1.
Arab culture
–
Language, literature, gastronomy, art, architecture, music, spirituality, philosophy, mysticism are all part of the cultural heritage of the pan-Arab world. The Arab world is divided into separate regions including Nile Valley, Al-Maghrib Al-Arabi, Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula. The Arab culture is divided into three parts, the urban culture, the rural culture, and the nomad culture. Typically, most of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, along parts of Jordan. Other countries countrysides such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and their cities are considered to be urban cultures. In fact, most of the Arab major cities are recognized with urban cultures, like Jaffa, Cairo, Jerusalem, Beirut, Baghdad, Alexandria, Damascus, etc. The Levant, particularly Palestine, Lebanon, Syria as well as Egypt are known to have an urban culture history. Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by speakers of the Arabic language and it does not include works written using the Arabic alphabet but not in the Arabic language such as Persian and Urdu literature. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning to invite someone for a meal and implies politeness, culture. Arabic literature emerged in the 6th century, with fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Quran, from the 7th century, had the greatest, al-Khansa, a female contemporary of Muhammad, was an acclaimed Arab poet. The Muallaqat is the given to a series of seven Arabic poems or qasida that originated before the time of Islam. Each poem in the set has a different author, and is considered to be their best work, Muallaqat means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, and comes from the poems being hung on the wall in the Kaaba at Mecca. The seven authors, who span a period of around 100 years, are Imru al-Qais, Tarafa, Zuhayr, Labīd, Antara Ibn Shaddad, Amr ibn Kulthum, all of the Mu’allaqats contain stories from the authors’ lives and tribe politics. This is because poetry was used in time to advertise the strength of a tribe’s king, wealth. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, the individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from a number of different lands. The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah, during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia, China, India, Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad, during this time, many of the stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book
2.
Nabataean architecture
–
Nabatean architecture refers to the building traditions of the Nabateans in Jordan. It includes the temple and tombs of Petra in the cliffs of Jordan’s Negev desert. The style appears a mix of Mesopotamian and Hellenistic influences, much of the surviving architecture was excavated out of rock cliffs. So the columns do not actually support anything, ceramics and coins were also part of the culture. In addition to the most famous sites in Petra, there are also Nabatean complexes at Obodas and residential complexes at Mampsis and a religious site of et-Tannur
3.
Umayyad architecture
–
Umayyad architecture developed in the Umayyad Caliphate between 661 and 750, primarily in its heartlands of Syria and Palestine. The Umayyad caliphate was established in 661 after Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, was murdered in Kufa, muawiyah I, governor of Syria, became the first Umayyad caliph. The Umayyads made Damascus their capital, the Umayyads built new cities, often unfortified military camps that provided bases for further conquests. Wasit, Iraq was the most important of these, and included a square Friday mosque with a hypostyle roof, the empire was secular and tolerant of existing customs in the conquered lands, creating resentment among those looking for a more theocratic state. In 747 a revolution began in Khorasan, in the east, by 750 the Umayyads had been overthrown by the Abbasids, who moved the capital to Mesopotamia. A branch of the Umayyad dynasty continued to rule in Iberia until 1051, almost all monuments from the Umayyad period that have survived are in Syria and Palestine. The sanctuary of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is the oldest surviving Islamic building, the Umayyads adopted the construction techniques of the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. There was some innovation in decoration and in types of building, most buildings in Syria were of high quality ashlar masonry, using large tightly-joined blocks, sometimes with carving on the facade. Stone barrel vaults were used to roof small spans. Wooden roofs were used for spans, with the wood in Syria brought from the forests of Lebanon. These roofs usually had shallow pitches and rested on wooden trusses, wooden domes were constructed for Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, both in Jerusalem. Baked brick and mud brick were used in Mesopotamia, due to lack of stone, where brick was used in Syria, the work was in the finer Mesopotamian style rather than the more crude Byzantine style. The Umayyads used local workers and architects, some of their buildings cannot be distinguished from those of the previous regime. However, in many eastern and western elements were combined to give a distinctive new Islamic style. For example, the walls at Qasr Mshatta are built from cut stone in the Syrian manner, the horseshoe arch appears for the first time in Umayyad architecture, later to evolve to its most advanced form in al-Andalus. Umayyad architecture is distinguished by the extent and variety of decoration, including mosaics, wall painting, sculpture, the Umayyads are known for their desert palaces, some new and some adapted from earlier forts. The largest is Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, the palaces were symbolically defended by walls, towers and gates. In some cases the outside walls carried decorative friezes, the palaces would have a bath house, a mosque, and a main castle
4.
Abbasid architecture
–
Abbasid architecture developed in the Abbasid Caliphate between 750 and 945, primarily in its heartland of Mesopotamia. The Abbasids inherited Persian architectural traditions in Mesopotamia, and were influenced by Central Asian styles. They evolved distinctive styles of their own, particularly in decoration of their buildings, while the Abbasids lost control of large parts of their empire after 850, their architecture continued to be copied by successor states in Iran, Egypt and North Africa. In 750 the Abbasids seized power from the Umayyad rulers of the Arab empire, the Abbasid caliphs based in what is now Iraq ruled over Iran, Mesopotamia, Arabia and the lands of the eastern and southern Mediterranean. The period between 750 and 900 has been described as the Islamic Golden Age, where the Umayyads had typically reused pre-Islamic buildings in the cities they had conquered, by the Abbasid era many of these structures required replacement. The spread of Muslim beliefs had also brought changes in needs, the Abbasids had to erect mosques and palaces, as well as fortifications, houses, commercial buildings and even facilities for racing and polo matches. In 762 the caliph al-Mansur founded a new capital of Baghdad on the Tigris, in 836 the caliph al-Mutasim transferred the capital to Samarra. The Abbasids began to control over the outlying parts of the empire, with local dynasties gaining effective independence in Khorasan in eastern Iran, Egypt. The caliph al-Mutamid, by now the effective ruler only of Iraq, in 945 the Buyids, followers of Shia Islam, became effective rulers as amirs, while the Abbasid caliphs retained their nominal title. With Caliph al-Nasir the Abbasids once again gained control of Iraq, early Abbasid architecture was very similar to the architecture of the Sassanid Empire, as exemplified by the Palace of Ukhaidhir. It used the techniques, the same materials of mud brick, baked brick and rough stone blocks set in mortar. With the conquest of Central Asia, the influence of Soghdian architecture increased, in Samarra the stucco and wall paintings are similar to that of the palaces of Panjakent in what is now Tajikistan. Later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, architecture in the lands ruled by the Abbasids became dominated by Seljuk architecture, Abbasid cities were laid out on huge sites. The palaces and mosques of Samarra sprawled along the shores of the Tigris for 40 kilometres. To match the scale of the sites, monumental buildings were erected, such as the huge spiral minarets of the Abu Dulaf Mosque and the Great Mosque of Samarra, which had no counterparts elsewhere. The two-centered pointed arch and vault had appeared before the Abbasids took power, the first fully developed example of the four-centered pointed arch was at the Qasr al-Ashiq, built between 878 and 882. Three new types of decoration were developed in Samarra and rapidly became popular elsewhere. The first two styles may be seen as derivative from Late Antique or Umayyad decorative styles, but the third is entirely new, style C used molds to create repeating patterns of curved lines, notches, slits, and other elements
5.
