Cairo: Architecture and Artists

Please note Pacific Standard Time

Caroline Williams, Guest Lecturer

Free for ICAA Members
 / $20 General Public
Registration will close 1 hour prior to the event.

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Medieval Cairo is without peer in the Islamic world. It survived the Mongol destructions of the 13th century, and the Westward looking building programs of the 19th century. Western artists who discovered Cairo after Napoleon’s 1798 expedition were intrigued and enthralled by their encounter with a new world. This lecture will trace the city’s urban developments, architectural highlights and what it was in this exotic culture that excited these artists.

Caroline Williams is a scholar of Islamic art and architecture, with an expertise in the architecture of Cairo. After receiving a BA from Radcliffe College in history, Caroline traveled through East and Southeast Asia, India, the Fertile Crescent, and the Mediterranean. It was during this trip in 1962 that she first visited Egypt and developed an interest in its history and architecture. After 1962, she returned to Harvard to complete a masters in Middle Eastern Studies and then attended the American University in Cairo, where she earned a second masters in Islamic Art and Architecture. In Cairo, she met her future husband John Alden Williams, who was at that time the director of the Center of Arabic Studies at AUC and a professor of Islamic civilization. As an independent Scholar, Caroline has lectured and published articles dealing with Cairo in its various guises: as a city shaped by historic and contemporary forces; as a repository of the most concentrated, most varied and most chronologically extended collection of Islamic monuments; as a city discovered in the 19th century by Western artists; and finally as a patrimony described anew by Egyptian artists in the 20th century. In 1985 Caroline published The Islamic Monuments of Cairo: The Practical Guide. Over the years the book has been expanded and updated, and in 2018, it appeared again in its seventh edition. She has taught courses in art and architecture in the United States and Egypt, and has been an escort-lecturer on various art and academic tours in Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Spain.

Image: Complexes of Sultan Hasan (1363), Mahmud Pasha (1567) Rifa’i (1912) & Amir Akhur (1503), Caroline Williams.

This event is hosted by an ICAA Chapter. Please check the Chapter website or contact the Chapter directly, for the most up-to-date details including dates, times, and pricing.

Learning Objectives

• Be introduced to the urban development of Islamic Cairo from the 9th to 19th centuries
• Understand the nature of Mamluk (1250-1517) monuments and their concentration on the city’s main ceremonial artery
• Explore the Khan al-Khalili as an example of the great urban bazaar and of mixed land use
• Discuss the arrival of Western artists in the 19th century and their enchantment with the “oriental” scene

AIA Provider Information

Please click here for additional AIA Continuing Education Provider Information:

Instructional Delivery Method: Live Online Learning Program

Program Level: Introductory

Prerequisites: None required

AIA CES Program Approval Expiration Date: April 27, 2024

Provider Number: G193

Provider Statement: The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number G193. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES ([email protected] or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3).

This learning program is registered with AIA CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.

AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request.