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HBKU students learn in depth about Islamic Architecture in Jordan

Published: 30 Jun 2019 - 08:25 am | Last Updated: 01 Nov 2021 - 07:37 pm
Students during a visit to historical sites in Jordan.

Students during a visit to historical sites in Jordan.

The Peninsula

Doha: The students from the College of Islamic Studies (CIS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently travelled to the Kingdom of Jordan to complement their studies within the college’s Master of Science in Islamic Art, Architecture and Urbanism programme.

Dr. Tarek Swelim, Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture and the Program Coordinator at CIS, led the trip, which is organised and sponsored annually by the programme to a relevant destination in the Islamic world. Jordan and its pre-Islamic, Islamic, and modern cultures are studied as part of the curriculum of the Islamic Art and Architecture programme. 

The educational trip included visits to the pre-Islamic Roman sites of Jerash and Nabataean of Petra; the Biblical sites of Mount Nebo and the town of Madaba; Amman’s Roman theater; and the Temple of Hercules. The group toured Jerash, the most complete Roman site in the world; the Mamluk Castle of Ajloun; and the magnificent site of Umm Qais, which provided views of the Golan Heights, Lake Tiberias, Lebanon, and Palestine. 

Dr Swelim, said, “The students benefitted a great deal from such an immersive experience in which they managed to meld their cultural and academic knowledge and avail the many benefits of travelling to a new destination. They embarked on historic site visits that had fascinating characteristics for their time in history. These sites provide a missing link to understanding the connection between different civilizations in this part of the world at large.”

Comprising the basic division of Arabia by ancient geographers into Arabia Felix, Arabia Petra, and Arabia Deserta, cities and archaeological sites such as Jerash, Ajloun, Umm Qais, Madaba, Mount Nebo, Mshatta, Qasr Kharana, Qusayr Amra, Little Petra, Petra, and Amman provided the needed practical experience to some of the courses in the CIS programme. 

Students from CIS have previously visited Cairo and Istanbul as part of the recently introduced Islamic Art, Architecture and Urbanism programme.