Fatimid architecture
–
The wealth of Fatimid architecture was found in the main cities of Mahdia, Al-Mansuriya and Cairo. The Fatimid Caliphs competed with the rulers of the Abbasid and Byzantine empires and their palaces, their greatest architectural achievements, are known only by written descriptions, however. Several surviving tombs, mosques, gates and walls, mainly in Cairo, retain original elements, notable extant examples of Fatimid architecture include the Great Mosque of Mahdiya, and the Al-Azhar Mosque, Al-Hakim Mosque, Juyushi and Lulua of Cairo. They typically had features such as portals that protrude from the wall, domes above mihrabs and qiblas, and façade ornamentation with iconographic inscriptions, the woodwork of the doors and interiors of the buildings was often finely carved. The Fatimids also made considerable development towards mausoleum building, the mashad, a shrine that commemorates a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, was a characteristic type of Fatimid architecture. Three Fatimid-era gates in Cairo, Bab al-Nasr, Bab al-Futuh and Bab Zuweila, though they have been altered over the centuries, they have Byzantine architectural features, with little trace of the eastern Islamic tradition. Recently a Neo-Fatimid style has emerged, used in restorations or in modern Shia mosques by the Dawoodi Bohra, in 899 his grandson, to be known as Abd Allah al-Mahdi, became leader of the movement. He fled from his enemies to Sijilmasa in Morocco, where he proselytized under the guise of being a merchant, the empire grew to include Sicily and to stretch across North Africa from the Atlantic to Libya. The Fatimid caliphs built three capital cities, which they occupied in order, Mahdia and al-Mansuriya in Ifriqiya. Mahdia was a city located on a peninsula that projected into the Mediterranean from the coast of what is now Tunisia. The Carthaginian port of Zella had once occupied the site, Mahdia was founded in 913 by Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, the first Fatimid imam, and later was the port from which the Fatimid invasion of Egypt was launched. Al-Mahdi built the Great Mosque of Mahdiya, the earliest Fatimid mosque, the other buildings erected nearby at that time have since disappeared, but the monumental access gate and portico in the north of the mosque are preserved from the original structure. Al-Mansuriya, near Kairouan, Tunisia, was the capital of Fatimid Caliphate during the rules of the Imams Al-Mansur Billah, built between 946 and 972, it was a circular walled city holding elaborate palaces surrounded by gardens, artificial pools and water channels. The caliph Al-Muizz moved from the city to the new city of al-Qāhira in 973, in 1057 it was abandoned and destroyed. Any useful objects or materials were scavenged during the centuries that followed, the Fatimid general, Jawhar al-Siqilli built a new palace city near to Fusṭāt upon conquering Egypt in 969, which he at first called al-Manṣūriyya after the capital in Tunisia. When Al-Muizz arrived in 973, the name was changed to al-Qāhira, the new city incorporated elements of the design of Al-Mansuriya, although it was rectangular rather than circular in plan. Both cities had mosques named al-Azhar after the Prophets daughter, Fatima al-Azhar, both cities had two palaces, for the caliph and for his heir, opposite and facing each other. Al-Aziz Billah is generally considered to have been the most extensive of Fatimid builders, similar to the first mosque, Al-Azhar Mosque, it had some fourteen gates but was later destroyed by fire, leaving only its green mihrab
6.
Moorish architecture
–
Moorish architecture is the architectural tradition that appeared in the Maghreb region and the Iberian peninsula after the Arab Islamic conquest. Other notable buildings include the palace city of Medina Azahara, the church San Cristo de la Luz in Toledo. The term is used to include the products of the Islamic civilisation of Southern Italy. The Palazzo dei Normanni in Sicily was begun in the 9th century by the Emir of Palermo, there is archeological evidence of an eighth-century mosque in Narbonne, France. Arabic architecture Islamic architecture Arab-Norman culture Islamic influences on Christian art Moorish Revival* Moroccan architecture Mudéjar Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon Curl, a Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
7.
Mamluk architecture
–
Mamluk architecture was a flowering of Islamic art during the reign of the Mamluk Sultanate which is most visible in medieval Cairo. Religious zeal made them generous patrons of architecture and art, it was influenced by the Ancient Egyptian. Trade and agriculture flourished under Mamluk rule, and Cairo, their capital, became one of the wealthiest cities in the Near East and the center of artistic and intellectual activity. This made Cairo, in the words of Ibn Khaldun, the center of the universe and the garden of the world, with domes, courtyards. The architectural identity of Mamluk religious monuments stems from the purpose that individuals erected their own memorials. Each building reflected the individual tastes, choices, and name. Mamluk architecture is oftentimes categorized more by the reigns of the sultan, than a specific design. Interestingly, the elite were often more knowledgeable in the art of buildings than many historians. Mamluk sultans and emirs were known for their zealous patronage of art and their projects could include a single mausoleum or a small charitable building, while their larger architectural complexes typically combined many functions into one or more buildings. These could include charitable functions and social services, such as a mosque, khanqah, madrasa, bimaristan, maktab, sabil, or hod, or commercial functions, such as a wikala/khan or rabʿah. These buildings and their institutions were protected by waqf agreements, which rendered them the status of charitable endowments or trusts which were legally inalienable under Islamic law. As such, the zeal of the Mamluk rulers was also motivated by very real pragmatic benefits. While the organization of Mamluk monuments varied, the funerary dome and these attributes are prominent features in a Mamluk mosques profile and were significant in the beautification of the city skyline. In Cairo, the dome and minaret were respected as symbols of commemoration. Patrons used these visual attributes to express their individuality by decorating each dome, patterns carved on domes ranged from ribs and zigzags to floral and geometric star designs. The funerary dome of Aytimish al-Bajasi and the dome of Qaitbays sons reflect the diversity. The creativity of Mamluk builders was effectively emphasized with these leitmotifs, expanding on the Fatimid Caliphates development of street-adjusted mosque façades, the Mamluks developed their architecture to enhance street vistas. In addition, new concepts and architectural solutions were created to reflect their assumed role in history
8.
Ablaq
–
Ablaq is an architectural style involving alternating or fluctuating rows of light and dark stone. Records trace the beginnings of this type of technique to the south parts of Syria. It is associated as an Arabic term, especially as related to Arabic Islamic architectural decoration, the first recorded use of the term ablaq pertained to repairs of the Great Mosque of Damascus in 1109, but the technique itself was used much earlier. This technique is a feature of Islamic architecture, the ablaq decorative technique is a derivative from the ancient Byzantine Empire, whose architecture used alternate sequential runs of light colored ashlar stone and darker colored orange brick. The first known use of the term ablaq in building techniques is in work in reconstruction improvements to the walls of the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. According to records, these reconstruction masonry improvements to the wall began in the early twelfth century. The local stone supply may have encouraged the use of alternating courses of light, in the south part of Syria there is abundance of black basalt as well as white-colored limestone. The supplies of each are equal, so it was natural that masonry techniques of balanced proportions were used. The technique itself, however, was used earlier, Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba being a notable example, Medina Azahara. The Mamluks utilized mottled light effects and chiaroscuro in their buildings, finely dressed ashlar stones was often combined with brickwork for vaults. These Mamluk and Syrian elements were applied and shared by the Ayyubids and Crusaders in Palestine, Syria, in 1266 –1269 Sultan al-Zahir Baybars al-Bunduqdari built a mosque known as Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars or the Qasr Ablaq Palace which was constructed with alterations of light and dark masonry. Based on this mosque, ablaq as a technique of alternate rows of light. The Mamluk architecture of Syria, Egypt and Palestine adopted the technique in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In these countries at about this black and white stone were often used as well as red brick in recurring rows. The ablaq masonry technique is used in the Azm Palace in Damascus, in fact, Dr. Jerusalem mamluk architecture include multi-colored mansonry in white, yellow, red and black. The origins of the marble ablaq treatments at the Dome are controversial, some theorizing them original, in Jordan, the Mamluk fortified khan at Aqaba is a medieval fortress modeled after those used by the Crusaders. It contains an arch above the protected entrance, the horsesoe arch has ablaq masonry, harkening to Mamluk architecture in Egypt. Various architectural motifs—ablaq, the arch, and voussoir were used
9.
Hypostyle
–
In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a roof which is supported by columns. The word hypostyle comes from the Ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος hypóstȳlos meaning under columns, the roof may be constructed of with bridging lintels of stone, wood or other rigid material such as cast iron, steel or reinforced concrete. The architectural form has many applications, occurring in the cella of Ancient Greek temples and in many Asian buildings, with a combination of columns and arches, the hypostyle hall became one of the two main types of mosque construction. In many mosques, especially the early congregational mosques, the hall has the hypostyle form. One of the finest examples of the mosques is the Great Mosque of Kairouan in the city of Kairouan. The hypostyle is widely used in modern architecture, peristyle Portico Apadana Ancient Egyptian architecture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Hypostyle
10.
