Ebba Koch

Ebba Koch ( born February 13, 1944 in Klagenfurt) is a professor of art history. It combines the cultural, political, social and economic aspects, particularly in the history of architecture in their research. She works at the Institute of Art History at the University of Vienna, Austria and the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Science. Her doctorate in philosophy and Habilitation She took off at the University of Vienna.

Her research focus lies in the study of culture and architecture of the Mughal Empire. Cooking is considered the leading expert of Mughal architecture. Since 2001 she has architectural adviser to the Taj Mahal Conservation Collaborative.

Scientific career

History of India

Koch's research has contributed significantly to the historical understanding of the early historical development of India. In collaboration with the Indian architect Richard A. Barraud, it has a large-scale study of the temples and gardens in the epoch Shah Jahan created. You reconstructed historic Mughal city of Agra and produced the first comprehensive documentation of the Taj Mahal. Through this work, one of the largest archives created with photographs and drawings of Islamic architecture of the Indian subcontinent.

She has archived an archive of applied art and painting in the Mughal Empire. Here she shows connections between Europe and Mughal India express to which the political symbolism of both continents.

Methodology

In her work, cooking uses art as a historical basis. This interdisciplinary approach allows political and ideological concepts in terms of their significance in history of an epoch to examine out. Architecture and art are seen here as a form of communication A topos of symbols arises - like language and literature many useful information on the zeitgeist give.

As a technique you use the formalist view of art. Aesthetic elements of art, architectural form, gardens and urban elements provide important clues to life in that time. This approach makes it possible to investigate not documented in writing aspects.

Awards

Research funding for studies of the architecture of the Indian Subkontinentst:

  • Anniversary Fund of the Austrian National Bank: 1982, 1994, 1997, 1999
  • Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research: 1982, 1984, 1987, 1989
  • The Federal Ministry of Science and Research: 1992
  • The Federal Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs: 1997.
  • 1998: Hagop Kevorkian Lectureship in Near Eastern Art and Civilization, New York University.
  • 2005-2009 Austrian delegate to the Management Committee of the COST Action A36 of the European Commission, "Network of Comparative Empires: Tributary Empires Compared: Romans, Mughals and Ottomans in the Pre- Industrial World from Antiquity till the Transition to Modernity ".
  • 2008: Visiting Professor, Khalili Centre, Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford University
  • 2008-09: Visiting Professor ( fall term ), Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
  • 2009-2012: FWF Austrian Science Fund, project " Mughal palaces "

Selected Publications

  • Shah Jahan and Orpheus: The Pietre Dure Decoration and the Programme of the Throne in the Hall of Public Audiences at the Red Fort of Delhi, Graz, Academic Printing and Publishing Company, 1988
  • Dara Shikoh Shooting Nilgai: Hunt and Landscape in Mughal Painting, Freer Occasional Paper, New Series 1, Washington DC:. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. In 1998.
  • Mughal Architecture: An Outline if Its History and Development, Munich: Prestel, 1991; 2nd ed New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  • With Milo C. Beach and Wheeler Thackston, King of the World: The Padshahnama at Imperial Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, London: Azimuth Editions and Washington DC: Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1997
  • Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology, New Delhi: Oxford University Press 2001.
  • The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra, London: Thames and Hudson, 2006.

Cooking regularly publishes scientific articles and collection belts on Indian and ismalische culture, including in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition.

Indo-Islamic architecture Applied arts Literary topos Formalism (philosophy) European Cooperation in Science and Technology
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