- Islamic lands are at the crossroads of Asian & European trade routes and artists had drawn on designs from China, India & Europe as well as the pre-Islamic traditions of Persia, North Africa, etc.
- The hajj is a requirement for every able-bodied muslim. Travel guides were available listing which ships to take to Mecca, which hotels to stay in, etc. Kinda like a devotional Lonely Planet.
- Mughal & Ottoman sultans demonstrated a money/sense imbalance to put a Hollywood starlet to shame.
- To what extent did the shift in trade to the Atlantic from the 15th century onwards and the discovery of trade routes via the Cape of Good Hope undermine the economic power & technological openness of Islamic Empires? What would have happened if a muslim had discovered America?
- Christian, Jews & Muslims are "People of the Book" (a designation tailor-made for a wbookworm like me). Are we still peoples of the book?
I do not believe that art makes us better people but after being immersed in spreadsheets & the mundane, there is something cleansing (& worrying) in being presented with other people's tangible labours from a culture that is alien*.
You learn something new every day: Cenotaph literally means "empty tomb".
*Though seeing anything in a glass case, floating free of its original context, is going to make it seem alien.
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