Mashrabiya
–
The mashrabiya is an element of traditional Arabic architecture used since the Middle Ages up to the mid-20th century. It is mostly used on the side of the building, however. Mashrabiyas were mostly used in houses and palaces although sometimes in buildings such as hospitals, inns, schools. They are found mostly in the Mashriq – i. e. the eastern part of the Arab world and they are very prevalent in Iraq, the Levant, Hejaz and Egypt. They are mostly found in settings and rarely in rural areas. Basra is often called the city of Shanasheel, Mashrabiya is derived from the triliteral root Š-R-B, which generally denotes drinking or absorbing. There are two theories for its name, the most common one is that the name was originally for a small wooden shelf where the drinking water pots were stored, the shelf was enclosed by wood and located at the window in order to keep the water cool. Later on, this shelf evolved until it became part of the room with a full enclosure, the second theory is that the name was originally mashrafiya, derived from the verb Ashrafa, to overlook or to observe. During the centuries the name changed due to changing accents. Whatever is left in Arabic cities is mostly built during the late 19th century, in Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s, the designs of the latticework was affected by the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements of the time. This was evident in Al Rasheed street Mashrabiyas up to the late 1960s before most of them were demolished, traditionally, houses are built of adobe, brick or stone or a combination of that. Wooden houses are not popular and hardly ever found, building heights in urban setting range from two to five floors with the Mashrabiyas on the second level and above. The roofs are built using wooden or steel beams with the areas between filled with brick in a semi vault style. These beams were extended over the street, enlarging the footprint of the upper floor, the upper floor is then enclosed with latticework and roofed with wood. The projection is cantilevered and does not bear the weight of building materials. There are different types of Mashrabiyas, and the designs differ from region to region. One of the purposes of the Mashrabiya is privacy, an essential aspect of Arabic culture. A good view of the street can be obtained by the occupants without being seen, the wooden screen with openable windows gives shade and protection from the hot summer sun, while allowing the cool air from the street to flow through
11.
Iwan
–
An iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. Since the definition allows for some interpretation, the forms and characteristics can vary greatly in terms of scale, material. Iwans are most commonly associated with Islamic architecture, however, the form was invented much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia, the root for this term is Old Persian apadana where king Darius I declares in an inscription, I Darius. This is a given to this particular palace in modern literature, although the name simply implies a type of structure—the iwan. The term in Old Persian stand for unprotected, since the design allows for the structure to be open to the elements on one side, whence the term. At Persepolis, however, the apadana takes the form of a veranda, a comparable structure would be found 2000 years later in Isfahan at the Palace of Chehel Sotoun. This development reached its peak during the Seljuki era, when iwans became a unit in architecture. The form is not confined to any function, and is found in buildings for either secular or religious uses. Ivan is a form of the name, used in Iran. Many scholars including Edward Keall, André Godard, Roman Ghirshman, and Mary Boyce, discuss the invention of the iwan as developing in Mesopotamia, the area around todays Iraq. Although debate remains among scholars as to how the developed, there is a general consensus that the iwan evolved locally. The feature which most distinctly makes the iwan a landmark development in the history of Ancient Near Eastern architecture is the incorporation of a vaulted ceiling, a vault is defined as a ceiling made from arches, known as arcuated, usually constructed with stone, concrete, or bricks. Earlier buildings would normally be covered in a manner, with post. However, vaulted ceilings did exist in the ancient world before the invention of the iwan, outside Mesopotamia, a number of extant vaulted structures stand, including many examples from Ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Mycenaeans. For example, the Mycenaean Treasury of Atreus, constructed around 1250 BCE, egyptian architecture began to use vaulting in their structures after the Third Dynasty, after around 2600 BCE, constructing very early barrel vaults using mud brick. Although some scholars have asserted that the form may have developed under the Seleucids. One of the earliest Parthian iwans was found at Seleucia, located on the Tigris River, other early iwans have been suggested at Ashur, where two buildings containing iwan-like foundations were found. The first building, located near the ruins of a ziggurat, the proximity of the building to a ziggurat suggests that it may have been used for religious preparations or rituals
12.
Liwan
–
Liwan is a word used since ancient times into the present to refer to a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal found in Levantine homes that is often open to the outside. An Arabic loanword to English, it is derived from the Persian eyvān. In its simplest form, the history of the dates back more than 2,000 years. In its more complex forms, the house is composed of a large ceremonial entrance hall at the front of the complex. The back of the house opens onto a columned peristyle courtyard from which the main room and the private apartments opposite can be accessed, with symmetry on either side of the central axis. Mats and carpets are typically spread along the length of the floor of the liwan, one type of liwan house is the three-arched house or Central Hall House, as coined by Friedrich Ragette in 1974. It is also known as the house or Late-Ottoman Arab House in Haifa or the Beiruti House in Mersin. The 19th century Levantine model of the house with many regional variations is found in the coastal regions of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel. A representative example of the liwan house commonly found in throughout the West Bank
13.
Moroccan riad
–
A riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. The word riad comes from the Arabian term for garden, Arabic, رياض, the ancient Roman city of Volubilis provided a reference for the beginnings of riad architecture during the Idrisid Dynasty. When the Almoravids conquered Spain in the 11th century they sent Muslim, Christian, the Riad is the Moroccan traditional house, normally with two or more storeys around an Andalusian-style courtyard that contained a fountain. Riads were the city homes of the wealthiest citizens such as merchants. The riads were inward focused, which allowed for family privacy and this inward focus was expressed with a centrally placed interior garden or courtyard, and the lack of large windows on the exterior walls of clay or mud brick. This design principle found support in Islamic notions of privacy, entrance to these houses encourages reflection because all of the rooms open into the central atrium space. In the central garden of traditional riads there are four orange or lemon trees. The walls of the riads are adorned with plaster and zellige tiles. The style of these riads has changed over the years, many of the crumbling or ruined properties in Marrakech have been bought by foreigners
14.
Sahn
–
A sahn, is a courtyard in Islamic architecture. Most traditional mosques have a large central sahn, which is surrounded by a riwaq or arcade on all sides, in traditional Islamic design, residences and neighborhoods can have private sahn. In Islamic and Arab architecture, the courtyard is a common element in religious buildings and residences throughout the Arab world and beyond, used in urban. The cloister is its equivalent in European medieval architecture and its religious buildings, originally, the sahn was used for dwellings, as a secure and private setting within a residence compounds walls. Ruins of houses in Sumerian Ur with sahns have been found, in historic Persian garden design sahns were the location for private Paradise gardens. In traditional Persian architecture, the courtyard contained a howz or symmetrical pool. The use of sahn in Islamic architecture continued until the mid-twentieth century, almost every historic or traditional mosque has a sahn. The use of the sahn in Middle Eastern countries mosques was carried on to most Islamic countries mosque architecture, traditional mosque sahns are surrounded by the riwaq arcade on all sides. They also contain fountain water basins, such as a howz, for ritual cleansing and performing of wudu. The inner courtyard is not a religiously proscribed architectural feature, and some mosques, especially since the twentieth century, residential sahns, part of a courtyard house, are the most private. The scale and design details differ, from urban to rural locales, different regions and climates, the sahn can be a private garden, a service yard, and a summer season outdoor living room for the family or entertaining. Usually the main entrance of the house does not lead directly to the sahn and it is reached through a broken or curved corridor called a majaz. This lets residents admit guests into the majlis, a salon or reception room and it is then a protected and proscribed place where the women of the house need not be covered in the hijab clothing traditionally necessary in public. In urban settings, the sahn is usually surrounded by a colonnaded riwaq, the residences iwan, a private family room veranda of three walls, usually overlooks the sahn and gives direct or stairway access to it. Upper floor rooms may also view it through mashrabiya, wooden lattice covered windows, the Moorish sahn patios of al-Andalus, in present-day Spain, include World Heritage Sites such as the Court of the Lions and Court of the Myrtles at the Alhambra palace. Public The idea of open space, central in the middle of a city. Ancient examples are the Greek agora and Roman forum and they can provide a place for various civic uses, such as, public gatherings, celebrations, and protests, city parks, open air markets and festivals, and transportation links. Index, Islamic architectural elements Media related to Islamic courtyards at Wikimedia Commons
15.
Tadelakt
–
Tadelakt is a waterproof plaster surface used to make baths, sinks, water vessels, interior and exterior walls, ceilings, roofs, and even floors. It is made from plaster, which is rammed, polished. Tadelakt is labour-intensive to install, but durable, since it is applied as a paste, tadelakt has a soft, undulating character, it can form curves, and it is seamless. Pigment can be added to give it any colour, but deep red is traditional and it may have a shiny or matte finish. Tadelakt means to rub in, from the Moroccan Arabic تدلاكت, tadelakt is thought to have evolved from qadad, a similar plaster treated with calcium hydroxide and oils and fats instead of soaps. The basic constituents of tadelakt plaster are, lime plaster in some cases, marble or limestone sand natural soap to speed carbonation of the surface, the soap chemically reacts with the lime plaster, forming lime soaps. Calcium soaps are insoluble in water, and fairly hard and they are familiar, in areas with calcium-rich water, as deposits in bathtubs, sinks, and showers, when soap is mixed with the waters dissolved calcium carbonate/lime, calcium soaps form. In Morocco, the application technique, plaster powder is mixed with water for 12 to 15 hours prior to the addition of pigment. The plaster is applied in one coat with a wooden float. Before the plaster sets, a flat, smooth, hard stone is used to compress the plaster and it is mechanically polished using stones or abrasives harder than the plaster, providing a smooth, sometimes shiny, finish. Tadelakt can be carved into yeseria. Tadelakt is the coating of the palaces, hammams and bathrooms of the riads in Morocco. The restoration of the riads of Morocco had led to a resurgence in its use, in modern times, it has been used outside. Stucco Zellige Earthen plaster Polished plaster Plasterwork Qadad Moroccan style Moroccan architecture
16.
