Elephantine is an island in the Nile in southern Egypt. This trading and frontier centre was home to a uniquely diverse population. Different languages, cultures and religions came together here. It is the only place in the world where it is possible to »read« the cultural history of 4,000 years through written sources. Thousands of texts are written on papyrus or ostraca in ten different languages and scripts, including hieroglyphics, Aramaic, Coptic and Arabic. In this first comprehensive presentation of its kind in the world, outstanding artefacts from Berlin will be shown alongside selected international highlights.

The introduction summarizes the key topics of the themed issue "Access to Waxes – The Collections from the Arab World of the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv (BPhA)” and its contributions. It discusses the ethical, legal, and technical considerations involved in making these culturally significant but also sensitive recordings from the Arab world accessible to the public, especially in the context of ongoing debates around “decolonization” and cultural restitution.

This book offers a rich collection of perspectives on the complex interplay between tangible and intangible heritage.

Offering a close and critical examination of heritage preservation in countries including Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Morocco, Oman, Syria and Tunisia, these essays illustrate the need to redefine heritage as an interdisciplinary and intercultural concept. They interrogate heritage paradigms while also providing concrete recommendations to promote the preservation of physical heritage spaces, and the cultural practices and social relationships that depend on them.

Rich in detail and broad in relevance, this book emphasises specific cultural realities while also reflecting on the impact of global historical, social, economic and political trends to heritage conservation, scrutinising the conditions of the past to adapt them to the needs of the present and future.

Berlin is increasingly emerging as a hub of Arab intellectual life in Europe. In this first study of Arab culture to zoom in on the thriving metropolis, the contributors shed light on the dynamics of transformation with Arabs as agents, subjects, and objects of change in the spheres of politics, society and history, gender, demographics and migration, media and culture, and education and research. The kaleidoscopic character of the collection, embracing academic articles, essays, interviews and photos, reflects critical encounters in Berlin. It brings together authors from inter- and multidisciplinary fields and backgrounds and invites the readers into a much-needed conversation on contemporary transformations.

The period of Arabo-Islamic domination of parts of Sicily, and the consequent large Muslim presence on the island from 800 to the mid-13th century constitutes a crucial epoch whose influence remains an integral part of the island’s architectural and cultural landscape. This volume builds on existing scholarship and goes beyond the ‘Arabo-Norman’ construct to afford greater recognition to the island’s Arabic and Islamic history. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the chapters examine Sicily’s mercantile, artistic and architectural links to the Muslim world, including the subjects of the Fāṭimids of Ifrīqiya and their Kalbid allies in Sicily. It also reflects upon the Arabo-Islamic philosophical legacy at the court of Frederick II, Muslim accounts of medieval Sicily, Fāṭimid influence on the arts, women’s textile production, discussions of linguistics and literature, and various other aspects of Sicily’s diverse cultural and religious life during this period.