Published: 2017-01-01

Medieval mosque lamps from Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) in Wrocław and Opole–Ostrówek

Sylwia Siemianowska , Krzysztof Sadowski

Abstract

A fragment of a 13th–14th century painted mosque lamp was identified in the collection of archaeological glass from Ostrów Tumski in Wrocław, held by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Research Centre on Late Antique Culture and the Early Middle Ages). An analysis of glass chemical composition as well as the decoration of this fragment showed that it was made of sodic-calcic-silica glass, and that part of the ornament covering it was finished with gold. A comparative study indicated that the artifact had been made in the Middle East, most likely in a glass workshop in Syria or Egypt. Another example of this type of Islamic glass was discovered in Poland during the excavation in the 1930s of Ostrówek in Opole. Large fragments of a painted glass bowl were found there and identified as a mosque lamp. Since then the object has been lost. The fragments of glass mosque lamps from Wrocław–Ostrów Tumski and Opole–Ostrówek will be discussed here in the context of basic raw material studies and chemical composition analyses

Keywords:

medieval glass, Islamic glass, mosque lamps, enamels, Wrocław–Ostrów Tumski, Opole–Ostrówek, residential centres, Silesia, Middle Ages

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Siemianowska, S., & Sadowski, K. (2017). Medieval mosque lamps from Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) in Wrocław and Opole–Ostrówek. Archaeologia Polona, 55, 133–145. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/apolona/article/view/276

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