Vault (architecture)
–
Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, when vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required. However, when the vault is built above ground, various replacements are employed to supply the needed resistance, an example is the thicker walls used in the case of barrel or continuous vaults. Buttresses are used to supply resistance when intersecting vaults are employed, the simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape. The barrel vault is an arch, the length being greater than its diameter. As in building an arch, a support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone, is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting, with a barrel vault, the centering can then be shifted on to support the next rings. Amongst the earliest known examples of any form of vaulting is to be found in the village of Khirokitia on Cyprus. Dating from ca.6000 BCE, the circular buildings supported beehive shaped corbel domed vaults of unfired mud-bricks, similar Beehive tombs, called tholoi, exist in Crete and Northern Iraq. Their construction differs from that at Khirokitia in that most appear partially buried, the inclusion of domes, however, represents a wider sense of the word vault. The distinction between the two is that a vault is essentially an arch which is extruded into the third dimension, whereas a dome is an arch revolved around its vertical axis. Pitched-brick vaults are named for their construction, the bricks are installed vertically and are leaning at an angle, examples have been found in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia dating to the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC which were set in gypsum mortar. A barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault and resembles a barrel or tunnel cut lengthwise in half, the effect is that of a structure composed of continuous semicircular or pointed sections. The earliest known examples of barrel vaults were built by the Sumerians, possibly under the ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia, which was built of fired bricks cemented with clay mortar. The earliest barrel vaults in ancient Egypt are thought to be those in the built by the 19th dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II. The vault being over 800 feet long,10 feet in span, the enormous Eyvan-e Khosro at Ctesiphon was built over 1,500 years ago during the Persian Sasanian period as a throne room. The arch is about 37 metres high,26 metres across and 50 metres long, built entirely without centering, the rings relieved the centering from the weight imposed, and the two layers of bricks carried the concrete till it had set. As the walls carrying these vaults were built in concrete with occasional bond courses of brick
17.
Voussoir
–
A voussoir /vuˈswɑːr/ is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, the keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch. The springer is the lowest voussoir on each side, located where the curve of the springs from the vertical support or abutment of the wall or pier. The keystone is decorated or enlarged. The word is a term borrowed in Middle English from French verbs connoting a turn. Each wedge-shaped voussoir turns aside the thrust of the mass above, transferring it from stone to stone to the bottom face. Voussoir arches distribute weight efficiently and take advantage of the compressive strength of stone. In Visigothic and Moorish architecture, the voussoirs are often in alternating colors, usually red and this is sometimes found in Romanesque architecture also. The bricks used in such an arch are referred to as voussoirs
18.
Multifoil arch
–
A Multifoil arch is a style of arch that was an architectural element in the Moorish architecture of al-Andalus. The multifoil arch design was influenced by Islamic art and architecture, examples are found in the Moorish Umayyad Caliphate mosque maqsuras and arcades, that are located in present-day Spain. The term is French, foil means leaf, the number of foils involved is indicated by a prefix, trefoil —3, quatrefoil —4, etc. and multifoil —many. Horseshoe arch Index, Islamic architectural elements Spanish architecture
19.
Horseshoe arch
–
The horseshoe arch, also called the Moorish arch and the Keyhole arch, is the emblematic arch of Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form, horseshoe arches are known from pre-Islamic Syria, where the form was used in the fourth century CE in the Baptistery of Mar Yaqub at Nisibin. However, it was in Spain and North Africa that horseshoe arches developed their characteristic form, prior to the Muslim invasion of Spain, the Visigoths used them as one of their main architectural features, which may come from at least the Roman period. Some tombstones from that period have been found in the north of Spain with horseshoe arches in them, also, the arch of the Church of Santa Eulalia de Boveda —part of a previous Roman temple— in Lugo, points in that direction. The Visigothic form was adopted and developed by the Umayyads, who accentuated the curvature of the horseshoe and this can be seen at a large scale in their major work, the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The Mozarabs also adopted this style of arch into their architecture, horseshoe arches were also used in the Mosque of Uqba, in Kairouan and, in a slightly pointed form, in the Mosque of Muhammad ibn Khairun, Tunisia. Mudéjar style, developed from the 12th to the 17th centuries, in addition to their use across the Islamic world, horseshoe arches became popular in Western countries at the time of the Moorish Revival. They were widely used in Moorish revival synagogues, horseshoe arches are also a feature of Indo-Saracenic architecture, a style associated with the British Raj
20.
Alfiz
–
The alfiz is an architectonic adornment, consisting of a moulding, usually a rectangular panel, which encloses the outward side of an arch. It is an Islamic Arab architectonic ornament, but has appeared in non-Arab Spanish architecture since the 8th century and it is frequent in the Islamic Hispanic art and mozarabic art. As the image illustrates, there are two variants, A Alfiz starting from the impost. B Alfiz starting from the floor, the space between the arch and the alfiz is called enjuta or arrabá, usually richly decorated. Each curved triangle is called albanega
21.
Arabesque
–
Another definition is Foliate ornament, used in the Islamic world, typically using leaves, derived from stylised half-palmettes, which were combined with spiralling stems. It usually consists of a design which can be tiled or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired. Interlace and scroll decoration are used for most other types of similar patterns. Arabesques are an element of Islamic art but they develop what was already a long tradition by the coming of Islam. The past and current usage of the term in respect of European art can only be described as confused, some Western arabesques derive from Islamic art, but others are closely based on Ancient Roman decorations. At the popular level such theories often appear uninformed as to the context of the arabesque. The case for a connection with Islamic mathematics is much stronger for the development of the patterns with which arabesques are often combined in art. The arabesque developed out of the traditions of plant-based scroll ornament in the cultures taken over by the early Islamic conquests. Early Islamic art, for example in the famous 8th century mosaics of the Great Mosque of Damascus, often contained plant-scroll patterns, in that case by Byzantine artists in their usual style. The plants most often used are stylized versions of the acanthus, with its emphasis on leafy forms, the evolution of these forms into a distinctive Islamic type was complete by the 11th century, having begun in the 8th or 9th century in works like the Mshatta Facade. In the process of development the plant forms became increasing simplified and stylized, typically, in earlier forms there is no attempt at realism, no particular species of plant is being imitated, and the forms are often botanically impossible or implausible. Leaf forms typically spring sideways from the stem, in what is called a half-palmette form, named after its distant and very different looking ancestor in Ancient Egyptian. New stems spring from leaf-tips, a type often called honeysuckle, the early Mshatta Facade is recognisably some sort of vine, with conventional leaves on the end of short stalks and bunches of grapes or berries, but later forms usually lack these. Flowers are rare until about 1500, after which they more often, especially in Ottoman art. In Ottoman art the large and feathery leaves called saz became very popular, eventually floral decoration mostly derived from Chinese styles, especially those of Chinese porcelain, replaces the arabesque in many types of work, such as pottery, textiles and miniatures. The arabesques and geometric patterns of Islamic art are often said to arise from the Islamic view of the world, the depiction of animals and people is generally discouraged, which explains the preference for abstract geometric patterns. There are two modes to arabesque art, the first recalls the principles that govern the order of the world. These principles include the basics of what makes objects structurally sound and, by extension
22.
