Winner of the American Publishers Association's Award for an outstanding Professional and Scholarly title and the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 1996 from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.In a dazzling display of erudition, Robert Hillenbrand surveys the major building-types of the Islamic World: religious architecture (the mosque, the minaret, the madrasa), the mausoleum ‘between Heaven and Earth’, and the caravansarai and the palace representing the secular side.All the building-types are discussed in art-historical terms, with the interplay of form and function taken as the underlying theme of the analysis. All are comprehensively illustrated with a full range of colour and black-and-white photographs, analytical drawings, thumbnail comparative assemblies and ground plans.This major reference work, covering from Spain to Afghanistan and c. 700 to c. 1700, is a source of fascination for all seeking to appreciate the rich heritage of the Islamic World. Recurrent themes and patterns take on a wider significance - a persistent reminder that the Islamic faith and the particular type of society which it engendered makes light of vast gulfs of time and space.Features:*24 colour plates*300 black-and-white photographs*1246 line drawings*Section of composite drawings and ground plansAvailable in Hardback (originally published in 1994) and a revised paperback edition published in 2000.This new paperback edition includes a previously unpublished index, designed to make the book more user-friendly.