The entries in this catalogue build on the research undertaken by all the scholars who have worked on the collection previously, and my debt to all of these – including Anthony Welch, Stuart Cary Welch, Sheila Canby, Moya Carey and the many scholars who have contributed to the catalogues created for the travelling exhibitions of the collection from 2007 onwards – is here recorded with the sincerest of thanks. Benoît and I extend our further thanks to all of the contributing authors, without whose insightful and illuminating texts this catalogue would have been so much the poorer.We would also like to record our debt of gratitude for all the help and support we have received from our colleagues at the host museums of the exhibition. At the State Hermitage Museum: Natalia Koslova, Anton Pritula and Mariam Dandamaeva. At the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia: Rekha Verma and her predecessor Lucien de Guise, Adline Abdul Ghani, Assim Zuhair Mahmood Qisho, Zulkifli Ishak, Mohamed Razali Mohamed Zain, Md Rezad Adnan and Noor Nizreen Osman. At the Asian Civilisations Museum: Pedro Moura Carvalho, Lawrence Tio, Clement Onn, Henry Yeo, Karen Chin, Cherry Thian and Raaj Kannu. Within the Aga Khan Development Network, we thank our colleagues Nazir Sunderji, who supervised the printing of the catalogue, and Sam Pickens for his role in press and communications. Finally, it was Massumeh Farhad at the Freer and Sackler Galleries who first suggested revisiting the theme of architecture in Islamic art – the subject of an exhibition held at the Fogg Museum in 1982 – and we are particularly grateful to her for starting us on this fascinating path. - MARGARET S. GRAVES,BENOÎT JUNODPublished to accompany an exhibition held at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg,Russia, 2 December 2011-26 February 2012 : theIslamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,7 April 7-29 June 2012 : and theAsian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 19 July-19 October 2012.