Banna'i
–
This technique originated in Syria and Iraq in the 8th century, and matured in the Seljuq and Timurid era, as it spread to Iran, Anatolia and Central Asia. If the brickwork design is in relief then it is referred to as hazarbaf, the earliest surviving example of decorative brick work with colored bricks is found in the city gate of Raqqa. The earliest known example of hazārbāf is found in the Ukhaydir Palace near Baghdad, the technique appeared in Iran and central Asia more than a century later but with more sophisticated designs. The tomb of the Samanid ruler Ismāīl, had walls with protruding, islamic brickwork grew in sophistication of its techniques over the centuries. In the 11th century, the use of multiple brick sizes, rows of brick were set deep inside the face of the building and raised above it, to create positive and negative spaces. Chihil-Dukhtaran Minaret in Isfahan is one of the earliest example of work with triangles, squares, octagons. The Gunbad-i Sorkh monument in Azerbaijan was made of ten different types of carved bricks in its corner columns, in the 12th century in Azerbaijan, bricks were combined with glazed tiles. Such bricks were typically cobalt blue and turquoise colored, the earliest example of script set in brick work is seen on a minaret in Ghazni about 1100, spelling out the name of the ruler, the Ghaznavid ruler Massud III and his titles. This building pieces of terra cotta were inserted between the bricks to create the inscription, later buildings used the shadows of raised bricks and others used different colored bricks to spell out words. This practice eventually led to the covering whole brick buildings in sacred writing spelling out the names of Allah, Ali, square kufic, the version of the Arabic kufic calligraphy consisting of square angles only, is believed to have been an architectural adaptation of this script. Kufic writing was usually achieved using square bricks
23.
Girih
–
Girih, also girih sāzī or girih chīnī, is a Persianate Islamic decorative art form used in architecture and handicrafts, consisting of geometric lines that form an interlaced strapwork. In Iranian architecture, gereh sazi patterns were seen in bannai brickwork, stucco, girih has been defined as geometric designs composed upon or generated from arrays of points from which construction lines radiate and at which they intersect. Straight-edged symmetric shapes are used in girih, girih typically consists of a strapwork that form 6-, 8-, 10-, or 12-pointed stars separated by polygons and straps, and often they were drawn in an interlacing manner. Such patterns usually consist of a unit cell with 2-, 3-. The three-dimensional equivalent of girih is called muqarnas and it is used to decorate the underside of domes or squinches. The girih style of ornamentation is thought to have inspired by the Syrian Roman knotwork patterns dating back to the 2nd century AD. The predecessors of the form were curvilinear interlaced strapwork with three-fold rotational symmetry. The Umayyad Mosque, in Damascus, Syria has window screens made of interlacing undulating strapwork in the form of six-pointed stars, early examples of Islamic geometric patterns made of straight strap lines can be seen in the architecture of the surviving gateway of the Ribat-i Malik caravanserai, Uzbekistan. The earliest form of girih on a book is seen in the fronticepiece of a Koran manuscript from the year 1000 and this Koran has an illuminated page with interlacing octagons and thuluth calligraphy. In woodwork, one of the earliest surviving examples of Islamic geometric art is the 13th-century minbar of the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, in woodwork, girih patterns can be created by two different methods. In one, a grill with geometric shapes would be created first. In the other method, called gereh-chini wooden panels of geometric shapes would be created individually and this woodwork technique was popular during the Safavid period, examples of it can be seen in various historic structures in Esfahan. The term girih was used in Turkish as a polygonal strap pattern used in architecture as early as the late 15th century, also in the late 15th century, girih patterns were compiled by artisans in pattern catalogs such as the Topkapı Scroll. While curvilinear precedants of girih were seen in the 10th century and it became a dominant design element in the 11th and 12th centuries, as for example, the carved stucco panels with interlaced girih seen in Kharraqan towers near Qazvin, Iran. Stylized plant decoration were sometimes co-ordinated with girih, after the Safavid period, the use of girih continued in the Seljuk and later the Ilkhanid period. In the 14th century girih became an element in the decorative arts and was replaced by vegetal patterns during the Timurid era. However, geometrical strap work patterns continued to be an important element of decorative arts in Central Asian monuments after the Timurid period, the first girih patterns were made by copying a pattern template along a regular grid, the pattern was drawn with compass and straightedge. Today, artisans using traditional techniques use a pair of dividers to leave a mark on a paper sheet that has been left in the sun to become brittle
24.
Islamic calligraphy
–
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian calligraphy and it is known in Arabic as khatt Islami, meaning Islamic line, design, or construction. The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Quran, chapters, deep religious association with the Quran, as well as suspicion of figurative art as idolatrous has led calligraphy to become one of the major forms of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. As Islamic calligraphy is highly venerated, most works follow examples set by well established calligraphers, in antiquity, a pupil would copy a masters work repeatedly until their handwriting was similar. The most common style is divided into angular and cursive, each divided into several sub-styles. Some styles are often written using a metallic-tip pen, Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels, carpets, and inscriptions. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing, the advent of paper revolutionized calligraphy. While monasteries in Europe treasured a few volumes, libraries in the Muslim world regularly contained hundreds. Coins were another support for calligraphy, beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value, generally the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Quran. By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, so precious were calligraphic inscribed textiles that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the Abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer near Caen in northwestern France, Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script. The style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, which appears as a form of the old Nabataean script. The Archaic Kufi consisted of about 17 letters without diacritic dots or accents, afterwards, dots and accents were added to help readers with pronunciation, and the set of Arabic letters rose to 29. It is developed around the end of the 7th century in the areas of Kufa, Iraq, the style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and squared kufi. There were no set rules of using the Kufic script, the common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters. Common varieties include square Kufic, a known as bannai. Contemporary calligraphy using this style is popular in modern decorations
25.
Islamic geometric patterns
–
Islamic decoration, which tends to avoid using figurative images, makes frequent use of geometric patterns which have developed over the centuries. These may constitute the entire decoration, may form a framework for floral or calligraphic embellishments, interest in Islamic geometric patterns is increasing in the West, both among craftsmen and artists including M. C. Islamic art mostly avoids figurative images to avoid becoming objects of worship, Islamic geometric patterns derived from simpler designs used in earlier cultures, Greek, Roman, and Sasanian. They are one of three forms of Islamic decoration, the others being the based on curving and branching plant forms. Geometric designs and arabesques are forms of Islamic interlace patterns, david Wade states that Much of the art of Islam, whether in architecture, ceramics, textiles or books, is the art of decoration – which is to say, of transformation. Wade argues that the aim is to transfigure, turning mosques into lightness and pattern and she argues that beauty, whether in poetry or in the visual arts, was enjoyed for its own sake, without commitment to religious or moral criteria. Many Islamic designs are built on squares and circles, typically repeated, overlapped and interlaced to form intricate, a recurring motif is the 8-pointed star, often seen in Islamic tilework, it is made of two squares, one rotated 45 degrees with respect to the other. The fourth basic shape is the polygon, including pentagons and octagons, all of these can be combined and reworked to form complicated patterns with a variety of symmetries including reflections and rotations. Such patterns can be seen as mathematical tessellations, which can extend indefinitely and they are constructed on grids that require only ruler and compass to draw. Artist and educator Roman Verostko argues that such constructions are in effect algorithms, the circle symbolizes unity and diversity in nature, and many Islamic patterns are drawn starting with a circle. On this basis is constructed a star surrounded by six smaller irregular hexagons to form a tessellating star pattern. This forms the basic design which is outlined in white on the wall of the mosque and that design, however, is overlaid with an intersecting tracery in blue around tiles of other colours, forming an elaborate pattern that partially conceals the original and underlying design. A similar design forms the logo of the Mohammed Ali Research Center and he observed that many different combinations of polygons can be used as long as the residual spaces between the polygons are reasonably symmetrical. For example, a grid of octagons in contact has squares as the residual spaces, every octagon is the basis for an 8-point star, as seen at Akbars tomb, Sikandra. Hankin considered the skill of the Arabian artists in discovering suitable combinations of polygons and he further records that if a star occurs in a corner, exactly one quarter of it should be shown, if along an edge, exactly one half of it. The mathematical properties of the tile and stucco patterns of the Alhambra palace in Granada. Some authors have claimed on dubious grounds to have found most or all of the 17 wallpaper groups there, the earliest geometrical forms in Islamic art were occasional isolated geometric shapes such as 8-pointed stars and lozenges containing squares. These date from 836 in the Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia, the next development, marking the middle stage of Islamic geometric pattern usage, was of 6- and 8-point stars, which appear in 879 at the Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo, and then became widespread
26.
