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Cohn-Wiener's Travels and Photographic Records of Central Asia in 1924-25 and Some Reflections on the History of Islamic Architecture and Its Documentation

  • Michael WILLIS (Royal Asiatic Society) ;
  • St. John SIMPSON (Middle East Department in the British Museum) ;
  • Richard MCCLARY (University of York)
  • Published : 2025.06.30
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Abstract

This paper examines the photographic archive and art historical context of Ernst Cohn-Wiener (1882-1941). Cohn-Wiener was a German art historian who turned his interests to Islamic art history in the 1920s. After expeditions in 1924 and 1925 to Central Asia, he published Turan: Islamische Baukunst in Mittelasien (Turan: Islamic architecture in Central Asia). The British Museum acquired Cohn-Wiener's photographic archive in 1998. The archive consists of 868 images, many of them glass negatives. These provide invaluable information about the monuments of Central Asia before modern developments, but the collection is as yet uncatalogued. A review of this archive provides an opportunity to reflect in an introductory way on Cohn-Wiener's position in the study of Islamic architecture, archaeology, and the history of photographic documentation in Central Asia.

Keywords

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