Speaker: Dr. Morris Rossabi When: July 14, 2012 Where: Shangri La In the initial stages of their thirteenth-century invasions of the Islamic world, the Mongol Khans killed untold numbers of people and caused considerable damage in the areas they subjugated. Yet after their conquests, Kublai Khan, his brother Hulegu, and other Mongol rulers promoted various Islamic orders, fostered agriculture and commerce, and patronized poets and historians in the Middle East and Iran, as well as Islamic communities in Russia and China. This colorful presentation, using images from 13th and 14th century Islamic arts, describes these remarkable developments and also shows the Mongols' contributions to Islamic art and architecture throughout their domains. It aims to provide a balanced portrait of Mongol influence on Islamic societies, cultures, and arts. Dr. Morris Rossabi is a professor of Inner Asian and East Asian history at Columbia University, New York. He is the author of Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists (University of California Press, 2005) and Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (University of California Press, 1988). He has helped to organize exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Speaker: Dr. Morris Rossabi When: July 14, 2012 Where: Shangri La In the initial stages of their thirteenth-century invasions of the Islamic world, the Mongol Khans killed untold numbers of people and caused considerable damage in the areas they subjugated. Yet after their conquests, Kublai Khan, his brother Hulegu, and other Mongol rulers promoted various Islamic orders, fostered agriculture and commerce, and patronized poets and historians in the Middle East and Iran, as well as Islamic communities in Russia and China. This colorful presentation, using images from 13th and 14th century Islamic arts, describes these remarkable developments and also shows the Mongols' contributions to Islamic art and architecture throughout their domains. It aims to provide a balanced portrait of Mongol influence on Islamic societies, cultures, and arts. Dr. Morris Rossabi is a professor of Inner Asian and East Asian history at Columbia University, New York. He is the author of Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists (University of California Press, 2005) and Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (University of California Press, 1988). He has helped to organize exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.