arch 222

Pre-Islamic

100

Huge stone box wrapped in textile; ritual walking around; circumambulation; pilgrimage destination

Kaaba

200

• First Islamic mosque; hypostyle mosque

• Open courtyard with roofed area on supports; egalitarian design: columns are equidistant and easily expandable

House of Prophet/ Prophet Mosque

300

• Victory monument above surrounding city; seizing highly charged religious spaces to reflect power and presence of Islam; the temple mount

• Jewish significance: site of Solomon's temple; Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac (also Christian)

• Muslim significance: prophet’s night journey / miraculous ascent into heaven

Haram al-Sharif

Umayyad Dynasty

100

Centrally planned; modeled on byzantine maryrium; mosaics borrowed from byzantine ornamented interior and glass; reflection of Islamic power built off of previous sites

Dome of the Rock

200

• Was previous roman temple and Christian church

• Hypostyle mosque with qibla and mihrab overall axis; nave forms perpendicular axis: spatial hierarchy

• Prayer hall rested on double arcade of columns used to raise roof; facade covered with mosaics: byzantine technique adapted to aniconic images in Islam

Great Mosque of Damascus

300

• Large enclosure

• Small enclosure (khan)

• City within arid desert, uses wadi / seasonal stream to carry water in and out of city; walls used to retain water when it rained and let it flow when excess

• Khan: inn for traveling merchants meant to look heavily fortified; projecting balcony to drop oil or bombs

Qasr al-Hayr

400

• First known example of a chahar bagh 4 garden representation

• Origins lay in reflection of the agricultural landscape: Islam says to steward the earth

• Axial four part plan

Rusafa

500

• Bath hall

• Throne room stacked volume of domes and 16 stone piers arcuated system; decorated w/ mosaics and carved figures

• Bath hall used as a representation of power and opulence

• Monumental entrance aba construction vaults the caliph above the doorway so all visitors are physically going underneath him / below his power

• Abundance of power shows ability to collect + manipulate the movement of water

• Palace

Khirbat al-Mafjar

Abbasid Dynasty

100

Centralized city plan w/ wealthy living in the center surrounded by walls w/ bent entrance = defense strategy

Baghdad

200

• Bab al-Amma (reception gate)

  • 3 iwan portal; huge and built rapidly; bevelled stucco used to ornament: geometric and floral design

Balkuwara

300

• Large mosque, use of glass mosaics at mihrab; very tall round minaret w/ spiral shape influenced by ziggurats

Mosque of al-Mutawakkil

400

• 9 piers supported by 9 domes

• 9 bay type mosque (not congregation) use of bevelled stucco

• Mosque built by a patron: seen in its small size

Masjid-i Tarilkh

Hispano-Umayyad Dynasty

100

• Built on Roman city and infrastructure; hypostyle and minaret, but qibla wall is faced south not southwest towards mecca; b/c attempting to imitate mosque of damascus

• 2 tiers of arches using horseshoe arch to raise the roof

• San estaban portal: monumental arch on exterior w/ same color voussoirs as interior -> ceremonial ornamentation from palaces to mosques

• Mihrab bays w/ maqsura: private space for the caliph by crossing horseshoes 

Mosque of Cordoba

200

Built by wealthy patron; 9 bay type mosque; each dome filled w/ different brick patterns; visual reference to cordoba;

Bib Mardum Mosque

300

• Upper Garden; Salon Rico and Baths

• Small Garden

• Largest palace city complex; divided by levels; higher up = more important

• Palace zone: cong mosque on lower level -> chahar bagh on middle level

• Salon rico: ceremonial reception hall, 3 parallel aisles formed by horseshoe arches; mirador view of lower garden = princes supervision over the kingdom

Madinat al-Zahra

Tulunid Dynasty

100

• Has outer enclosure - ziyada

• Large courtyard, 5 aisles of prayer hall are parallel to qibla wall that shift to stay parallel to courtyard in middle along sides = riwaqs; built of brick covered with stucco

Mosque of Ibn Tulun