Diana Darke
Diana Darke is a cultural historian of the Middle East with a special focus on Syria. She is the author of “Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe,” “Islamesque: The Forgotten Craftsmen Who Built Europe’s Medieval Monuments,” “The Ottomans: A Cultural Legacy,” “The Merchant of Syria” and “My House in Damascus: An Inside View of the Syrian Revolution.” Her current research explores the myriad architectural borrowings from the Islamic world in Europe’s medieval monasteries and cathedrals.
Latest from Diana Darke
The Sumerian Roots of Zaha Hadid’s Architecture
Zaha Hadid’s architecture is known for being cutting-edge and hypermodernist. But she drew inspiration from as far back in time as the Sumerian civilization of her native Iraq.
A New Theory: European Cathedrals Show Traces of Ancient Egypt
For years, I’ve been on an architectural odyssey, a quest for the origins of the zigzag. Curiosity was first sparked in 2005 after buying and restoring my Ottoman courtyard house in Damascus. Round all four courtyard walls, there was a distinctive decorative design — a trio of horizontal zigzags. My Syrian architect speculated it might be an ancient Mesopotamian pattern, but neither he, nor anyone else I asked, had any idea why it was chosen or what it signified.
How Syrian Monastery Culture Spread
Syrian monastic culture was extensive and influential, yet remains underappreciated, especially its effect on European Christianity, from architecture to music to religious practice. That same inspirational culture is under constant threat today, with destruction from aerial bombardment by Russian and Syrian forces.