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136-646: The structure is the only conserved large example of Spanish Islamic architecture from the era of the taifas (independent kingdoms). The Aljafería, along with the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba and the Alhambra , are the three best examples of Hispano-Muslim architecture and have special legal protection. In 2001, the original restored structures of the Aljafería were included in the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon ,

272-458: A misr (Arabic: مصر , pl. amṣār ). This policy continued up to the Umayyad period. Like frontier colonies, these towns served as bases for further conquests. Initially, they appear to have been modest settlements consisting of an agglomeration of tents, perhaps similar to ancient Roman legionary camps . They were established outside existing non-Muslim cities. They were often unfortified and

408-462: A World Heritage Site . The style of ornamentation of the Aljafería, such as the use of mixtilinear arches and springers , the extension of arabesques over a large area, and the schematisation and progressive abstraction of the yeserias of a vegetal nature, strongly influenced Almoravid and Almohad art in the Iberian Peninsula . The shift in decoration towards more geometric motifs is at

544-412: A common feature of Islamic domestic architecture due to the warm climates in most countries. One of the mosque recognizable types is the mashrabiya , a wooden lattice screen which projects from the side of a building and which protected privacy by allowed those inside to look outside without being visible from outside. Another type of lattice screen, not restricted to balconies, is the jali , which

680-647: A flat wooden roof supported by columns, and was decorated with marble panels and glass mosaics. The prayer hall of the Abu Dulaf Mosque at Samarra had arcades on rectangular brick piers running at right angles to the qibla wall. Both of the Samarra mosques have spiral minarets, the only examples in Iraq. A mosque at Balkh in what is now Afghanistan was about 20 by 20 metres (66 by 66 ft) square, with three rows of three square bays, supporting nine vaulted domes. While

816-453: A keep. The arches of these structures already reflect its Christian structure, because they are slightly pointed and support flat wooden roofs. Its function in the 9th and 10th centuries was as a watchtower and defensive bastion. It was surrounded by a moat. It was later integrated by the Banu Hud family in the construction of the castle-palace of the Aljafería, constituting one of the towers of

952-520: A masterpiece of the Almoravids founded in 1082, has twelve slender ribs and the shell between the ribs is filled with filigree stucco work. Ottoman architecture developed a specific form of monumental, representative building: large central domes were erected on top of a centrally-planned building. After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, they found a variety of Byzantine Christian churches,

1088-557: A more classical influence. Muqarnas is a three-dimensional sculpted motif created by the geometric subdivision of a vaulting structure into miniature, superimposed pointed-arch substructures or niches, also known as "honeycomb" or "stalactite" vaults. They can be made from different materials like stone, brick, wood or stucco. The earliest monuments to make use of this feature date from the 11th century and are found in Iraq, North Africa, Iran, Central Asia, and Upper Egypt . This apparently near-simultaneous development in distant regions of

1224-465: A mosque building. Its formal function is to provide a vantage point from which the call to prayer, or adhān , is made. The call to prayer is issued five times each day: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most modern mosques, the adhān is made directly from the prayer hall and broadcast via microphone to a speaker system on the minaret. The origin of the minaret and its initial functions are not clearly known and have long been

1360-415: A mosque, a governor's residence ( dār al-imāra ), and a market were likely the first major constructions to appear, located at the center of the town. More often than founding new cities, the new Islamic rulers took over existing towns. Most of the new Arab settlers nonetheless settled into previously existing urban centers throughout the conquered territories. These cities were transformed according to

1496-469: A result of this, Umayyad architecture is distinguished by the extent and variety of decoration, including mosaics , wall painting, sculpture and carved reliefs. While figural scenes were notably present in monuments like Qusayr 'Amra , non-figural decoration and more abstract scenes became highly favoured, especially in religious architecture. The Umayyad period thus played a crucial role in transforming and enriching existing architectural traditions during

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1632-554: A separate and protected space where the sultan could perform his prayers (similar to a maqsura ). A similar feature is also found in the Bara Gunbad complex (late 15th century) in Delhi. The qiblah ( قِـبْـلَـة ) is the direction in which Mecca is from any given location, towards which Muslims face during prayers. Within Islamic architecture it is a major component of both the features and

1768-845: A standard feature of all mosques. Several major early monuments of Islamic architecture built under the Umayyads include the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (built by Caliph Abd al-Malik ) and the Great Mosque of Damascus (built by al-Walid I). The Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Al-Aqsa compound, also in Jerusalem, was also rebuilt by al-Walid I, replacing an earlier simple structure built around 670. A number of palaces from this period have also partially survived or have been excavated in modern times. The horseshoe arch appears for

1904-574: A standard feature of mosques until the 11th century. These first minaret towers were placed in the middle of the wall opposite the qibla wall. Among them, the minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, dating from 836, is one of the oldest surviving minarets in the world and the oldest in North Africa. It has the shape of a massive tower with a square base, three levels of decreasing widths, and

2040-592: A superimposed spherical dome, is the characteristic architectural vault form of the Islamic East. From its beginnings in the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, this form of vault was used in a sequence of important buildings up to the period of Safavid architecture. Its main characteristics are: While intersecting pairs of ribs from the main decorative feature of Seljuk architecture , the ribs were hidden behind additional architectural elements in later periods, as exemplified in

2176-545: A temporal formwork to guide and center the vault. These ribs, which were left in the structure afterwards, do not carry any load. The ribs were cast in advance on strips of cloth, the impression of which can still be seen in the ribs today. Similar structures are known from Sasanian architecture, for example from the palace of Firuzabad . Umayyad-period vaults of this type were found in Amman Citadel and in Qasr Amra . An iwan

2312-431: A topic of scholarly discussion. The earliest mosques lacked minarets, and the call to prayer was often performed from smaller tower structures. The early Muslim community of Medina gave the call to prayer from the doorway or the roof of the house of Muhammad , which doubled as a place for prayer. The first confirmed minarets in the form of towers date from the early 9th century under Abbasid rule and they did not become

2448-455: A total height of 31.5 meters. Minarets have had various forms (in general round, squared, spiral or octagonal) depending on the period and architectural tradition. The number of minarets by mosques is not fixed; originally one minaret would accompany each mosque, but some architectural styles can include multiple minarets. In the newly-conquered areas of the early Muslim expansion, military settlements were often founded, known individually as

