The 2023 Freer Medal: The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art awards Gülru Necipoğlu Lifetime Achievement Medal for Contributions in Asian Art
Photo: Chase F. Robinson, Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, and Director of the National Museum of Asian Art, presents Professor Gülru Necipoğlu, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University with the Freer Medal.
The Freer Medal Lecture and Award Ceremony honoring Gülru Necipoğlu
On Friday, October 27, 2023, the National Museum of Asian Art awarded its Freer Medal, a lifetime achievement award that honors individuals who have made substantial contributions to the understanding of the arts of Asia throughout their career, to Gülru Necipoğlu, the Aga Khan Professor and Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University’s History of Art and Architecture Department. Professor Necipoğlu was honored for her lifetime work of groundbreaking research that spans millennia of the art, history, and geography of the Islamic world. She delivered a lecture titled “From China to Europe: A Topkapı Palace Album (H.2153) with Images in the Persianate, Cathayan, and Frankish Manners (1350-1500).” The lecture was followed by an award ceremony, and a reception for invited guests.
You can view the lecture on the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art's YouTube page. Visit the award page, or see the Press Release for more information.
December 13, 2022, ANAMED Library Talk. Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library
ANAMED Library Talks organized by the ANAMED Library continues in December, 13 with Cemal Kafadar, Gülru Necipoğlu, Cornell Fleischer. The talk is entitled "Treasures of Knowledge: an Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library”. In this talk the three speakers will discuss their jointly edited publication on an inventory of manuscripts kept in the book treasury of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. This unique inventory was commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II from his royal librarian ʿAtufi in the year 908 (1502–3) and was transcribed in a clean copy in 909 (1503–4). The inventory is preserved in the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MS Török F. 59). It records over 5,000 volumes, and more than 7,000 titles, on virtually every branch of human erudition at the time. This talk will be in English and will take place online. Tülay Artan will be the moderator. December 13, 2022, from 6:00-8:00pm (Istanbul time). To view this recording visit the ANAMED YouTube Channel.
September 8-9, 2022: Celebrating Professor Gülru Necipoğlu's 35 years of teaching at Harvard University
May 19-22, 2022, Gülru Necipoğlu, keynote speaker: Cultural Symbols of Early Modern Rule: A Global Comparative Approach
To see the event page, click here
To see the program, click here
Spring 2022 AKPIA Lecture Series
Fall 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series
Spring 2021 AKPIA Lecture Series
Fall 2020 AKPIA Seminar Series
For AKPIA students (by invitation only)
October 29, 2020, Visual and Islamic Legal Resources, co-sponsored by AKPIA
Library Resources for (Remote) Research in Islamic Studies: Visual and Islamic Legal Resources
Thursday, October 29, 2020 | 1-2:45pm | RSVP for Zoom Link
Co-sponsors: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School
Amanda Hanoosh Steinberg, Visual Resources Librarian for Islamic Art & Architecture, Fine Arts Library
András Riedlmayer, Bibliographer in Islamic Art & Architecture, Fine Arts Library
Joanne Bloom, Photographic Resources Librarian, Fine Arts Library
Gayle Fischer, Librarian for Islamic Law, Harvard Law School Library
For questions, contact Workshop Coordinator Johannes Makar
Due to the focus on resources that require a Harvard ID, this workshop is open to Harvard affiliates only. Presented by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University. Seminar Co-sponsors: Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School, and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
October 22, 2020, Christiane Gruber guest lecture, co-sponsored by AKPIA
The Prophet as a ‘Sacred Spring’: Late Ottoman Hilye Bottles
Thursday, October 22, 2020 | 4-5:30pm | RSVP for Zoom link
Christiane Gruber, Professor and Chair in the History of Art, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
Along with the Prophet’s relics, verbal icons of Muhammad known as hilyes count among the most popular forms of devotional art during the late Ottoman period. While manuscript paintings and compositions mounted on wooden boards have been the subject of scholarly inquiry, an relatively unknown type of hilye production involves the insertion of verbal icons into glass bottles. Today, three such “hilye bottles” are held in the Topkapı Palace Library. This talk aims to present these newly uncovered artworks and explore their possible meanings and functions, among them their acting as a new kind of prophetic pharmacon during the late nineteenth century, at which time Muhammad was concretized and ‘imbibed’ as the ultimate elixir vitae.
Presented by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University. Seminar Co-sponsors: Department of History of Art and Architecture, and the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Due to Harvard University’s recent decisions regarding on-campus events (related to Coronavirus COVID-19), the Sunil Kumar lectures have been canceled.
