The Oleg Grabar collection is comprised of approximately 580 photographs, slides, and negatives compiled during Dr. Grabar's research and expeditions to Syria, Israel, and Jordan. Grabar specialized in the architecture of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Umayyad dynasty but later his interests broadened to include the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts and ornament, and contemporary Islamic architecture. The collection is divided into three main series, the Photograph series, the Negatives series, and the Slides series. The Photograph and Negatives series contains photographs and negatives produced during the excavations of Qasr al-Hayr al-sharqi in Syria between 1964 and 1971. The Slides series is comprised of the slides created from Dr. Grabar's research and travel throughout Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and Iran. The slides have been digitized and are available online.
Additional materials regarding Dr. Oleg Grabar and the excavation of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi can be found at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The Kelsey holds the excavation records from the site and correspondence regarding the dig (October 1962-September 1998), publications, maps, drawings, and more.
[View items]
Oleg Grabar was born in Strasbourg, France, on November 2, 1929, as the son of famed art historian André Grabar. The junior Grabar studied at the University of Paris, where he studied ancient, medieval, and modern history, before immigrating to the United States in 1948 with his family. He received degrees from both Harvard and the University of Paris in 1950. In 1955, he obtained a PhD from Princeton University. He served on the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1954-69, before moving to Harvard University as a full professor. In 1980, Grabar became Harvard's first Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture. He became emeritus from Harvard in 1990, and then joined the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, becoming emeritus there in 1998. According to the President of the Historians of Islamic Art Association, "Grabar transformed the fields of Islamic art, architecture and archaeology through his myriad of scholarly works, general textbooks, and through training and inspiring many generations of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Michigan and at Harvard." In 1949 Grabar married Terry, a retired English professor, and they were married for 59 years and had two children together, Nicolas and Anne Louise, and three grandchildren, Henry, Olivia, and Margaret. Dr. Oleg Grabar died on January 8, 2011.
Dr. Grabar led excavations in Syria, Israel, and Jordan throughout his career. In the 1960's Grabar led the excavation of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, a medieval Islamic town which lays between Damascus and the Euphrates Valley in Syria. The town was excavated during a series of expeditions, between 1964 and 1971, which were co-sponsored by the University of Michigan and Harvard University. The excavation revealed a palace complex whose walls enclosed an area of nearly three square miles with a fortified residence, courtyards, and mosque.