Mosques of Cochin Mapin Publishing

Mosques of Cochin

Patricia Tusa Fels
Feroze Babu, Donald Fels, Patricia Tusa Fels Photographs by Shweta Bhatia Gupta

Cochin—a historic port city on the Malabar Coast in Kerala—has for centuries remained a centre of maritime trade along the Indian Ocean.

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Cochin—a historic port city on the Malabar Coast in Kerala—has for centuries remained a centre of maritime trade along the Indian Ocean.
These commercial contacts brought with them the earliest infl uences of Christianity, Judaism and Islam to India, resulting in a cosmopolitan mosaic of people in the region. Against this backdrop, some of the very first mosques were built in India, located in compounds replete with coconut palms. Th ese tropical mosques reveal a distinctive legacy in form, acknowledging and celebrating the place, history, and building techniques of the region.

Mosques of Cochin documents the surviving vernacular mosques, which stand as powerful and visible expressions of Islam’s integration into the culture of Malabar. Many of these fi ne old mosques have recently been demolished or remodeled, and replaced by uninspiring concrete structures. In highlighting the beauty and historical importance of the mosque architecture of Kerala, the book aims at bringing greater recognition to these remarkable structures.

Patricia Tusa Fels is an architect and historic preservationist. She has been involved in conservation projects in the United States, Europe and Asia for thirty years. In addition to a lengthy career in architecture, she has written articles for a wide range of journals and newspapers. Her research on the mosques of Cochin was sponsored by the Ford Foundation.

Introduction:
Islam and the Sea, Trade Routes and
the Spread of a New Religion
Mosque Essentials:
Space and Spices, Peace and Prayer
India: Malabar
Malay Heartland: Sumatra and Peninsula Malaysia
Java: Pavilions for Prayer
Merchant’s Mosques: A Foot in Two Worlds
ISBN 9788189995249
Pages 90
Number of photographs 70
Size 7.5 x 9" (191 x 229 mm), sc
Date of Publishing 2011
Language(s) English
Co-publisher(s) Mapin in association with Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development, Corporation of Cochin
Rights Available World rights
“A truly stunning achievement. Beautifully photographed and elegantly designed, this book takes one into the traditional mosques of Cochin. And through images of surpassing beauty, it conveys the simple and primordial power of vernacular architecture… and the context in which it exists.”

—Charles Correa, Eminent Architect and Planner, Mumbai

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