The Paradigm of a Favoured Community and Armenians in the History of Islamic Architecture

Alyson Wharton
Assistant Professor
Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey

Armenians have been cited as the architects behind important works of ‘Islamic Architecture’ and yet we often know little about these individuals so that their role has taken on an apocryphal quality. The only exceptions to these examples of apocryphal Armenians are the members of the Balyan Family, architects of the Ottoman imperial works of the 19th century. This family has been the subject of monographs, articles and theses- yet even this case has been subjected to continuing speculation.