الله يبارك فيك ...Thank you and Best Wishes 2012 !

With this last post, focused on the future, I wish to wrap up the current blog and to say a BIG thank you to Ali, my Master of mosaics, my friend from Madaba, my new Jordanian brother!

"Thank you" in Arabic's 3D mosaic!

To follow up with Abu-Tibo please check : abutibomosaicsafir.blogspot.co.uk

Öpus Master Mosaics please visit : opusmastermosaics.blogspot.com

The Present

Back to London, my Grand Mother traveled from France to celebrate with us her 98' birthday.

She holds the mosaic tray that I made for her at the end of my apprenticeship in Madaba, my first self-made mosaic! It reads a calligraphic version of "Maryam", "Mary" in arabic.

The present was unveiled to her in a restaurant, in the presence of our family.

Exploring Umm Er-Rasas

On my last afternoon, a few hours before my flight back, Ali organised for me a visit of Umm Er-Rasas, the most important archeological site for mosaics after Mont Nebo and became part of UNESCO World Heritage since 2004. St Stevens Church has the most incredible and well preserved mosaics I have been offered to see around Jordan.

Funny enough, we had great difficulties to find the site from Madaba, even though Ali, Tarek and our driver were locals! A lot of money has been invested to structure this unique archeological treasure and it seems the Ministry of Culture now has to invest into road signs!

Jerusalem

Like a film strip...

This is the end...

Öpus Symphony

Tarek, in tune with a Byzantine Symphony!

Abu-Ali (Ali's father)

١٩٧٨ = 1978!!

Color palette

 Be inspired, just look around you…

Local craftsman from Madaba on a break!

The Archeologists

The center of Madaba has two small archeological parks one of whom offer the remains of a Greek church from the Byzantine time. This church area hides a treasure ! A huge colourful excavated mosaic floor area that still awaits costly restoration to be expose to the public. On this beautiful day I very much enjoyed playing the archeologist!

Follow the guide...

The Greek church

Scratch the surface to see the treasure...

Great execution and outstanding conservation.

25.000 JoD (Jordan Dinars) to restore according to Ali

(About 25.000€)

6th century Byzantine's mosaic from Madaba

(It almost looks like an award! Palm d'Or?)

Loose Byzantine's tessera in my hand! Emotional!

Final Major Project: "Maryam"

It is time to make my own piece of mosaic from scratch. My grand-mother is turning 98' in December therefore I decide to design a piece very personalised including her name in Arabic. The design itself took me a few days to finalise. I wanted it to be very influenced by Islamic Design. 

It is interesting to note that Virgin Mary is mentioned several times in the Holy Qur'an: 

Mary (مريم Maryam in Arabic), the mother of Jesus, is considered one of the most righteous women in the Islamic tradition. She is mentioned more in the Qur'an than in the entire New Testament and is also the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an. According to the Qur'an, Jesus was born miraculously by the will of God without a father. His mother is regarded as a chaste and virtuous woman and is said to have been a virgin. The Qur'anstates clearly that Jesus was the result of a virgin birth, but that neither Mary nor her son were divine. In the Qur'an, no other woman is given more attention than Mary and the Qur'an states that Mary was chosen above all women:

"And when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! God hath chosen thee and made thee pure, and hath preferred thee above (all) the women of creation."

The nineteenth chapter of the Qur'an is named after her and is, to some extent, about her life. Of the Qur'an's 114 suras, she is among only eight people who have a chapter named after them. Mary is specifically mentioned in theQur'an, alongside Asiya, as an exemplar for all righteous women. Mary plays an important role in Islamic culture and religious tradition, and verses from the Qur'an relating to Mary are frequently inscribed on the mihrab of various mosques, including in the Hagia Sophia.

Source Wikipedia.