2584-554: Is a hall that is walled on three sides and open on one side. It is typically covered by a vault although this can vary. This feature was present in Sasanian architecture, though its exact origins are older and still debated. It was later incorporated into Islamic architecture. Its usage became more common and widespread under the Seljuks in the 10th century. Iwans were used in a variety of ways and arranged in varying positions in relation to

2720-638: Is common to Indo-Islamic architecture and is made of perforated stone. Other examples of balconies and related structures include the jharokha in Rajasthani and Indo-Islamic architecture and the mirador , a Spanish term applied to a balcony or lookout pavilion in Andalusi palaces like the Alhambra. Balconies also became an architectural element inside some mosques, such as the hünkâr mahfili in Ottoman mosques,

2856-399: Is connected to the courtyard by a portico of great multilobed arches. Again there is a tripartite space; the east and west ends extend perpendicularly with two lateral galleries that are accessed by wide polyhedral lobes and end in separate pointed, multilobed arches whose alfiz is decorated by complex lacing and arabesque reliefs. In addition, all the ornamentation of yeserias of the palace

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2992-426: Is due to discrepancies in the calculations of the Islamic scientists in the past who determined where Mecca was from their individual locations. Scholars note that these differences come about for a multitude of reasons, such as some misunderstanding the meaning of qibla itself, the fact that the geographic coordinates of the past do not line up with the coordinates of today, and that the determination of this direction

3128-539: Is often regarded as the traditional "Islamic" city, occurred over a long period and was shaped by multiple social and economic causes that varied according to region and period. The arrival of Islamic rule was only one stage in a process that had already begun by the 6th century. The principle of arranging buildings is known as "horizontal spread". Residencies and public buildings as well as private housing tend to be laid out separately, and are not directly related to each other architectonically. Archaeological excavations at

3264-518: Is recalled in the quadrilobed design that shelters the shield of arms of the King of Aragon in the spandrels of the portal, from the first decade of the 15th century. The naves have a simple rib vault, lodged on pointed arches and bondstones , whereas the diagonals have a half-point. In the corners of the vaults are florets with the coat of arms of the Aragonese monarchy. Among the decorations, only fragments of

3400-567: Is reminiscent of the mihrab of the Mosque of Córdoba, only what were rich materials (mosaics and Byzantine bricklayers) in Zaragoza, with greater material poverty than the Caliphian Córdoba, are plaster stucco and polychrome, the latter having been mostly lost in the palace. An alfiz framed the back of the arch, with two mirrored rosettes recessed in curved triangles, like in the dome of the interior of

3536-573: The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1513) was particularly influenced by Sasanian architecture, which in turn featured elements present since ancient Mesopotamia. Other influences such as ancient Soghdian architecture in Central Asia have also been noted. This was partly a result of the caliphate's political center shifting further east to the new capital of Baghdad , in present-day Iraq. The Abbasids also built other capital cities, such as Samarra in

3672-924: The Bab al-Mardum Mosque in Toledo and the minarets added to the Qarawiyyin and Andalusiyyin mosques in Fez (present-day Morocco ) demonstrate the prevalence of the same stylistic elements across the region. After its initial apogee of power, the Abbasid Caliphate became partly fragmented into regional states in the 9th century which were formally obedient to the caliphs in Baghdad but were de facto independent. The Aghlabids in Ifriqiya (roughly modern-day Tunisia ) were notable patrons of architecture themselves, responsible for rebuilding both

3808-653: The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and the Sasanian Empire . These two empires both cultivated their own major architectural traditions. Occupying the borderlands between these two empires – in the desert and steppe regions of Syria , Palestine , Mesopotamia and northern Arabia – were two Arab tribal client states : the Lakhmids , who were clients of the Sasanians and had their capital at al-Hira (in present-day Iraq ), and

3944-491: The Capilla de Villaviciosa , located several bays before the mihrab. In sections which now supporting these domes, additional supporting structures were needed to bear the thrust of the cupolas. The architects solved this problem by the construction of intersecting arches. The domes themselves are built with eight intersecting stone ribs. Rather than meeting in the centre of the dome, the ribs intersect one another off-center, leaving

4080-664: The Fatimid Caliphate rose to power in Ifriqiya, where it built a new fortified capital at Mahdia . In 970, the Fatimids moved their center of power to Egypt and founded another capital, Cairo . Fatimid architecture in Egypt followed Tulunid techniques and used similar materials, but also developed its own features. The first Fatimid congregational mosque in Cairo was al-Azhar Mosque , founded at

4216-557: The Ghassanids , who were clients of the Byzantines and protected their eastern borders. These two Arab dynasties were significant patrons of architecture in their respective regions. Their architecture is not well understood due to the scarcity of identifiable remains today, but they borrowed and adapted the architecture of their Byzantine and Sasanian suzerains . Some of their buildings are known from archeology or historical texts, such as

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4352-573: The Great Mosque of Kairouan (originally founded by Uqba ibn Nafi in 670) and the Zaytuna Mosque of Tunis in much of their current forms, as well as for building numerous other structures in the region. In Egypt, Ahmad ibn Tulun established a short-lived dynasty, the Tulunids , and built himself a new capital ( Al-Qata'i ) and a new congregational mosque, known as the Ibn Tulun Mosque , which

4488-581: The Gunbad-i Qabus (1006–1007) in northeastern Iran, and the Duvazdah Imam Mausoleum (1037–1038) in Yazd . From the 12th century onward its usage became common across the Islamic world and different local styles developed over time. In addition to serving as squinches and pendentives , muqarnas was also employed to decorate cornices , portals, mihrabs, windows, arches, and entire domes. Balconies are

4624-631: The Hudid dynasty ) were an Arab dynasty that ruled the taifa of Zaragoza from 1039 until 1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami , the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza from a rival clan, the Banu Tujib . His heirs, particularly Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046–1081), Yusuf al-Mutamin (1081–1085), and Al-Mustain II, Ahmad ibn Yusuf (1085–1110), were patrons of culture and

4760-565: The Levant since the classical and Nabatean period. They were mainly used to cover houses and cisterns. The architectural form of covering diaphragm arches with barrel vaults, however, was likely newly introduced from Iranian architecture , as similar vaulting was not known in Bilad al-Sham before the arrival of the Umayyads. However, this form was well known in Iran from early Parthian times, as exemplified in