Islamic interlace patterns
–
Interlacing patterns are patterns of lines and shapes that have traditionally dominated Islamic art. They can be divided into the arabesque, using curving plant-based elements. Both of these forms of Islamic art developed from the rich interlacing patterns of the Byzantine Empire, eva Baer, in her book Islamic Ornament, describes the art. One of the first Western studies of the subject was E. H. Hankins The Drawing of Geometric Patterns in Saracenic Art, published in Memoirs of the Archaeological Society of India in 1925. In this essay, Hankin takes the view that the artists who created these designs used a method based on the use of the compass and the straight edge. This view is supported by the majority of authorities on the subject, such as Keith Critchlow in his book, Islamic Patterns. This explains how ornamented objects as varied in size as a book or a mosque, were treated by using the same geometric methods adapted to the size. On the other hand, Owen Jones describes a method whereby interlace ornament is designed on a foundation of geometric grids, possessing, equally with the Greeks, an appreciation of pure form, the Moors exceeded them in variety and imagination. It usually consists of a design which can be tiled or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired. Girih, also girih sāzī or girih chīnī, is an Islamic decorative art form used in architecture and handicrafts, in Iranian architecture, gereh sazi patterns were seen in bannai brickwork, stucco, and mosaic faience work. Girih has been defined as geometric designs composed upon or generated from arrays of points from which lines radiate
27.
Muqarnas
–
It is used for domes, and especially half-domes in entrances, iwans and apses, mostly in traditional Islamic and Persian architecture. Where some elements project downwards, the style may be called mocárabe, these are reminiscent of stalactites, Muqarnas developed around the middle of the 10th century in northeastern Iran and almost simultaneously — but apparently independently — in North Africa. Examples can be found across Morocco and by extension, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Abbasid Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, and the mausoleum of Sultan Qaitbay, Cairo, Egypt. Large rectangular roofs in wood with muqarnas-style decoration adorn the 12th century Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily, Muqarnas is also found in Armenian architecture. Muqarnas is typically applied to the undersides of domes, pendentives, cornices, squinches, arches, Muqarnas is a downward-facing shape, that is, a vertical line can be traced from the floor to any point on a muqarnas surface. It is also arranged in courses, as in a corbelled vault. The edges of surfaces can all be traced on a single plan view, architects can thus plan out muqarnas geometrically. Muqarnas does not have a significant structural role, Muqarnas need not be carved into the structural blocks of a corbelled vault, it can be hung from a structural roof as a purely decorative surface. Muqarnas may be made of brick, stone, stucco, or wood, the individual cells may be called alveoles. Some modern muqarnas elements have been designed, if not built, with upwards-facing cells, Architecture of Iran Islamic architecture Islamic geometric patterns Mathematics and art Ottoman architecture Muqarnas, A Three-dimensional Decoration of Islam Architecture. Contains a database of over a thousand plans of extant muqarnas, indexed by location and geometry
28.
Socarrat
–
Socarrat refers to fired clay tiles covered with a white base and generally painted in red and black. These were placed between beams and joists in buildings’ ceilings and eaves and their origin is typically medieval but subsequent production of these objects is known, mainly in Valencia. There are other words to name objects with similar such as rajola, maó prim. The first register about its existence takes us back to 1604, traditionally, they’re said to come from Paterna but the presence of these and other similar objects has been documented too in Manises and in some other places in Valencia, Aragon and Catalonia. Socarrat can also refer to the crust that forms on the bottom of the pan when cooking paella, socarrats were mainly manufactured in two basic sizes, the smaller with 30 x 15 x 3 cm and the larger with 40 x 30 x 3 cm. The first one could be used in buildings in two ways, decorating eaves either leaning on walls or on joists. They could also be used in ornamental friezes, in balconies and staircases, the largest tiles filled the space between joists on interior ceilings, with both structural and decorative functions, supporting pavements or roofs. The smaller size could carry out the same function, socarrats were frequently reused to build new walls and levelling out pavements. There’s a wide debate in what concerns to socarrat manufacturing, being objects with ceramic base, controversy starts when one considers the stages that occur after drying the moulded ceramic paste. González Martí and Blat Monsó are the most representative authors on this subject, according to González Martí, the dry tile should be covered with a kaolin based earth and painted with iron and manganese oxides. Then, it should be fired and the result should be a matte decoration, the existence of a firing process and the nature of pigments were not always clear. Before González Martí, some authors have referred the lime used to decorate socarrats could not have been fired after application on the tile, afterwards, Blat Monsó and others have reinforced this statement. There are three types of representations in socarrats, religious, magic and social ones. The first one includes crosses and inscriptions, such as the verses written on the socarrats of the Xara mosque in Valdigna. Fatima’s hands or Hamsa, boats, towers, animals and chimeric figures such as Butoni, the use of heraldic symbols and decorated elements made visible in public spaces and the representation of courtesan and satiric scenes fulfilled the third one. Socarrats were also used to do public announcements, such as the edict for recruit of soldiers of the Duke of Segorbe, la cerámica de los siglos XVI y XVII
29.
Zellige
–
Zellige, zelige or zellij (Arabic, or Mosaic is tilework made from individually chiseled geometric tiles set into a plaster base. This form of Islamic art is one of the characteristics of Berber. It consists of geometrically patterned mosaics, used to ornament walls, ceilings, fountains, floors, pools, the art of zellige flourished during the Hispano-Moresque period of the Maghreb and the area known as Al-Andalus between 711-1492. The technique was developed during the Nasrid Dynasty and Merinid dynasty who gave it more importance around the 14th century and introduced blue, green. Red was added in the 17th century, the old enamels with the natural colours were used until the beginning of the 20th century and the colours had probably not evolved much since the period of Merinids. The cities of Fes and Meknes in Morocco, remain the centers of this art, patrons of the art used zellige historically to decorate their homes as a statement of luxury and the sophistication of the inhabitants. Zellige is typically a series of patterns utilizing colourful geometric patterns and this framework of expression arose from the need of Islamic artists to create spatial decorations that avoided depictions of living things, consistent with the teachings of Islamic law. Fez and Meknes in Morocco are still the centers for zellij tiles due to the Miocene grey clay of Fez. The clay from this region is composed of Kaolinite. For Fez and Meknes, the composition is 2-56% clay minerals. Meriam El Ouahabi states that, From the other sites, the mineral composition shows besides kaolinite the presence of illite, chlorite, smectite. Meknes clays belong to illitic clays, characterized by illite, kaolinite, smectite and chlorite, Fes clays have a homogeneous composition with illite. and kaolinite as the most abundant clay minerals. Chlorite and smectite are generally present as small quantities, mixed layer illite/chlorite is present in trace amounts in all the examined Fes clay materials. The colour palette of the increased, making it possible to multiply the compositions ad infinitum. The most current form of the zellige is a square, other forms are possible, the octagon combined with a cabochon, a star, a cross, etc. It is then moulded with a thickness of approximately 2 centimetres, there are simple squares of 10 by 10 centimeters or with the corners cut to be combined with a coloured cabochon. To pave the grounds, bejmat, a stone of 15 by 5 centimetres approximately and 2 centimetres thick. An encyclopedia could not contain the full array of complex, often individually varied patterns, star-based patterns are identified by their number of points—itnashari for 12, ishrini for 20, arba wa ishrini for 24 and so on, but they are not necessarily named with exactitude
30.
Reflecting pool
–
A reflecting pool or reflection pool is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and at memorial sites. It usually consists of a pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets. Reflecting pools are designed with the outer basin floor at the rim slightly deeper than the central area to suppress wave formation. They can be as small as a bath to as large as a major civic element. Their origins are from ancient Persian gardens, the Miroir deau on Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, France, is the worlds largest reflecting pool. The Mughal garden reflecting pools at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India Chehel Sotoun in Iran The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the modernist Palácio do Planalto and Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília, Brazil The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located in New York City, has two reflecting pools on the location where the Twin Towers stood
31.
Howz
–
In traditional Persian architecture, a howz is a centrally positioned symmetrical axis pool. If in a house or private courtyard, it is used for bathing. If in a sahn of a mosque, it is used for performing ablutions, a howz is usually around 30 centimetres deep. It may be used as a theatre for people to sit on all sides of the pool while others entertain, howz is a feature of the Persian gardens
32.
