The book The Minaret provides a lavishly illustrated history of this iconic element of Islamic architecture.

Tracing its origins and development, Bloom reveals that the Minaret, long understood to have been invented in the early years of Islam as the place from which the muezzin gives the call to prayer, was actually invented some two centuries later to be a visible symbol of Islam.

Drawing on buildings, archaeological reports, medieval histories, geographies and early Arabic poetry, Bloom reinterprets the origin, development and meanings of the minaret. From early Islam to the modern world, and from Iran, Egypt, Turkey and India to West and East Africa, the Yemen and Southeast Asia, this richly illustrated book is a sweeping tour of the minaret's position as the symbol of Islam.

The book The Minaret provides a lavishly illustrated history of this iconic element of Islamic architecture.

Tracing its origins and development, Bloom reveals that the Minaret, long understood to have been invented in the early years of Islam as the place from which the muezzin gives the call to prayer, was actually invented some two centuries later to be a visible symbol of Islam.

Drawing on buildings, archaeological reports, medieval histories, geographies and early Arabic poetry, Bloom reinterprets the origin, development and meanings of the minaret. From early Islam to the modern world, and from Iran, Egypt, Turkey and India to West and East Africa, the Yemen and Southeast Asia, this richly illustrated book is a sweeping tour of the minaret's position as the symbol of Islam.

- Richly illustrated with colour photographs as well as black and white photographs and line drawings
- Brings the discussion up to the present day: how are modern architects using the tower form?
- How do minarets stay up – even in earthquakes? Featrures a new section on the engineering of minarets for scholars with a specialist interest in architecture