4896-607: The Roman -style basilica with an adjacent courtyard surrounded by colonnades , like Trajan's Forum in Rome. The Roman type of building has developed out of the Greek agora . In Islamic architecture, the hypostyle hall is the main feature of the hypostyle mosque. One of the earliest hypostyle mosques is the Tarikhaneh Mosque in Iran, dating back to the eighth century. Some scholars refer to

5032-613: The Sieges of Zaragoza of the Peninsular War , until it was finally restored in the 20th century. The palace was built outside Zaragoza's Roman walls, in the plain of the saría . With urban expansion over the centuries, it is now inside the city. The oldest component of the Aljafería is today known as the Troubadour Tower. The tower received this name from Antonio Garcia Gutierrez ’s 1836 romantic drama The Troubadour , based largely at

5168-742: The Taj Mahal ( Agra ), and at Humayun's Tomb ( New Delhi ), in India; the Shalimar Gardens ( Lahore , Pakistan ) or at the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada , Spain . As a common feature, Islamic architecture makes use of specific ornamental forms , including mathematically complicated, elaborate geometric patterns, floral motifs like the arabesque , and elaborate calligraphic inscriptions. The geometric or floral, interlaced forms, taken together, constitute an infinitely repeated pattern that extends beyond

5304-651: The architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam . It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic area historically ranging from western Africa and Europe to eastern Asia. Certain commonalities are shared by Islamic architectural styles across all these regions, but over time different regions developed their own styles according to local materials and techniques, local dynasties and patrons, different regional centers of artistic production, and sometimes different religious affiliations . Early Islamic architecture

5440-595: The de facto rule of the Buyid dynasty , northern Iran was ruled by the Bawandids and Ziyarids , and the northeastern regions of Khurasan and Transoxiana were ruled by the Samanids . It is around this period that many of the distinctive features of subsequent Iranian and Central Asian architecture first emerged, including the use of baked brick for both construction and decoration, the use of glazed tile for surface decoration, and

5576-715: The hypostyle format. In other cities, especially in Syria, new mosques were established by converting or occupying parts of existing churches in existing cities, as for example in Damascus and Hama . These early mosques had no minaret , although small shelters may have been constructed on the roofs to protect the muezzin while issuing the call to prayer . The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) combined elements of Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture , but Umayyad architecture introduced new combinations of these styles. The reuse of elements from classical Roman and Byzantine art

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5712-411: The mihrab evolved to become the usual focus of architectural decoration in the building. The details of its shape and materials varied from region to region. In congregational mosques, the mihrab was usually flanked by a minbar (pulpit), and some historical mosques also included a nearby maqsura (a protected space for the ruler during prayers). The minaret is a tower that traditionally accompanies

5848-562: The oneness of God (e.g. Qur'an 112 ), and the role of Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets", which have been interpreted as an attempt to announce the rejection of the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity and to proclaim the triumph of Islam over Christianity and Judaism. Additionally, foundation inscriptions on buildings commonly indicate its founder or patron, the date of its construction,

5984-579: The qibla wall (the wall standing in the direction of prayer) of a mosque or other prayer space. It symbolized and indicated the direction of the qibla to worshippers. It also acquired ritual and ceremonial importance over time, and its shape was even used as a symbol on some coinage. The very first mosques did not have mihrabs; the first known concave mihrab niche was the one added to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina by Caliph al-Walid I in 706 or 707. In later mosques

6120-400: The 10th century. Its lower part has vestiges of the beginning of the heavy walls of alabaster ashlar bond masonry, and continues upwards with a plank lining of simple plaster and lime concrete , a lighter substance for reaching greater heights. The exterior does not reflect the division of the five internal floors and appears as an enormous prism, broken by narrow embrasures . Access to

6256-582: The 11th century stuccos and, with the construction of the palace of the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, the entire second floor, which broke the ends of the Taifal arches. In the current restoration, the original arabesques are darker than the reconstructed decorations in white, smooth plaster. The structure of the arches, however, remains undamaged. The decoration of the walls of the Golden Hall has disappeared for

6392-692: The 14th century with the efforts of Peter IV of Aragon "the Ceremonious". This king extended the palatial structures in 1336 and constructed the Chapel of San Martín in the entrance courtyard to the alcázar. In this time the Aljafería is documented as the start of the route to the Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza , where the Aragonese monarchs were crowned and swore the Fueros of Aragon . The Chapel of San Martín incorporates

6528-429: The 15th century, major Timurid monuments like the Gur-i Amir Mausoleum and the Bibi Khanum Mosque (both completed around 1404) were notable in their use of large double-shelled domes. These domes were composed of an inner shell which was visible from the interior and a larger outer shell, visible from the exterior and often of a slightly different shape. The Gur-i Amir Mausoleum's dome, the oldest one to have survived to

6664-404: The 9th century, which is now a major archeological site that has provided numerous insights into the evolution of Islamic art and architecture during this time. During the Abbasid Caliphate's golden years in the 8th and 9th centuries, its great power and unity allowed architectural fashions and innovations to spread quickly to other areas of the Islamic world under its influence. Features from

6800-468: The Byzantine/Roman worlds to the later Arab Islamic dynasties who established their political centers in the same regions. When the early Arab-Muslim conquests spread out from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century and advanced across the Middle East and North Africa, new garrison cities were established in the conquered territories, such as Fustat in Egypt and Kufa in present-day Iraq. The central congregational mosques of these cities were built in

6936-416: The Caliphate period. These rooms were surrounded by a band of epigraphic decoration with Kufic characters reproducing Quran surahs that alluded to the symbolic meaning of the ornamentation. The surahs corresponding to these inscriptions have been deduced from the surviving fragments. In two of these calligraphic reliefs can be found the name of al-Muqtadir , which date the first phase of construction of

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7072-477: The Great Mosque of Damascus feature a hypostyle hall in this fashion, with a dome above the space in front of the mihrab , and both were influential in the design of later mosques elsewhere. The Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Mosque are also notable for their extensive program of mosaic decoration that drew on late Antique motifs and craftsmanship. However, mosaic decoration eventually fell out of fashion in Islamic architecture. The Abbasid architecture of

