Ory, Solange. De l'Or du Sultan à la Lumière d'Allah : La Mosquée Al-'Abbas à Asnaf (Yémen), with contributions by Bernard Maury and Christian Robin. Damascus : Institut Français d'Études Arabes de Damas and Centre Français d'Études Yéménites, 1999.
This impressive volume (600 pages) is astudy of the 12th century mosque of Abû al-Abbâs,beautifully restored by a team led by Marylène Barret underthe auspices of the French Center for Yemeni Studies and the GeneralOrganization for Antiquities, Museums and Manuscripts. Situated nearthe village of Asnâf in Khawlân (SE of Sanaa), this smallcubical monument with a splendid painted and gilded coffered woodenceiling has a puzzling history which has baffled for many yearsYemeni and non-Yemeni researchers alike. Despite an inscription inthe mosque with the name of the patron (Sultan Mûsâ b.Muhammad al-Fittî), as well as the date of the construction ofthe ceiling (Dhû al-Hijjah 519/29 December 1125-26 January1126), no one had been able to identify this sultan who is absentfrom all known chronicles. Moreover, local oral tradition,attributing the mosque to a local saint (wâlî)Abû al-Abbâs whose tomb was destroyed by Imâm Ahmadaround 1950, did not shed any more light on its date.
Thus, the first of the three parts of thisbook (written by Christian Robin based on material collected byMarie-Christine Danchotte) establishes the historical context of themosque, and the identity of the patron through a discussion of thepolitical and religious climate in Yemen during the 11th and 12thcenturies. The second part of the book is devoted to an architecturalstudy, while the third part, which constitutes the bulk of the work,is a meticulous and detailed analysis of the calligraphy and thedecorative elements. Solange Ory provides a painstaking investigationof the origins, variants, and chronological development of everysingle letter and motif. The repertoire presented here is impressive,and this dictionary of motifs and calligraphy will no doubt prove tobe a valuable tool for those interested in the study of Yemen's richIslamic architectural heritage.
Bonnenfant, Paul (ed.). Zabîd: Patrimoine Mondial. Volume 5-6 of Saba. Paris: Unesco and World Heritage, 1999.
This fourth volume of the Saba, ajournal devoted to the arts, literature and history of SouthernArabia, was coordinated by Paul Bonnefant to commemorate thepromotion of Zabîd to the World Heritage list of historicalcities in late 1993. It consists of two parts: the first gathers tenshort articles on various aspects of Zabîd: domesticarchitecture (P. Bonnenfant), the excavations of the CanadianArchaeological Mission (E.J. Keall), a historical outline (M.Al-Aroussi), the 18th century scholar and lexicographeral-Murtadâ al-Zabîdî (A. Regourd), theal-Ashâ'ir Library (Arafat al-Hadrami), Christianity in 13thcentury Zabőd (C. Robin), linguistics (M. Cl. Simeone-Senelle and M.Vanhove), the indigo industry (J. Balfour-Paul), and the constructionof a house roof (J. M. Gentilleau). The second part consists of atechnical dossier (coordinated by J. M. Gentilleau) with thirty-fourrecommendations for the restoration of selected monuments and theconstruction of tourism facilities.
Bonnefant, Paul (ed.) Sanaa: architecture domestique et société. Paris: CNRS Éditions, 1995.
For those who have wandered through the oldcity of Sanaa admiring its magnificent houses, this large volume (644pages) offers a well of information on question they may have had onhow these houses were constructed and decorated, as well as how theywere utilized. It is a worthy companion to the now classic andindispensable San‘â': An Arabian Islamic City,which adds an anthropological dimension to the organization ofdomestic space. It also includes detailed architectural studies withelevations of several important houses in the Old City, in additionto interesting chapters on the use of inscriptions, as well as thesymbolism of decorative elements. The authors include PaulBonnenfant, Guillemette Bonnenfant-Outrebon, ThierryBoissiére, Jean-François Breton, Christian Darles,Jean-Charles Depaule, Jean Lambert, Samia Naim-Sanbar, PascalMarèchaux, and Michel Tuchscherer.
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