Amiriya Madrasa
Al-Amiriya (Arabic: المدرسة العامرية) is a 16th-century madrasa (educational institution) located in Rada, Yemen. It is under consideration for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1] It was built in 1504 and is an example of the architecture of Tahirids, Yemen. The monument was in poor condition until 1978 when Iraqi-born archaeologist Selma Al-Radi saw it and enlisted financial help from foreign missions to restore it in a more than twenty-year effort which she led.[1][2]
History
[edit]The complex was originally commissioned in 1504 by Amir ibn Abd Al-Wahhab, then Sultan of the Tahirid Dynasty, and was built in his name.[3] The project was one of many sought by Wahhab, who had amassed significant wealth through trade across the Indian Ocean from the port city of Aden.[4][5] Its date of completion was some time in 910 Rabi' al-Awwal of the Islamic calendar (August to September 1504).[6][7] It was built to serve equally as a mosque, a madrasa and a private residence of Wahhab.[8] Yemeni folklore tells that Wahhab occasionally ordered each window in the complex to the filled with lanterns as he rode on the hills of Radda with his daughter.[3]
In 1517, Wahhab was killed in battle by invading forces from the Mamluk Sultanate, his head being decapitated and displayed on a pike in Sanaa.[5] With the Tahirid's defeated, the Mamluks ceded the former kingdom's territories including Radda to their allies in Yemen, the Zaydi imamate.[5][8] The Zaydi's, who were enemies to the Shafi'i-Sunni Tahirid's, viewed the Madrasa's opulence as a distraction from prayers and incompatible with their interpretation of Islam. The Madrasa was left abandoned for several centuries afterwards as it fell into decay.[6][3]
Significance
[edit]This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 8, 2002, in the Cultural category.[1]
The restoration process revived the art of qadad, a form of waterproof interior and exterior plastering. In 2004 a documentary film, Qudad, Re-inventing a Tradition, was made on the subject by the filmmaker Caterina Borelli (preview).[9]
The restoration of the Amiriya Complex was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c The Madrasa Amiriya of Rada - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- ^ "Selma Al-Radi, Restored Historic Madrasa, Dies at 71" "New York Times", 14 Oct 2010 [1]
- ^ a b c Fox, Margalit (15 October 2010). "Selma Al-Radi, Restored Historic Madrasa, Dies at 71". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ "Yemen, Arabia Felix". World Archaeology. 5 November 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ a b c Lawler, Andrew (2 April 2006). "Inside the Restoration of the Amirya Madrassa". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ a b "Amiriya Madrasa Restoration". Archnet. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ Al Radi, Selma; Nardi, Roberto; Zizola, Chiara (2005). "Amiriya Madrasa. The Conservation of the Mural Paintings" (PDF). Centro di Conservazione Archeologica. ISBN 88-901903-1-0. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
- ^ a b McCarthy, Rory (11 March 2006). "Out of the sand". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 July 2025.
- ^ "Qudad, Re-inventing a Tradition". Documentary Educational Resources.
- ^ Aga Khan Award website
Bibliography
[edit]- Al-Radi, S.; Barnes, R.; Al-Nasiri, Y.; Porter, V.; Hillenbrand, R. (1997). The 'Amiriya in Rada' : the history and restoration of a sixteenth-century madrasa in the Yemen. Title of Series: Oxford studies in Islamic art; 13. Oxford: Oxford University Press, for the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. ISBN 0-19-728023-4
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