7208-428: The Iranian tradition. The design of the Tomb of Humayun (completed around 1571–72), including its double-shelled dome, suggests that its architects were familiar with Timurid monuments in Samarqand. The central dome of the Taj Mahal likewise features a bulbous profile and a double-shelled construction. The Great Mosque of Córdoba in Al-Andalus was initially built with a system of double-arched arcades supporting

7344-429: The Islamic West of Al-Andalus and the Maghreb. At around 1000 AD, the Bab al-Mardum Mosque in Toledo was constructed with a similar, eight-ribbed dome, surrounded by eight other ribbed domes of varying design. Similar domes are also seen in the mosque building of the Aljafería of Zaragoza . The architectural form of the ribbed dome was further developed in the Maghreb: the central dome of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen ,

7480-422: The Islamic world has led to multiple scholarly theories about their origin and spread, with one current theory proposing that they originated in one region at least a century earlier and then spread from there. Some of the earliest surviving examples preserved in situ are tripartite squinches used as transitional elements for domes and semi-domes, such as at the Arab-Ata Mausoleum (977–978) in Tim ( Uzbekistan ),

7616-403: The Lakhmid palaces of Khawarnaq and al-Sadir in al-Hira, a Ghassanid church with mosaic decoration at Nitil (near Madaba ), and a Ghassanid audience hall incorporated into the later Umayyad rural residence at ar-Rusafa . The culture and architecture of the Lakhmids and Ghassanids probably played a subsequent role in transmitting and filtering the architectural traditions of the Sasanian and

7752-444: The Parthian buildings of Aššur . The earliest known example for barrel vaults resting on diaphragm arches from Umayyad architecture is known from Qasr Harane in Syria. During the early period, the diaphragm arches are built from coarsely cut limestone slabs, without using supporting falsework , which were connected by gypsum mortar . Later-period vaults were erected using pre-formed lateral ribs modelled from gypsum, which served as

7888-414: The Rock, its layout did not frequently serve as a model for major Islamic monuments after it. In hypostyle mosques, the Umayyads introduced the tradition of making the "nave" or aisle in front of the mihrab wider than the others, dividing the prayer room along its central axis. This innovation was probably inspired by the layout of existing Christian basilicas in the region. Both the al-Aqsa Mosque and

8024-463: The Selimiye Mosque, which came after many spatial and structural experiments in previous works, is Sinan's masterpiece and the pinnacle of Ottoman domed architecture. It optimizes the domed space, making all elements of the building subordinate to it. Ottoman sources boasted that its dome surpassed that of the Hagia Sophia for the first time. Gardens and water have for many centuries played an essential role in Islamic culture, and are often compared to

8160-437: The Throne Room or Golden Hall and the small private mosque, located on the eastern side of the access portico that serves as an antechamber to the oratory . In its interior, it houses a mihrab in the southeast corner, oriented in the direction of Mecca , as in all mosques except the one of Córdoba. The floors of the royal rooms were marble with an alabaster plinth. The capitals were alabaster, except some that reused marble of

8296-399: The archaeological excavations at Pasargadae . The gardens of Chehel Sotoun ( Isfahan ), Fin Garden ( Kashan ), Eram Garden ( Shiraz ), Shazdeh Garden ( Mahan ), Dowlatabad Garden ( Yazd ), Abbasabad Garden ( Abbasabad ), Akbarieh Garden ( South Khorasan Province ), Pahlevanpour Garden , all in Iran , form part of the UNESCO World Heritage . Large Paradise gardens are also found at

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8432-400: The arches nearer the noble zones (Golden Hall and Mosque) tended to more closely follow the Córdoban tradition. Like the rest of the building, the courtyard was rebuilt in the 20th century based on archaeological finds. After the taking of Saragossa by Alfonso the Battler in 1118, the Aljafería was used as a palace of the kings of Aragon and as a church, not being substantially modified until

8568-481: The arts. The Aljafería , the royal residence erected by Ahmad I, is practically the only palace from that period to have survived almost in its entirety. Despite their independence, the Banu Hud were forced to recognize the superiority of the kingdom of Castile and pay parias to it as early as 1055. In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids , who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110. The conquest represented

8704-618: The basis of Nasrid art. After the reconquest of Zaragoza in 1118 by Alfonso I of Aragón , it became the residence of the Christian kings of the Kingdom of Aragón . It was used as a royal residence by Peter IV of Aragón (1319–1387) and, in 1492, it was converted into the palace of the Catholic Monarchs . In 1593 it underwent another restructuring that would turn it into a military fortress, first according to Renaissance designs (which today can be seen in its surroundings, moat , and gardens) and later for quartering military regiments. It underwent further restructuring and damage, especially with

8840-413: The beginning. It consisted of a simple courtyard structure built in unbaked brick, with a rectangular, almost square, floor plan measuring about 53 by 56 meters. A shaded portico supported by palm trunks stood on the north side of the courtyard, in the direction of prayer (the qibla ), which was initially towards Jerusalem . When the qibla was changed to face towards Mecca in 624, a similar portico

8976-426: The building. In the dome of the Hagia Sophia, the ribs and shell of the dome unite in a central medallion at the apex of the dome, the upper ends of the ribs being integrated into the shell; shell and ribs form one single structural entity. The structural transition below the dome is achieved by four pendentives and the domed space is extended by two semi-domes. This design, along with early Ottoman designs, served as

9112-544: The center of the city. A few cities were founded during the early Islamic Umayyad Caliphate , the outlines of which were based on the Ancient Roman concept of the ideal city . An example of a city planned according to such concepts was excavated at Anjar in Lebanon . Donald Whitcomb argues that the early Muslim conquests initiated a conscious attempt to recreate specific morphological features characteristic of earlier western and southwestern Arabian cities. Banu Hud The Banu Hud ( Arabic : بنو هود Banū Hūd ,

9248-412: The central space to be occupied by a smaller cupola. For the domes in front of the mihrab, the ribs form an eight-pointed star and an octagonal cupola in the centre. For the dome over the Capilla de Villaviciosa , the ribs leave a central square space between them, with an octagonal cupola added over this. The ribbed domes of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba served as models for later mosque buildings in