Mosaic
–
A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called pebble mosaics. Others are made of other materials, mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece, mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics. Mosaic fell out of fashion in the Renaissance, though artists like Raphael continued to practise the old technique, Roman and Byzantine influence led Jews to decorate 5th and 6th century synagogues in the Middle East with floor mosaics. Mosaic was widely used on buildings and palaces in early Islamic art, including Islams first great religious building, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Mosaic went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century, modern mosaics are made by professional artists, street artists, and as a popular craft. Many materials other than stone and ceramic tesserae may be employed, including shells, glass. The earliest known examples of made of different materials were found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory, excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. However, mosaic patterns were not used until the times of Sassanid Empire, mythological subjects, or scenes of hunting or other pursuits of the wealthy, were popular as the centrepieces of a larger geometric design, with strongly emphasized borders. Pliny the Elder mentions the artist Sosus of Pergamon by name, describing his mosaics of the left on a floor after a feast. Both of these themes were widely copied, most recorded names of Roman mosaic workers are Greek, suggesting they dominated high quality work across the empire, no doubt most ordinary craftsmen were slaves. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across North Africa, in such as Carthage. The tiny tesserae allowed very fine detail, and an approach to the illusionism of painting, often small panels called emblemata were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique was opus tessellatum, using larger tesserae, which was laid on site, there was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 AD
33.
Windcatcher
–
A windtower is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings. Windcatchers come in designs, uni-directional, bi-directional, and multi-directional. The devices were used in ancient Egyptian architecture, central Iran shows large diurnal temperature variation with an arid climate. Most buildings are constructed from thick ceramic with high insulation values, towns centered on desert oases tend to be packed very closely together with high walls and ceilings, maximizing shade at ground level. The heat of direct sunlight is minimized with small windows that face away from the sun, the windcatchers effectiveness had led to its routine use as a refrigerating device in Persian architecture. Many traditional water reservoirs are built with windcatchers that are capable of storing water at near freezing temperatures during summer months, a small windcatcher is called a shish-khan in traditional Persian architecture. Shish-khans can still be seen on top of ab anbars in Qazvin and these seem to function more as ventilators than as the temperature regulators seen in the central deserts of Iran. Windcatchers were used in traditional ancient Egyptian architecture, one such device was found at the Pharaonic house of Neb-Ammun, Egypt, which dates from the 19th Dynasty, c.1300 BC. It was revived in Neoislamic architecture as the works of Hassan Fathy, in Egypt the windcatchers are known as malqaf pl. malaaqef. Windcatchers tend to have one, four, or eight openings, in the city of Yazd, all windcatchers are four- or eight-sided. The construction of a windcatcher depends on the direction of airflow at that location, if the wind tends to blow from only one side. This is the style most commonly seen in Meybod,50 kilometers from Yazd, to keep buildings free of dust and sand blown in from the desert, windcatchers were built facing away from the wind. One of the most common uses of the windcatcher is to cool the inside of the dwelling, it is used in combination with courtyards and domes as an overall ventilation. It is essentially a tall, capped tower with one open at the top. This open side faces the wind, thus catching it. It does not necessarily cool the air itself, but rather relies on the rate of airflow to provide a cooling effect, windcatchers have been employed in this manner for thousands of years. Windcatchers are also used in combination with a qanat, or underground canal, in this method, the open side of the tower faces away from the direction of the prevailing wind. By keeping only this tower open, air is drawn using the Coandă effect
34.
Islamic garden
–
Traditionally, an Islamic garden is a cool place of rest and reflection, and a reminder of paradise. Famous Islamic gardens include those of the Taj Mahal in India, the general theme of a traditional Islamic garden is water and shade, not surprisingly since Islam came from and generally spread in a hot and arid climate. Unlike English gardens, which are designed for walking, Islamic gardens are intended for rest. For this reason, Islamic gardens usually include places for sitting, fairchild Ruggles refers to the universal nature of gardening, and the basic human needs it fulfills, the needs to cultivate, to master the wild landscape, and to bring order to it. The spiritual aspects of gardening, according to this view, were a later development, clifford A. Wright, an author on Mediterranean cuisine, describes different garden types for different purposes, The Muslims had different kinds of gardens serving different purposes. The bustan was the garden of the court of a house. The jannah was an orchard with palms, oranges, and vines irrigated by canals, the rawdah referred in particular to the vegetable garden that produced foods for the cooks. After the Arab invasions of the 7th century CE, the design of the Persian garden was used in the Islamic garden. Persian gardens after that time were enclosed by walls and were designed to represent paradise. In the Charbagh, or paradise garden, four water canals typically carry water into a pool or fountain, interpreted as the four rivers in paradise, filled with milk, honey, wine. Hellenistic influences are apparent, the Western use of straight lines in the plan is blended with Sassanid ornamental plantations and fountains. Many of the gardens of Islamic civilization are lost to us today, while most others may retain their forms, the original plantings have been replaced with modern ones. The garden is a transient form of architectural art dependent upon the climate, evliya Çelebis 17th century CE Seyahatname contains descriptions of Paradise Gardens around the towns of Berat and Elbasan, Albania. According to Dr. Robert Elsie, an expert on Albanian culture, Çelebi describes the town of Berat, It is a huge open town, entirely outside the walls of the fortress. It is situated in an area along the bank of the river to the east and south of the upper fortress and is covered in vineyards, rose gardens. There are 5,000 one- and two-story stonework houses with red-tiled roofs and they are well built and attractive houses with gardens and are spread over seven verdant hills and valleys. Among them are over 100 splendid mansions with cisterns and fountains, Çelebi describes the town of Elbasan, The open town outside the walls extends on all sides of the fortress to the foot of the hills at a distance of one hours march. The prosperous and cheerful-looking mansions in the town are adorned with beautiful vineyards, paradisiacal gardens and parks with their pavilions
35.
Madrasa
–
Madrasa is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious. The word is variously transliterated madrasah, medresa, madrassa, madraza, medrese, in the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. In countries like India, not all students in madrasas are Muslims, the word madrasah derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root د-ر-س D-R-S to learn, study, through the wazn مفعل, mafʻal, meaning a place where something is done. Therefore, madrasah literally means a place where learning and studying take place, for example, in the Ottoman Empire during the Early Modern Period, madaris had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as danişmends. The usual Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة, the Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning, the related term midrash literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations. However, in English, the term usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, tafsir, sharīʻah, hadiths, mantiq, in the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by Süleyman I. Depending on the demands, some madaris also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science. Ottoman madaris along with religious teachings also taught styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, people of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ʻālim, for example, requires approximately twelve years of study, a good number of the ḥuffāẓ are the product of the madaris. The madaris also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes, an important function of the madaris is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madaris may enroll female students, however, they study separately from the men, the term Islamic education means education in the light of Islam itself, which is rooted in the teachings of the Quran - holy book of Muslims. Islamic education and Muslim education are not the same, because Islamic education has epistemological integration which is founded on Tawhid - Oneness or monotheism. The first institute of education was at the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam near a hill called Safa, where Hazrat Muhammad was the teacher. After Hijrah the madrasa of Suffa was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque, ubada ibn as-Samit was appointed there by Hazrat Muhammad as teacher and among the students. In the curriculum of the madrasa, there were teachings of The Quran, The Hadith, faraiz, tajweed, genealogy, treatises of first aid, there were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war, handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial arts. The first part of madrasa based education is estimated from the first day of nabuwwat to the first portion of the Umaiya caliphate and it was founded by Fāṭimah al-Fihrī, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Muḥammad al-Fihrī. This was later followed by the establishment of al-Azhar in 959 in Cairo, niẓām al-Mulk, who would later be murdered by the Assassins, created a system of state madaris in various ʻAbbāsid cities at the end of the 11th century
36.
