Through the Eyes of a Traveller

Abstract

This thesis explores how Naser e-Khosraw’s Safarnama, written during his travels in the 11th-century Middle East, can be used to interpret Islamic architecture. Though Middle Eastern architecture has already been studied and examined, this research differentiates itself from others by using a less conventional medium, travel writing, to analyse Islamic architecture. Focusing on the way in which Khosraw captures spatial organisation, materiality, and embodied experience, several passages on mosques, institutional buildings, and urban environments are thoroughly dissected. The findings demonstrate that Khosraw’s travel accounts do provide insight into how Islamic architecture was experienced in the eleventh century, though these accounts remain subjective and selective, often shaped by personal observation and an inconsistent methodological approach. This means that Safarnama functions as a fragmented architectural source, but requires contextualisation. This thesis argues that, while limited in its ability to fully reconstruct architectural form, travel writing does offer a valuable perspective on how architecture is experienced and opens avenues for comparative research with other historical travel accounts.