palestinian textiles. Listen as she discusses her work on the current Material Power exhibition in the UK, whose public programme was part of our Hands On Islamic Art project which works to engage the UK public with Islamic art.
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  S5E1 Gaza: Art History & Lost Monuments, with Leena Ghannam 30.01.2024 30min

  Join Leena Ghannam as she walks us through an often unfamiliar aspect of Gaza: its art, architecture, and monuments. Listen in as she takes us through mermaid monuments and golden markets, from temples of Aphrodite to masterpieces of modern art, exploring from the conquests of Alexander until the recent annihilation of many of these precious sites. Hear a side of Gaza we don't often hear: creation, beyond destruction.
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  S4E12 Unearthing Ottoman Greece, with Konstantinos Politis 13.11.2023 24min

  Join Konstantinos Politis as he digs through the long history of the Greek city of Chalkida, from its war-altering strategic importance to its lush date farms. Listen as he discusses his work, as a grantee of The Barakat Trust, exploring the town's Ottoman Heritage, discovering several mosques, and navigating the complexities of Greek identity and how it can incorporate the history of post-Classical Greece.
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  S4E11 West Asian Weaving, with Nour Hage 12.10.2023 22min

  Join Nour Hage as she weaves a story of textiles in West Asia, from bridal practices, to talismanic symbols, to Nour's own work as an artist. Listen as she discusses her work on Leighton House's recent Kheit exhibition, as part of our Hands On Islamic Art project which works to engage the UK public with Islamic art.
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  S4E10 Delicious Delicacies, with Nawal Nasrallah 25.09.2023 40min

  Join Nawal Nasrallah for a delectable dive into the world of Medieval North African cooking. Learn the connection between ostrich eggs and eggplants, how we have been stuffing birds wrong this whole time, and the brilliant historical stories behind these recipes. Listen as Nawal discusses her work translating centuries-old cookbooks to access an art of history that is so often forgotten. This podcast will leave you hungry: for knowledge and for food.
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  S4E9 Saladin: Between Man and Myth, with Abdul Rahman Azzam 19.08.2023 40min

  Join Abdul Rahman Azzam for a discussion of espionage and honour, history and technology, as he explores the life and legacy of one of history's greatest leaders: Saladin. Listen now to learn where the man meets the myth, why he has endured so strongly in the popular consciousness, the extent to which he impacted the lives of those often thought unconnected to him, and how Abdul Rahman Azzam is using digital technology and machine learning to map Saladin's network of contacts.