Syria: THE AYYUBID ERA. Art and Architecture in Medieval Syria.

Tour length: 7 days / 6 nights Recommended periods: October–November 2009, March–May / September–November 2010 Price: From € 528 per person (sharing double room), depending on size of group.

The Atabeg and Ayyubid era coincided with the struggle against the Crusaders. This conflict marked the whole period, but it did not prevent the Islamic art of the territory now known as Syria from developing according to models corresponding to the politics of Nur al-Din and of Salah al-Din (Saladin), the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, aimed at obtaining cohesion against the Crusaders through the restoration of religious and educational institutions. Islamic art found its expression through madrasas, khanqas (hostels) and bimaristans (hospitals), but many other artistic works are also a legacy of this era, from mosques and frescoed churches to Crusader castles, from the citadels to the castles of Mesopotamia, norias (waterwheels), suqs, metalwork and manuscripts that represent the ability of the local culture to be a crossroads for new artistic influences in the 12th and 13th centuries.