9384-443: The chamfered corners show the angles of the square structure. This gallery is the only one that preserves remains of the pictorial decoration of the 11th century, whose motifs were rescued by Francisco Íñiguez Almech when removing the liming that covered the walls after conversion to a chapel. The restorer painted over the traces of Islamic remains with acrylic paint, preventing the faded, original pigment from being seen. The dome of

9520-457: The city of Jerash , the Gerasa of Antiquity, have revealed how the Umayyads have transformed the city plan. The antique concept of the architecture of a metropolis is based on a structure of main and smaller roads running through the entire city, and dividing it into quarters. The streets are oriented towards public buildings like a palace, temple, or a public square. Two main roads, ( cardo and decumanus ) cross each other at right angles in

9656-417: The courtyard its original splendor, and for that a marble floor was arranged in the corridors that surround the orange and flower garden. The arcade that is seen looking towards the south portico was restored by molding the original arches in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid and in the Zaragoza Museum . According to Christian Ewert, who has studied the arches of the Aljafería for fifteen years,

9792-624: The defensive framework of the outside north wall. During the Spanish Reconquista , it continued being used as a keep and in 1486 became a dungeon of the Inquisition . As a tower-prison it was also used in the 18th and 19th centuries, as demonstrated by the numerous graffiti inscribed there by the inmates. The construction of the palace, mostly completed between 1065 and 1081, was ordered by Abú Ja'far Ahmad ibn Sulaymán al-Muqtadir Billah , known by his honorary title of al-Muqtadir (the powerful),

9928-484: The development of muqarnas from squinches . Hypostyle mosques continued to be built and there is also evidence of multi-domed mosques, though most were modified or rebuilt in later eras. The Jameh Mosque of Na'in , one of the oldest surviving congregational mosques in Iran, contains some of the best-preserved features from this period, including decorative brickwork, Kufic inscriptions, and rich stucco decoration featuring vine scrolls and acanthus leaves that draw from

10064-654: The dome of the Tomb of Ahmed Sanjar in Merv , until they finally disappeared completely behind the double shell of a stucco dome, as seen in the dome of Ālī Qāpū in Isfahan. The use of domes in South Asia started with the establishment of Delhi sultanate in 1204 CE. Unlike Ottoman domes, and even more so than Persian domes, domes in South Asia tend to be more bulbous . Many monumental Mughal domes were also double-shelled and derived from

10200-570: The earlier styles of Samarra. Another important architectural trend to arise in the 10th to 11th centuries is the development of mausolea, which took on monumental forms for the first time. One type of mausoleum was the tomb tower, such as the Gunbad-i-Qabus (circa 1006–7), while the other main type was the domed square, such as the Tomb of the Samanids in Bukhara (before 943). In the 10th century,

10336-519: The earlier vegetal motifs of late antique traditions into more abstract and stylized forms, as exemplified by the so-called "beveled" style. These decorative techniques quickly spread to other regions where stucco decoration played a prominent role. Abbasid mosques all followed the courtyard plan with hypostyle halls. The earliest was the mosque that Caliph al-Mansur built in Baghdad (since destroyed). The Great Mosque of Samarra built by al-Mutawakkil measured 256 by 139 metres (840 by 456 ft), had

10472-463: The early hypostyle mosque with courtyard as the "Arab plan" or "Arab-type" mosque. Such mosques were constructed mostly under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties; subsequently, however, the simplicity of this type of plan limited the opportunities for further development, and as a result, these mosques gradually fell out of popularity in some regions. In Islamic buildings, vaulting follows two distinct architectural styles: While Umayyad architecture in

10608-410: The eastern end of the entrance portico to the Golden Hall is a small mosque or private oratory that would have been used by the monarch and his courtiers. It is accessed through a portal that ends in a horseshoe arch inspired by the Mosque of Córdoba but with S-shaped springers, a novelty that imitated Almoravid and Nasrid art . This arch rests on two columns with capitals of very geometrical leaves, in

10744-606: The end of the dynasty. The last of the Banu Hud, Imad al-Dawl Abd al-Malik (Abdelmalik) Al Hud, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian kingdom of Aragon under Alfonso the Battler , who in 1118 reconquered the city for the Christians and made it the capital of Aragon. The last king's son, Zafadola ( Sayf al-Dawla ), had some territorial authority before being killed by Christians during

10880-404: The expansion by al-Hakam II (r. 961–976) introducing important aesthetic innovations such as interlacing arches and ribbed domes, which were imitated and elaborated in later monuments in the region. The construction of Madinat al-Zahra , a new capital and monumental palace-city in the 10th century, also created an important complex of royal architecture and patronage. Smaller monuments such as

11016-405: The figure of the monarch. At the end of the 11th century, all the vegetal, geometric, and epigraphic reliefs were given polychrome decorations with predominately red and blue backgrounds and gold reliefs. Together with the soffits in alabaster with epigraphic decoration and the floors of white marble, it gave the whole a magnificent aspect. The various changes to the Aljafería have removed many of

11152-549: The first time in Umayyad architecture, later to evolve to its most advanced form in al-Andalus ( Iberian Peninsula ). The Dome of the Rock has a centralized floor plan with an octagonal layout. This was most likely modeled on earlier Byzantine martyria in the region that had a similar form, such as the Church of the Kathisma . Despite the religious and historical importance of the Dome of

11288-463: The flat timberwork ceiling. The columns of the arcades are connected by horseshoe arches which support brick pillars, which are in turn interconnected by semicircular arches. This arcade system was copied during the mosque's subsequent expansions, but the expansion by al-Hakam II after 961 also introduced a series of ornate ribbed domes. Three domes span the vaults in front of the mihrab wall while another one covers an area now known by its Spanish name,

11424-461: The formation of Islam under the leadership of Muhammad in early 7th-century Arabia . The first mosque was a structure built by Muhammad in Medina in 622, right after his Hijrah (migration) from Mecca , which corresponds to the site of the present-day Mosque of the Prophet ( al-Masjid an-Nabawi ). It is usually described as his house, but may have been designed to serve as a community center from

11560-411: The formation of early Islamic society's visual culture. The Umayyads were the first to add the mihrab to mosque design, a concave niche in the qibla wall of the mosque. The first mihrab reportedly appeared at Muhammad's mosque in Medina when it was rebuilt by al-Walid I in 707. It seems to have represented the place where the Prophet stood when leading prayer. This almost immediately became