Mazar (mausoleum)
–
A mazār is a mausoleum or shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. Medieval Arabic texts may use the words mašhad, maqām or ḍarīḥ to denote the same concept. Another synonymous term used in Palestine and in older Western scholarly literature is wali or weli. Mazār, plural mazārāt, is related to the word ziyāra and it refers to a place and time of visiting. Arabic in origin, the word has been borrowed by Persian, Mashhad, plural mashāhid, usually refers to a structure holding the tomb of a holy figure, or a place where a religious visitation occurred. Related words are shāhid and shahīd, a mashhad often had a dome over the place of the burial within the building. Maqām, plural maqāmāt, literally a place of the feet, according to Ibn Taymiyya, the maqāmāt are the places where the revered person lived, died or worshiped, and the mashāhidd are buildings over the maqāmāt or over relics of the person. Mazār is the Arabic word borrowed by Persian and Urdu and it is thus largely used in Iran and other countries influenced by Persian culture, in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Weli, plural awliya, in Palestine, weli is the common term both for a saint and his sanctuary, a prophets weli is called a hadrah, a common saints is a maqam and a famous saint has a mashhad. 19th- to early 20th-century Western literature has adopted the word wali, qubba, plural qubbat, lit. dome, in Sudan, the tomb of a holy man. A holy man worthy of such a shrine is called in Sudan a wali, faki, in northwest China, a gongbei, meaning dome, is a shrine complex centered on a grave of a Sufi master of the Hui people. In Iran, a dargah is a Sufi Islamic shrine built over the grave of a religious figure. In South Africa, a kramat is the grave of a leader or auliya. In Indonesia, the terms makam and kuburan refer to graves of early missionaries, masjid, plural masājid, means a place of prostration or prayer, and is often used by Shia for shrines to which mosques have been attached. Darīh, plural adriha, is a trench in the middle of the grave, practices vary considerably in different countries. Syncretism is not unusual, where pre-Islamic practices and beliefs persist among Muslim communities, despite Muhammads wishes and Allahs command, a cult of saints developed within some Muslim communities at an early date, following deeply ingrained pre-Islamic practices in the Middle East. Sufi mystics developed the concept of Wahdat al-Wujud, in which God, the Salaf as Saaliheen consider that no person can mediate between man and God. Even the Prophet was a man not expected to be worshiped and they consider that Muslims who believe that saints and their shrines have holy properties are polytheists and heretics
37.
Mosque
–
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. There are strict and detailed requirements in Sunni jurisprudence for a place of worship to be considered a mosque, many mosques have elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls, in varying styles of architecture. Mosques originated on the Arabian Peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents, the mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat as well as a center for information, education, social welfare, and dispute settlement. The imam leads the congregation in prayer, the first mosque in the world is often considered to be the area around the Kaaba in Mecca now known as the Masjid al-Haram. Others regard the first mosque in history to be the Quba Mosque in present-day Medina since it was the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622. The Islamic Prophet Muhammad went on to another mosque in Medina. Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Masjid al-Nabawi introduced some of the still common in todays mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab. The Masjid al-Nabawi was also constructed with a courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then. Mosques had been built in Iraq and North Africa by the end of the 7th century, the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala is reportedly one of the oldest mosques in Iraq, although its present form – typical of Persian architecture – only goes back to the 11th century. The shrine, while operating as a mosque, remains one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, as it honors the death of the third Shia imam. The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As was reportedly the first mosque in Egypt, serving as a religious, like the Imam Husayn Shrine, though, nothing of its original structure remains. With the later Shia Fatimid Caliphate, mosques throughout Egypt evolved to include schools, hospitals and it was the first to incorporate a square minaret and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusian mosques, including the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb. The first mosque in East Asia was reportedly established in the 8th century in Xian, however, the Great Mosque of Xian, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Indeed, minarets were initially prohibited by the state, mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesias Austronesian neighbors—Malaysia, Brunei, Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the 7th century, reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles
38.
Zawiya (institution)
–
A zaouia or zawiya is an Islamic religious school or monastery. The term is Maghrebi and West African, roughly corresponding to the Eastern term Madrasa, a zawiya often contains a pool, and sometimes a fountain. These are still operational throughout the Maghreb, and continue to be an educational resource in the Sahel of West Africa. An example is the Hilaliyya Zawiya in Syria, one of the best known living or contemporary zawiyas is the Zawiya of Sheikh Ahmed Tijani located in Fes, Morocco. There are several extensions or sub-zawiyas affiliated with this Zawiya located in places around the world. Among the Hassaniya Arabic-speaking populations of Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Mali and Algeria, sahrawi-Moorish society was traditionally stratified into several tribal castes, with the Hassane warrior tribes ruling and extracting tribute - horma - from the subservient znaga tribes. A middle caste was formed by the Zawāyā, or scholarly tribes and this did not necessarily mean that they maintained a monastery or school as described above, since all these tribes were more or less nomadic. However, important shaikhs and Sufis of the would sometimes create schools, or, after their deaths, often, the Zawāyā were descended from Sanhadja Berbers, while the Hassane claimed lineage from the Beni Hassan Arabs. Especially in the northern Hassane areas, i. e. todays Western Sahara, in the areas corresponding broadly to todays Mauritania, this was not necessarily so, there, the name Marabout is also used synonymously with Zawāyā in its tribal meaning. For the first time a Zawiya was established in the City of Santa Ana, California, the Zawiya hopes to make Islam a meaningful part of the American narrative. Architecture of zaouias zaouias in Tunisia Entry in LookLex Encyclopædia French Colonial Algerian Schools, System
39.
Sebil (fountain)
–
A sebil or sabil is a public water fountain, often decorated with stone carvings. Sebils were built at crossroads and outside mosques throughout the Ottoman Empire to provide drinking water for travelers, the construction of many sebils was considered the hallmark of a beneficent ruler. In 16th century Istanbul, sebils were a symbol of public possession, the attempt to add spigots was opposed because this was perceived as limiting public access to the blessings of nature. Endowing money for the construction of sebils was considered an act of piety, initially, they functioned as kiosks where water was distributed to passersby. Often they were decorated in the Ottoman Rococo style and inscripted with Ottoman Turkish verses that formed a chronogram using the Abjad numbers to date the construction. Until the spread of inhouse plumbing by the end of the 20th century, they were essential for the daily life of the inhabitants of Istanbul
40.
Bazaar
–
A bazaar is a permanently enclosed marketplace or street where goods and services are exchanged or sold. The term originates from the Persian word bāzār, from Middle Persian wāzār, from Old Persian vāčar, Souq is another word used in the Middle East for an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter. The term bazaar is also used to refer to the network of merchants, bankers. Although the current meaning of the word is believed to have originated in native Zoroastrian Persia, its use has spread, the rise of large bazaars and stock trading centers in the Muslim World allowed the creation of new capitals and eventually new empires. New and wealthy cities such as Isfahan, Golconda, Samarkand, Cairo, Baghdad, street markets is the European and North American equivalents. The origin of the word Bazaar comes from Persian language, many languages have names for this concept, including Arabic and Urdu, بازار, Kurdish language has the same word bazaar meaning a marketplace. In South Korea, the word 바자회, composed of 바자 + 회 is used to describe the sort of rummage sale described above. Although Turkey contains many famous markets known as bazaars in English, English place names usually translate çarşı as bazaar when they refer to an area with covered streets or passages. For example, the Turkish name for the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is Kapalıçarşı, the Armenian one does not include Bazaar of its own. Covered Market, Oxford, England Gold Souq, a market trading in gold, shopping mall Souq Tabriz Bazaar, Tabriz, Iran, the largest covered bazaar in the world. Wet market, sells fresh meat, fish, and produce, the Persian Bazaar, Veiled Space of Desire by Mehdi Khansari The Morphology of the Persian Bazaar by Azita Rajabi. COMPARATIVE SUSTAINABILITY OF BAZAAR IN IRANIAN TRADITIONAL CITIES, CASE STUDIES IN ISFAHAN AND TABRIZ, international Journal on Technical and Physical Problems of Engineering. Iran Chamber Society on Architecture of the Bazaar at Isfahan 1911 Britannica article Bazaar
41.
Caravanserai
–
A caravanserai (/kærəˈvænsəri/, was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the days journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of routes covering Asia, North Africa. Major urban caravanserais were built along the Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent. The word is rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray. The Persian word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a word combining kārvān caravan with sarāy palace, building with enclosed courts. Here caravan means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, the word serai is sometimes used with the implication of caravanserai. The Persian caravanserai was built as a road station, outside of towns. An inn built inside a town would be smaller and was known in Persian as a khan, in the Middle-East the term khan covers both meanings, of roadside inn as well as of inner-town inn. In Turkish the word is rendered as han, the same word was used in Bosnian, having arrived through Ottoman conquest. Welcoming all, thus meaning inn, led to funduq in Arabic, pundak in Hebrew, fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga in Spanish. Guards were stationed at every gate to ensure that taxes for these goods be paid in full, most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual purification such as wudu and they also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants, turkishhan. org, The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 798-802 Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, berlin, Mann,1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5 Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture, Form, function and meaning, reprinted from, Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No.2 &3,1976. Caravanserai, Traces, Places, Dialogue in the Middle East, milan,5 Continents Editions, ISBN 978-88-7439-604-7 Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravansara, muqarnas XIV, An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Shah Abbasi Caravanserai, Tishineh Caravansara Pictures Consideratcaravanserai. net, Texts and photos on research on caravanserais and travel journeys in Middle East, caravanserais in Turkey The Seljuk Han in Anatolia
