As a person passionate about reading, monuments and art, this book; the Beloved written by Myriam Antaki is a masterpiece.
It tells the story of Sayf a powerful Syrian prince and his romance with Yasmine a princess who was part of his harem. What struck me the most in this novel is the passages of descriptions dedicated to the detailed description of the places, palaces and gardens of yesteryear.
This reading allows me each time to stimulate my imagination, which is very important as a student of architecture and to try to imagine and mentally design the city of Constentinople or the luxurious Palace of Sayf Al-Dawla.
Through this reflection, I would also like to underline the importance of reading for us as students; indeed this practice in addition to cultivating us it helps to stimulate and make work our imagination, something which will serve us later since before realizing a project will have to imagine it, especially since it will also be necessary to imagine and try to do the customer’s idea and the image he had of his house, for example, come to life.
-PARAGRAPHS FROM THE BOOK:
“Constantine Porphyrogenetus inaugurated an obelisk of masonry stones covered with bronze plaques, because each basileus strove to mark his passage in history, his prestige, its grandeur, leaving this imperishable racecourse an imprint of its immortality”
“The obelisk, erected by Thutmes III at Heliopolis before the Christian era, rested on four bronze dice mounted on bas-reliefs appearing games. The bronze column of Delphi winding on its base of three serpents whose heads supported the golden tripod dedicated to Apollo, the Heracles of Lysippus who crowned crushed carved groups torn from the pagan temple. All surrounded the statue of Irene in the middle of a phiale to lose between white marble fountains
reciting their jets of water in a rehearsal infinite.“
“Unforgettable Yasmine, forever asleep in the sumptuous palace of Aleppo with marvelous gardens rich in roses that she loved so much!”