11696-423: The garden into four sections of equal size: One of the hallmarks of Persian gardens is the four-part garden laid out with axial paths that intersect at the garden's centre. This highly structured geometrical scheme, called the chahar bagh, became a powerful metaphor for the organization and domestication of the landscape, itself a symbol of political territory. A Charbagh from Achaemenid time has been identified in

11832-757: The garden of Paradise . The comparison originates from the Achaemenid Empire . In his dialogue " Oeconomicus ", Xenophon has Socrates relate the story of the Spartan general Lysander 's visit to the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger , who shows the Greek his "Paradise at Sardis". The classical form of the Persian Paradise garden , or the charbagh , comprises a rectangular irrigated space with elevated pathways, which divide

11968-422: The interior was through a small, elevated door that was only reachable with a portable ladder. Its initial function was military. The first level conserves the 9th-century building structure with two separate naves and six sections separated by two cruciform pillars and divided by lowered horseshoe arcs. In spite of their simplicity, they form a balanced space and could be used as baths. The second floor repeats

12104-532: The largest and most prominent being the Hagia Sophia . The brickwork-and-mortar ribs and the spherical shell of the central dome of the Hagia Sophia were built simultaneously, as a self-supporting structure without any wooden centring . In the early Byzantine church of Hagia Irene , the ribs of the dome vault are fully integrated into the shell, similar to Western Roman domes, and thus are not visible from within

12240-590: The late Umayyad period, such as vaulting, carved stucco , and painted wall decoration, were continued and elaborated in the Abbasid period. The four-centred arch , a more sophisticated form of the pointed arch , is first attested during the Abbasid period in monuments at Samarra, such as the Qasr al-Ashiq palace, and became widely used in some regions at later periods. Samarra also saw the appearance of new decorative styles, particularly in stucco and plasterwork, which rendered

12376-579: The main models for the early mosques built elsewhere. Scholars generally agree that aside from Muhammad's mosque/house, the architecture of the Arabian Peninsula seems to have had only a limited role in the formulation of later Islamic architecture. Prior to the start of the Arab-Muslim conquests of the 7th century, the two major powers in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean world were

12512-611: The maximum of my wishes. And even though in my kingdom I had nothing else, for me you are everything I could wish for. The name Aljafería is first documented in a text by Al-Yazzar as-Saraqusti (active between 1085 and 1100) – which also gives the name of the architect of the Taifal palace, the Slav Al-Halifa Zuhayr – and another from Ibn 'Idhari of 1109, as a derivation from the pre-name of Al-Muqtadir, Abu Ya'far, and "Ya'far", "Al-Yafariyya", which evolved to "Aliafaria" and from there to "Aljafería". The general layout of

12648-448: The mihrab. The rest of the walls of the mosque are decorated with blind mixtilineal arches linked and decorated on the surface with vegetable arabesques inspired by the Caliph. These arches lean on columns topped with slender basket capitals. Square marble slabs cover the bottom of the walls. All this is topped with interlocking polyblocked arches, which are not all blind, because those in

12784-630: The model for subsequent development. Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan attempted to solve the structural issues of the Hagia Sophia dome by constructing a system of centrally symmetric pillars with flanking semi-domes, as exemplified by the design of the Süleymaniye Mosque (four pillars with two flanking shield walls and two semi-domes, 1550–1557) and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne (eight pillars with four diagonal semi-domes, 1568–1574). The design of

12920-467: The mosque was not preserved, because the palace of the Catholic Monarchs was built at that level. However, the characteristic octagonal plan suggests that it would have looked like existing ones in the maqsurah of the mosque of Córdoba, a dome of interlaced semicircular arches forming an octagon in the center. Francisco Íñiguez created a detachable plaster dome. In 2006, Bernabé Cabañero Subiza, C. Lasa Gracia, and J. L. Mateo Lázaro postulated that "the ribs of

13056-531: The most part, although remains are preserved in the Zaragoza Museum and in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid . Francisco Íñiguez began its restoration, restoring the decorations that existed in its places of origin and extracting complete casts of the arcades of the south portico. Along the north wall is the most important complex of buildings built in the Banu Hud period, including

13192-657: The name of the reigning sovereign, and other information. These decorative motifs are expressed in a range of mediums, including stone carving , brickwork, carved stucco , tilework, paint, glass mosaics, marble or stone paneling, and stained glass windows. Capitals, the upper part or crowing feature of a column, serve as a transition piece and are often decoratively carved. They range greatly in design and shape in Islamic Architecture. Early Islamic buildings in Iran featured "Persian" type capitals which included designs of bulls heads, while Mediterranean structures displayed

13328-472: The needs of the new Islamic society and Islamic facilities were inserted into the existing urban fabric after the conquest. In the case of Damascus and Aleppo, for example, the cities were largely of Roman-Byzantine heritage and their topography changed slowly. The Islamic presence was signaled at first only by the presence of a mosque (and, in Damascus, the royal palace). This transformation, which resulted in what

13464-427: The north and south ends are the porticos and living quarters. The north end was more important, as it was endowed with a second floor and greater depth, and was preceded by an open and profusely decorated column wall that stretched across two pavilions on its flanks and served as a theatrical porch to the throne room (the "golden hall" of the verses of Al-Muqtadir). It produced a set of architectural spaces, beginning with

13600-423: The northern and southern ends, the palace living quarters. The Aljafería follows this model, with the section for the nobility in the central segment of the square, although the alignment of the sides of this plan is irregular. It is the central rectangle that houses the palatial buildings, organized around a courtyard with cisterns in front of the north and south porticos containing the royal rooms and saloons. At

13736-536: The northern wall of the interior of the Golden Hall was a blind arch – where the king stood – with a traditional geometric pattern imitating the latticework of the mihrab façade of the Mosque of Córdoba , the building which it sought to emulate. In this way, from the courtyard, it appeared half-hidden by the columns of both the archway leading to the Golden Hall and those of the immediate portico, which gave an appearance of latticework and an illusion of depth, lending splendor to

13872-407: The orientation of the building itself. Mosques and religious structures are built to have one side aligned with this direction, usually marked by a visual feature called a mihrab . The layout of some Muslim cities may have also been influenced by this orientation. In practice, however, the qibla alignments of mosques built in different periods and locations do not all point to the same place. This

