Afif Bahnassi (17 April 1928 – 2 November 2017) was a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n Islamic art historian and museum curator, General Director of Antiquities and Museums in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, Syria. He has authored books such as ''The Ancient Syria and His Art'' (1987) and ''The Art of Islam'', with

Nurhan Atasoy Nurhan Atasoy (born 12 February 1934) is a Turkish art historian. She specializes in history of Ottoman and Islamic art. She served as a chair in the Department of Fine Arts, Archeology and Art History at Istanbul University until 1999 when she ...

, published by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in 1992. He was on the governing board of the

Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture The Research Centre For Islamic History, Art and Culture (; abbreviated as IRCICA), also known as the Istanbul Research Center for Islamic Culture and Arts is the first cultural centre and a subsidiary organ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooper ...

(IRCICA) based in Istanbul.

References

1928 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Syrian historians Historians of Islamic art Syrian art historians 21st-century Syrian historians {{art-historian-stub