A Bold New Enterprise: The Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam

摘要

From about the mid-eighth to the thirteenth century ce, that is, during the long Abbasid dynasty (750-1258), the countries that came under the Islamic sphere of influence, with Baghdad as the center, became remarkably active in philosophy, natural philosophy, astronomy, medicine, technology, and literature. Historians have described this period as the "Golden Age of Islam," especially with reference to discoveries and accomplishments in science and technology. Here, we evaluate a daring though problematic attempt to communicate the history of these to the general public through the medium of an institution of a new type: a scholarly museum of replicas and reproductions.