04.07.2008 to 14.09.2008
Syria, the ancient land of culture, has so many facets to it that photographers, artists and scholars can always find new aspects of the country to convey to us. The Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum for Islamic Art) has already shown several photographic exhibitions on Syria in the Middle Ages. Now it will be presenting an impressive series of black-and-white photographs depicting Syria's architecture and the living environment of its people, taken by Karl-Heinz Rothenberger, whose actual main occupation is that of a medical practitioner.
In no other region in the Near East is the adoption of Hellenistic and Roman imperial architecture more clearly illustrated than in the various local artistic traditions in Syria. The region's affinity to abstraction also asserts itself in Syria in the arts of the Antique, early Christian and medieval Islamic periods, and is clear to see in the reliefs from Palmyra. Sometimes it seems as though the Islamic Middle Ages and many of its positive ways of life have been preserved in several corners of Syria. The coffee houses, the sparingly furnished old shops and the opulent gardens all serve as testaments to this.
Organizer
