Compared to earlier research, the assimilation and transformation of pre-existing architectural traditions is investigated under the aspect of mutual intra- and intercultural exchange of ideas, technologies and styles as well as artists, architects, and materials. In the area of art and architecture, the Rise of Islam is seen as a continuous transformation process leading from late Antiquity to the Islamic period. Early research into the area regarded early Islamic architecture merely as a break with the past, from which apparently rose a distorted and less expressive form of art, or a degenerate imitation of the post-classical architectural forms. Modern concepts tend to regard the transition between the cultures rather as a selective process of informed appropriation and transformation. The Umayyads played a crucial role in this process of transforming and thereby enriching the existing architectural traditions, or, in a more general sense, of the visual culture of the nascent Islamic society.