March 31 and April 2, 2020, AKPIA Special Engagement: Sunil Kumar (Delhi University)
February 21, 2020, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, Indiana University, Bloomington
To see the event page, click here
December 16 and 17, 2019, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, Università degli Studi di Palermo
Monday December 16, 2019, 11:30am: Early Ottoman Socio-Religious Architecture: Fifteenth-Century Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul
Tuesday December 17, 2019, 4:30pm: Ottoman Socio-Religious Architecture: The Age of Sinan (Chief Architect, 1539-1588)
Università degli Studi di Palermo, Aula Magna Margherita De Simone, Dipartimento di Architettura, Edificio 14, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
To see the event page, click here
April 24, 2019, David Roxburgh lecture, Bryn Mawr
To see the event page, click here
December 21, 2018, Workshop: Recent Trends in the Historiography of the Early Modern Islamic Empires, Delhi University
Participants:
Professor Cemal Kafadar, Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies, History Department, Harvard University
Professor Gülru Necipoğlu, Aga Khan Professor and Director Aga Khan Programme for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University
Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Distinguished Professor and Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences, UCLA
There has been considerable historiographical interest in rethinking the ‘Early Modern’ outside developmental paradigms of the industrialised world. The IESHR and the Centre for Advanced Study in History are pleased to organise a workshop that will feature three scholars whose work has been significant in developing different aspects of this subject. Professors Kafadar, Necipoğlu and Subrahmanyam will give brief presentations on the subject of ‘Early Modern Islamic Empires’ before more wide ranging discussions amongst themselves and the audience.
There will be an opportunity to mingle with the speakers over tea and refreshments at 5:00 pm.
To see the event page, click here
December 20, 2018, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
To see the event page, click here
November 26-28, 2018, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, Princeton University
To see the event page, click here
November 15, 2018, David Roxburgh lecture, Worcester Art Museum
"Illustrating Epic Poetry and History in Persian Manuscripts from the Mongols to the Timurids"
For the Worcester Art Museum event website, click here
April 17, 2018, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, University of California, Santa Barbara
Gülru Necipoğlu named R. Stephen Humphreys Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Center for Middle East Studies at UCSB (2018)
For lecture poster, click here. For UCSB CMES website, click here.
March 13, 2018, Gülru Necipoğlu lecture, Harvard CMES Tunisia
To watch the lecture footage on Facebook, click here. For event information, click here. To watch the lecture, click here.
March 7, 2018, David Roxburgh lecture, Bryn Mawr College
January 2017 Conference, The Arts & Culture of Mughal India, K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai
Group photo of The Arts & Culture of Mughal India conference participants
Gülru Necipoğlu talking with Cathy Asher; on the far right, 2011-12 AKPIA Associate Laura Parodi
Gülru Necipoğlu as panel chair
Gülru Necipoğlu lecturing
Panel with Finbarr Barry Flood, Shela Canby, Gülru Necipoğlu, Subhash Parihar, and Yael Rice
November 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Ceremony, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Gülru Necipoğlu shakes the hand of His Highness The Aga Khan while Farrukh Derakshani looks on, at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Ceremony dinner reception which took place in Dubai, on November 5, 2016.
September 2016 Szigetvár, 1566: Commemorative International Conference on the Siege of Szigetvár and Süleyman the Magnificent and Miklós Zrínyi's death
June 2016 Eurasian Empires Conference - Gravensteen, Leiden University
Friday April 29, 2016
"What is Islam?" A symposium to honor the memory of our friend, colleague and teacher, Shahab Ahmed
Friday April 29, 2016
1:00pm to 6:30pm, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall
You are invited to join us on the afternoon of Friday April 29, 2016 for "What is Islam? A Symposium in Memory of Shahab Ahmed." This symposium honors the memory of our friend, colleague and teacher Shahab Ahmed. While Shahab's too-early death robbed all of us of a brilliant scholar, the publication of his groundbreaking and challenging book What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton University Press) offers a wonderful opportunity to consider his intellectual legacy from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Those who will reflect on Shahab's book and its impact include Michael Cook, Noah Feldman, Cemal Kafadar, Gülru Necipoğlu, Parimal Patil, and Nicholas Watson. This important event is sponsored by the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies, the Mahindra Humanities Center, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, the Committee on the Study of Religion, with support of the Rabbi Joseph S. Shubow Memorial Fund, the South Asia Initiative, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, and the Islamic Legal Studies Program. Click here to watch the event.
For more information, please contact Nora Lessersohn (noralessersohn@g.harvard.edu).
For a copy of the event poster, please click here
Nicholas Watson, Nora Lessersohn and Sean Gilsdorf
Symposium Co-Organizers
In Memory of Shahab Ahmed, 1966-2015
Left: Shahab Ahmed in Pakistan. Photo by Rehan Lashari, courtesy Nora Lessersohn. Right: Shahab Ahmed (middle table) deep in discussion with his colleagues Dimitri Gutas and Khaled Al Rouayhebat, at a luncheon during the MS. Török workshop at Harvard, April 5, 2014.
