On June 20th we did the Louvre's special exhibition Mamlouks 1250-1517. The Mamlouks, as every school-person knows, were a slave/warrior class within Islam, originating in the steppes of central and eastern Asia, who overthrew their masters as well as the remaining European crusaders and established their own sultanate in the 12th and 13th centuries. That sultanate encompassed most of the eastern Mediterranean and some of north Africa and was succeeded by the Ottoman Turks. The exhibition highlights their art, arms, literature, science, and more, and culminates in the the Baptistere de St. Louis, of Mamlouk origin, which has been a French royal possession since the 16th century or so and was used in the baptism of assorted royals. About a third of the contents of the exhibition came from the Louvre itself, the rest from a variety of sources.
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| Click to enlarge |
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| Helpful map #105,472 |
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| The Mamlouks were mostly horse lords; one of their saddles |
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| Helpful chronology #195 |
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| Photo of a Mamlouk mosque |
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| Many, many highly-worked basins of one sort or another |
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| Muslim glass from this era among our favorites |
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| Pen and ink set |
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Among the assorted books, scrolls...poetry, holy scripture, practical
and scientific treatises... |
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| Armor... |
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| And arms |
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| More books |
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| More glass |
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| Mamlouk astrolabe |
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| Trade routes of the era |
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| Beautiful tapestry |
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| Venetian painting of a Mamlouk scene |
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| Mamlouk telephone booths |
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| Mamlouk carpet |
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| And now, the piece de resistance... |
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| In a hall and presentation that far surpass the Louvre's royal jewels |
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| The background depicts the scenes depicted on the Baptistere |
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