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Volume 44, Number 3 May/June 1993

In This Issue

May/June 1993
An Ashmolean Dream
Written and photographed by Arthur Clark

England's first public museum boasts unmatched collections of Islamic ceramics, metalwork and textiles. Curator of eastern art James Allen dreams of an Islamic art-history study center, with Middle Eastern students.

 
Fez: Preserving a City
Written by Josh Martin
Photographed by Nik Wheeler

The world's largest intact medieval city, a sophisticated living treasure, is being restored in a project that encompasses some of its greatest monuments, but also its infrastructure, its institutions and the regional economy.

Mural Celebrations
Written and photographed by Ellen Barnett Moinard

Village walls in some parts of Egypt blossom with naive and colorful paintings that commemorate the homeowners safe return from the pilgrimage to Makkah - piety and joy combining to create an art form.

 
Room for Tradition
Written by Rami G. Khouri
Photographed by Bill Lyons

Once the most important room of a patrician Damascus home, a magnificent traditional madafah was saved from a fire, restored and enlarged. Now a gift to the nation, it serves as a functional part of the National Museum.

 
Treasures of the Sponge Divers
Written and photographed by Donald A. Frey

A well-preserved shipwreck is a time capsule, full of information about people, countries, trade and culture. In Turkey, where underwater archeology began, sponge divers have pointed the scientists to some great discoveries.

 
A Wedding at Fez: Textiles in Transition
Written by Lotus Stack

Elaborate textiles are woven into the fabric of daily life in Fez, never more than at weddings, important family occasions when new fashions and old traditions combine and craftsmen are called on to produce their finest.