ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
ISLAM
• Belief in Allah, Muhammad as a
prophet
• That the object of life is to live in
a way that is pleasing to Allah so
that one may gain Paradise.
ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE
• Also, Muslim, Muhammadan or Saracenic
architecture.
• Mosque as a distinct building type.
• Domes, tunnel vaults, round and
horseshoe arches, and rich surface
decorations (calligraphy and floral
motifs in a geometric framework; use of
glazed tiles on interior and exterior
surfaces).
• Squinches, supports under the domes.
• Muqarnas, “stalactite” decoration of
icicle- like elements hanging from the
ceiling.
Muqarnas in the entrance gate to the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran.
MOSQUE • Also masjid or musjid
• Muslim building or place
of public worship
• Four levels of prayer:
- The individual (masjid)
- The congregation (jami)
- The total population of
a town (igdah)
- The entire Muslim world
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), Istanbul
Selimiye Mosque, Turkey (The ultimate architectural expression of the Ottoman Kulliye, by Architect Sinan.)
MASJID
General term for a mosque
Also a mosque used for daily prayer by individuals or small groups
Has a Mihrab (a niche) but no Minbar (pulpit)
JAMI
Congregational or Friday Mosque
Used for the main weekly service
Usually larger than a Masjid and provided with a Minbar.
IGDAH
Place of community prayer
A great open praying area with nothing but a Qibla wall (direction of the Kaaba- Sacred building at Mecca) and a M
Madrasa
• A teaching Mosque
Ulugh Bed Madrasa, Samarkand
Parts of a Mosque
• Minaret (Tower attached to the mosque, where muezzin calls the Muslim
people to prayer)
• Iwan or Ivan or Liwan (large vaulted portal opening onto the central courtyard
of a mosque)
• Minbar or mimbar (pulpit from which the imam delivers his sermons)
• Mihrab (niche or decorative panel)
• Qibla or Qiblah (wall in a mosque in which the mihrab is set, oriented to Mecca)
• Sahn (atrium)
• Fawwara or meda (fountain for washing before prayers)
• Liwanat (colonnade)
• Dikka (reading desk)
• Maqsura (screen, protective barrier of the minbar)
Minaret
Iwan
Minbar
Qibla
Decorations
• Domes
• Pointed or ogee arches
• Walls covered in stone carvings, inlays, and
mosaic
• Ornaments are based on Flora,
geometric shapes and arabic script.
DOME OF THE
ROCK
• Jerusalem
• Influenced by Byzantine Architecture
• Used as a shrine for pilgrims
• Its center Is the sacred rock from which
Muhammad is said to have ascended to
heaven
• Octagonal in Plan
The Great Mosque
Masjid Al-Haram
The largest Mosque in the world
Site of the Haj Pilgrimage
Ka’ba
• Ka’aba or Ka’abah
• “House of God”
• Small cubical stone building
in the courtyard of the
Great Mosque at Mecca
• Contains a sacred black stone
• Objective of their Pilgrimage
• The point toward which
they turn in praying
Great Mosque, Damascus
• Earliest surviving large mosque
• Built in 705-711AD
• Stood in a walled Temenos
MOORISH ARCHITECTURE
• Islamic Architecture of North
Africa (regions of Spain under
Moorish Domination)
• Building of large Mosques
and elaborate fortress-
palaces
• Structural Systems and
decorations adapted from
classical antiquity and
combined with Islamic
Architecture
Palace Fortress of Alhambra, Granada, Spain
Palace Fortress of Alhambra, Granada, Spain
MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE
• Indo-Islamic
• Blended traditions from India
and Islam
• Mughal Period, golden Age of
Islamic Architecture in
Northern India
Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi, India
Forerunner of Taj Mahal, oldest of the Mughal monuments.
Fatehpur Sikri (City of Victory)
Capital of the Mughal Empire; built by Emperor Akbar
Jama Masjid (The Great Mosque), Delhi, India
One of the biggest in India; at the center of the court is the tomb of Shaikh Salim, a Sufi Saint.
DIWAN-I-KAS and DIWAN-I-AM
• Diwan-i-Kas, hall of Private
Audience
• Divided by overhanging
mouldings called
Chajja
• Diwan-i-Am, the hall
of Public Audience
TAJ MAHAL
• Crown Palace
• Built by Shah Jahan as a tomb
for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal
• Placed on a chahar bagh, a
platform at the end of a
walled garden divided by
canals.
• The marble façade is
decorated with floral motifs
and a type of inlay called
pietra dura (using cut, fitted
and polished colored stones
to create images.
Pietra Dura