14008-472: The origins of the minaret are uncertain, it is believed that the first true minarets appeared in this period. Several of the Abbasid mosques built in the early ninth century had minaret towers which stood at the northern ends of the building, opposite the central mihrab . Among the most famous of these is the Malwiyya minaret, a stand-alone tower with a "spiral" form built for the Great Mosque of Samarra. After

14144-854: The overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 by the Abbasids, a new branch of the Umayyad dynasty succeeded in taking control of Al-Andalus in 756, creating the Emirate of Córdoba and reaching the apogee of its power during the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 10th century. The Great Mosque of Córdoba , built in 785–786, marks the earliest major monument of Moorish architecture in the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). This style of architecture established in Al-Andalus

14280-474: The palace follows the archetype of desert castles in Syria and Jordan from the first half of the 8th century (such as Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi , Msatta , Khirbat al-Mafjar , and, from the early Abbasid era, the al-Ukhaidir Fortress ). These castles were square with ultrasemicircular towers and a central tripartite space, creating three rectangular spaces, with the central one having a courtyard with pools and, at

14416-453: The palace to between 1065 and 1080. They say "This [the Aljafería] was ordered by Ahmed al-Muqtadir Billáh". The Golden Hall had at its east and west ends two private bedrooms, possibly for royal use. Today the bedroom on the western flank has been lost, but it was used as a royal bedroom and also used by the Aragonese kings until the 14th century. Most of the arabesque yeserias that covered

14552-414: The palace. This drama became the libretto for Giuseppe Verdi ’s opera Il trovatore . The tower is a defensive structure, with a quadrangular base and five levels which date back to the end of the 9th century, in the reign of the first Banu Tujib , Muhammad Alanqur , who was appointed by Muhammad I of Córdoba , Emir of Córdoba . According to Cabañero Subiza, the tower was built in the second half of

14688-409: The perpendicular corridors of the ends emphasized by the height of the second floor, and ended with the Troubadour Tower looming in the background from the perspective of a spectator in the courtyard. All this, reflected also in the cistern, enhanced the royal area, which is corroborated by the presence at the eastern end of the northern border of a small private mosque with a mihrab . In the center of

14824-501: The pictorial covering and some mixtilineal arches are preserved that were directly inspired in the Muslim palace. The brick Mudéjar portal, built in the time of Martin of Aragon "the Humane", stands out in the last section of the south nave. This portal is framed by a recessed carpanel arch inside a larger pointed arch. Framing both, a double alfiz is decorated in a checkered pattern. In

14960-455: The power exercised over the celestial universe by the monarch of Saragossa, who thus appeared as heir to the caliphs. Access to the Golden Hall is through a wall with three openings. The very large central opening consists of five double marble columns with stylized Islamic alabaster capitals that support four mixtilinear arches, between which are other simpler horseshoe shapes. Towards the south, another structure of similar size, but shallower,

15096-545: The powerful vizier Badr al-Jamali (r. 1073–1094), the city walls were rebuilt in stone along with several monumental gates, three of which have survived to the present-day: Bab al-Futuh , Bab al-Nasr , and Bab Zuweila ). In the architecture of the Muslim world courtyards are found in secular and religious structures. A hypostyle , i.e., an open hall supported by columns, is considered to be derived from architectural traditions of Achaemenid period Persian assembly halls ( apadana ). This type of building originated from

15232-517: The present day, features an exterior ribbed profile with a band of muqarnas around its drum. However, domes of this shape and style were likely constructed earlier, as evidenced by the Sultaniyya Mausoleum in Cairo, which was built earlier in the 1350s and appears to have copied this same design from the Iranian tradition. The "non-radial rib vault", an architectural form of ribbed vaults with

15368-479: The residents were organized according to tribal origins. Rather than maintaining their original purpose to serve as a military base, many amṣār developed into urbanized administrative and commercial centers. In particular, this happened in the case of the Iraqi cities of Kufa and Basra (which became known as al-miṣrān , "the two forts" ), as well as Fustat and Kairouan in North Africa. Basic facilities like

15504-451: The rest of the building. They are found in many types of buildings including mosques, madrasas, palaces, and caravanserais. A common layout is the four-iwan plan . The related Persian term, pishtaq , means the entrance portal (sometimes an iwan) projecting from the façade of a building, often decorated with calligraphy bands, glazed tilework , and geometric designs . Because of its long history of building and re-building, spanning

15640-507: The same spatial scheme as the first and contains the remains of 11th century Muslim masonry. There is evidence that in the 14th century something similar happened to the appearance of the last two floors, of Mudéjar style, whose construction was due to the construction of the palace of Peter IV of Aragon , which is connected with the Tower of the Troubadour by a corridor, and would have been used as

15776-487: The same time as the city (970), which became the spiritual center for the Ismaili Shi'a branch of Islam. Other notable monuments include the large Mosque of al-Hakim (founded in 990 under al-'Aziz but completed around 1013 under al-Hakim ), the small Aqmar Mosque (1125) with its richly-decorated street façade, and the domed Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya (1133), notable for its mihrab of elaborately-carved stucco. Under

15912-400: The same tripartite composition as exists in the north side, and of which only the arcades of access of mixtilineal arches of geometric decoration remains. This area has some of the most ornate arches. The complexity of lacing, arabesques, and carvings has a Baroque look, and is a prelude to the filigree art of the Alhambra. The Courtyard of Santa Isabel is an open, landscaped space that unified

16048-547: The second monarch of the Banu Hud dynasty, as a symbol of the power achieved by the Taifa of Zaragoza in the second half of the 11th century. The Emir himself called his palace "Qasr al-Surur" (Palace of Joy) and the throne room in which he presided over receptions and embassies "Maylis al-Dahab" (Golden Hall) as is testified in the following verses written by the Emir: Oh Palace of Joy!, Oh Golden Hall! Because of you, I reached

16184-403: The sides of the northwest corner of the wall, to the point that one of its towers was used as sacristy and gave its name to the courtyard that gives access to the Taifal enclosure. The structure, of Gothic - Mudéjar style, consists of two naves of three sections each, facing to the east and supported by two pillars with semicolumns attached in the middle of the faces of the pillar, whose section