We were greatly honored to have Shahab Ahmed as an Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Associate (2015-2016). He was a leading scholar in Islamic Studies, whose loss leaves a great void in the field. Shahab was a participant in the ongoing Török project, an AKPIA-sponsored publication focusing on a unique manuscript in the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. As one of twenty distinguished scholars working on this collaborative publication project, Shahab presented his findings on “Books on Interpretations of the Qur’an and the Science of Qur’anic Recitation” at the Harvard University workshop called “The Ottoman Palace Library Inventory of 1502-3,” held in Cambridge on April 4-6, 2014. We are grateful to Shahab for his contribution to this project and hope that it will be regarded as an important and lasting part of his intellectual legacy. At Harvard, Shahab was a Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows (2000-2003); he subsequently became Associate Professor of Islamic Studies; and Lecturer on Law, and Research Fellow in Islamic Legal Studies at Harvard Law School (2014-15). As an AKPIA Associate, he was to have delivered a lecture on 28 April, 2016, titled "Some Exploratory Thoughts on Ottoman Islamic Aesthetics." We feel great sadness that we will not hear what he had planned to say. We will miss him greatly, and anticipate his forthcoming publication, What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton University Press). Shahab's memorial service was scheduled for Sunday, November 15, 2015, from 4 to 5:30 pm at Memorial Church at Harvard University, followed by a reception. A one-day workshop celebrating and discussing Shahab’s book took place at Harvard, on Friday, April 29, 2016. It will consist of two panels focusing on History/Islamic Studies/Law and on Religion/Anthropology/Art.
LINKS: More about his publication, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic. Shahab's Academia webpage. A tribute by Beena Aswar. A tribute by Noah Feldman.
April 2014 Workshop - The Ottoman Palace Library Inventory of 1502-3
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November 2014 International Symposium - The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto
2012 AKP Joint Reception at Harvard
September 24, 2012 - Hosted by Sharon C. Smith, András J. Riedlmayer, and Ophelia Celine, this year's Aga Khan Program reception brought together Documentation Center and library staff, students, postdoctoral scholars, administrators, and faculty from GSAS, the GSD, and MIT.
2012 Mimar Sinan Conference
September 17, 2012 - International Conference on Mimar Sinan organized by Gülru Necipoğlu on behalf of the President of Turkey in Sinan's birthplace, Kayseri. Harvard presence in this event: Howard Burns, Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar, Alina Payne.
2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Seminar
Doha, Qatar, 11/25/2010 - His Highness the Aga Khan presented the fourth AKAA Chairman’s Award to Professor Oleg Grabar on November 25th for his contributions to Islamic art and architecture. The AKAA Seminar (pictured below) was held the following day.
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Oleg Grabar |
Oleg Grabar |
Gulru Necipoglu, Mohammad al-Asad |
L-R: Glenn Lowry, Renata Holod, Oleg Grabar, Gulru Necipoglu, Mohammad al-Asad |
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L-R: Glenn Lowry, Renata Holod, Oleg Grabar |
Oleg Grabar, Gulru Necipoglu |
L-R: Oleg Grabar, Gulru Necipoglu, Mohammad al-Asad |
L-R: Glenn Lowry, Renata Holod, Oleg Grabar, Gulru Necipoglu, Mohammad al-Asad |
2011 AKP Joint Reception at MIT
October 17, 2011 - A joint reception for the Aga Khan Programs at MIT, at Harvard (GSAS), and at the GSD was held in the Stella Room at MIT. The reception was hosted by Sharon C. Smith, Andrea Schuler, and András Riedlmayer. It brought together Documentation Center and library staff, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, program administrators, and faculty from the AKP programs.
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2011 AKM, AKF & AKPIA Meeting
November 18, 2011 - Aga Khan Professor, Gülru Necipoğlu, organized a one-day meeting at the Harvard University History of Art and Architecture Department, bringing together all the Aga Khan Professors with Aga Khan Foundation (Geneva) and Aga Khan Museum (Toronto) directors and curators to discuss future collaborations. This meeting took place the day after Dr. Michael Brand delivered his AKPIA lecture at Harvard on plans for the Toronto museum.
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Michael Brand's presentation on the new Toronto museum |
Shiraz Alibhai's ArchNet presentation |
Meeting attendees |
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Gulru Necipoglu, Karen A. Leal, Andras Riedlmayer, Nasser Rabbat, Shiraz Alibhai, Sharon C. Smith |
Michael Brand's presentation |
Meeting attendees |
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Michael Brand's presentation |
Gulru Necipoglu, Karen A. Leal, Andras Riedlmayer, Nasser Rabbat |
Michael Brand's presentation |
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Sharon C. Smith, Hashim Sarkis, James Westcoat |
Michael Brand's presentation |
