Museum Great Traditions

Great Traditions

Every kingdom and empire has its own special way of showing who they are. They do this through art and buildings, creating what we call a "Great Tradition." This means they use certain designs and symbols over and over again across their lands.

 

At Shobak, we can see this through different pieces of architecture from the past. One of the oldest is a possible Roman milestone, a kind of ancient road marker. There is also a piece of a church altar screen possibly from the time of the Byzantine Empire.

 

From the  epoch of the Crusades, in the 12th century, we find a small carved stone capital (a decoration on top of a column), a stone carving of a two-armed cross, and another carving showing a lion. The lion was represented according to a design shared with Islamic art of the time. This shows how different traditions mixed together in medieval Shobak.

 

Other pieces, like shell-shaped decorations and carved frames with geometric and flowing patterns, come from the time of Saladin and his successors in the 12th and 13th centuries. Later, during the Mamluk period (13th–16th century), similar designs continued to be used.

 

The last part of the display includes three large stone artefacts (lintels) and a fragment of a round decorative piece. The biggest lintel is very special because it brings together designs from different cultures. It has swirling rosettes like those from Fatimid Egypt, palm patterns from Christian-Byzantine art, and a geometric pattern common in Islamic design. Experts believe this lintel came from the palace that Saladin and his brother Al-Adil built in Shobak.

 

 

Details

^{Id: 5}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: -}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 196 x 46,50 x 18,55cm}

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^{Id: 71}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: -}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 85,5 x 25 x 2 - 3 cm}

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Details

^{Id: 69}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: Da Wali Yosha, surface}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 140 x 43 x 20 cm}

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Details

^{Id: 70}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: Da Wali Yosha}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 47 x 50 x 25 cm}

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Details

^{Id: 47}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: -}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 46 x 18 x 17 cm}

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Details:

^{Id: 73}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: -}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 34,5 x 30,5 x 24 cm}

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Details

^{Id: 2}

^{Fragment n°: 1}

^{Notes: -}

^{Measurements (H x W x D): 53 x 28 x 50 cm}

 

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