16320-410: The spandrels, two quadrilobed medallions appear that harbor shields with the insignia of the king of Aragon . In the resulting tympanum between the arches there is a band of interlocking mixtilineal blind arches, which refer to the series in the Banu Hud palace. This strip is interrupted by a box that houses a newly incorporated relief. Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises

16456-601: The style of Granadan art using mocárabe . Its alfiz is profusely ornamented with vegetal decoration and on it is arranged a frieze of crossing half-point arcs. The interior of the oratory is a smaller square space with chamfered corners that turn it into a false octagonal plan. In the southeast sector, oriented towards Mecca, is the niche of the mihrab. The front of the mihrab is shaped by a traditional horseshoe arch, with Cordoban shapes and alternating voussoir blocks, some of which are decorated with vegetal reliefs and others are smooth (although originally they were painted). The arch

16592-550: The time from the Abbasids to the Qajar dynasty , and its excellent state of conservation, the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan provides an overview over the experiments Islamic architects conducted with complicated vaulting structures. The system of squinches , which is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome,

16728-402: The vault [...] should have the section of horseshoe arches forming an eight-pointed star pattern with a dome agglomerated in the center, like those in the two domes of the transept of the Mosque of Córdoba." The south portico consists of an arcade on its southern flank that gives access to a portico with two lateral stays. This portico was the vestibule of a great south hall that would have had

16864-412: The visible material world. Figural motifs, such as animals, humans, and imaginary creatures, have a rich tradition in Islamic art, though they generally more stylized than naturalistic. However, because of the religious taboo on figural representations , non-figural decoration remained more dominant overall and figural motifs were generally excluded from religious buildings entirely. The importance of

17000-422: The walls, as well as an alabaster base two and a half metres high and the white marble floors of the original palace, have been lost. The remains that have been preserved, both in museums and the few that are in the royal hall, nevertheless allow a reconstruction of the ornate, polychrome decoration. Ceilings and wood carvings reproduced the sky, and the whole room was an image of the cosmos, clothed with symbols of

17136-405: The west continues Syrian traditions of the sixth and seventh century, eastern Islamic architecture was mainly influenced by Sasanian styles and forms. In their vaulting structures, Umayyad period buildings show a mixture of ancient Roman and Persian architectural traditions. Diaphragm arches with lintelled ceilings made of wood or stone beams, or, alternatively, with barrel vaults, were known in

17272-475: The whole Taifal palace. The north and south porticos faced it, and there were probably rooms and outbuildings to the east and west. Its name comes from the birth in the Aljafería of the Infanta Elizabeth of Aragon , who was in 1282 queen of Portugal. The original pool to the south has been conserved, whereas the one to the north was covered with a wood floor in the 14th century. The restoration tried to give

17408-543: The written word in Islam ensured that epigraphic or calligraphic decoration played a prominent role in architecture. Epigraphic decoration can also indicate further political or religious messages through the selection of a textual program of inscriptions. For example, the calligraphic inscriptions adorning the Dome of the Rock include quotations from the Qur'an that reference the miracle of Jesus and his human nature (e.g. Quran 19 :33–35),

17544-423: Was added on the south side, facing towards that city. Muhammad and his family lived in separate rooms attached to the mosque, and Muhammad himself was buried in one of these rooms upon his death in 632. Over the rest of the 7th century and in the 8th century the mosque was repeatedly expanded to include a large flat-roofed prayer hall supported by columns (a hypostyle hall) with a central courtyard. It became one of

17680-404: Was already known in Sasanian architecture. The spherical triangles of the squinches were split up into further subdivisions or systems of niches, resulting in a complex interplay of supporting structures forming an ornamental spatial pattern which hides the weight of the structure. The tradition of double-shelled brick domes in Iran has been traced back to the 11th century. At the beginning of

17816-480: Was also largely shared with the architecture of western North Africa (the Maghreb ), from which later empires in the region would also emerge and contribute to its artistic evolution. The original Great Mosque of Cordoba was noted for its unique hypostyle hall with rows of double-tiered, two-coloured, arches, which were repeated and maintained in later extensions of the building. The mosque was expanded multiple times, with

17952-427: Was completed in 879. It was strongly influenced by Abbasid architecture in Samarra and remains one of the most notable and best-preserved examples of 9th-century architecture from the Abbasid Caliphate. In Iran and Central Asia, a number of other local and regional dynasties held sway prior to the arrival of the Seljuks in the 11th century. By the 10th century, central Iran and the Abbasid heartland of Iraq were under

18088-793: Was influenced by Roman , Byzantine , Iranian , and Mesopotamian architecture and all other lands which the early Muslim conquests conquered in the seventh and eighth centuries. Later it developed distinct characteristics in the form of buildings and in the decoration of surfaces with Islamic calligraphy , arabesques , and geometric motifs . New architectural elements like minarets , muqarnas , and multifoil arches were invented. Common or important types of buildings in Islamic architecture include mosques , madrasas , tombs , palaces , hammams (public baths), Sufi hospices (e.g. khanqahs or zawiyas ), fountains and sabils , commercial buildings (e.g. caravanserais and bazaars ), and military fortifications . The Islamic era began with

18224-400: Was more an astronomical calculation, rather than a mathematical one. Early mosques were constructed according to either the calculations of what direction qibla was approximately, or with the mihrab facing south, as that was the direction that Muhammad was facing when he prayed in Medina, which is a city directly north of Mecca. The mihrab is a niche or alcove, typically concave, set into

18360-418: Was polychrome in shades of blue and red in the back and gold in the arabesques. Among the filigrees is the representation of a bird, an unusual zoomorphic figure in Islamic art that could represent a pigeon, a pheasant, or a symbol of the king as winged being. The characteristic interlocking mixtilinear arches are found for the first time in the Aljafería, from where they spread to other Islamic structures. At

18496-508: Was still widely evident because political power and patronage was centered in Syria, a former Roman/Byzantine province. Some former Ghassanid structures also appear to have been reused and modified during this period. However, a significant amount of experimentation occurred as Umayyad patrons recruited craftsmen from across the empire and architects were allowed, or even encouraged, to mix elements from different artistic traditions and to disregard traditional conventions and restraints. Partly as

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