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151-863: Early Islamic architecture 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

302-454: 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

453-519: A Temple of Jupiter at the north end, and would also contain other temples, as well as the basilica ; a public weights and measures table, so customers at the market could ensure they were not being sold short measures; and would often have the baths nearby. A horreum was a type of public warehouse used during the ancient Roman period. Although the Latin term is often used to refer to granaries , Roman horrea were used to store many other types of consumables;

604-586: 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 a superimposed spherical dome, is the characteristic architectural vault form of

755-410: 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

906-442: A degree of painted colourful murals on the walls. Examples have been found of jungle scenes with wild animals and exotic plants. Imitation windows ( trompe-l'œil ) were sometimes painted to make the rooms seem less confined. Ancient Rome had elaborate and luxurious houses owned by the elite. The average house, or in cities apartment, of a commoner or plebeius did not contain many luxuries. The domus , or single-family residence,

1057-644: 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

1208-553: A great deal of weight. The first use of concrete by the Romans was in the town of Cosa sometime after 273 BC. Ancient Roman concrete was a mixture of lime mortar , aggregate , pozzolana , water, and stones , and was stronger than previously used concretes. The ancient builders placed these ingredients in wooden frames where they hardened and bonded to a facing of stones or (more frequently) bricks. The aggregates used were often much larger than in modern concrete, amounting to rubble. When

1359-510: A load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture, concrete's strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment. Most of these developments are described by Vitruvius , writing in the first century BC in his work De architectura . Although concrete had been used on a minor scale in Mesopotamia, Roman architects perfected Roman concrete and used it in buildings where it could stand on its own and support

1510-549: A marketplace, a forum was a gathering place of great social significance, and often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions and debates, rendezvous, meetings, etc. The best known example is the Roman Forum , the earliest of several in Rome. In new Roman towns the forum was usually located at, or just off, the intersection of the main north–south and east–west streets (the cardo and decumanus ). All forums would have

1661-518: 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,

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1812-485: A median strip running along the length of about two thirds the track, joined at one end with a semicircular section and at the other end with an undivided section of track closed (in most cases) by a distinctive starting gate known as the carceres , thereby creating a circuit for the races. During the years of the Republic, Augustus claimed he "found the city in brick and left it in marble". While chances are high that this

1963-555: 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

2114-464: 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

2265-412: 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

2416-465: 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

2567-555: A scraper made of wood or bone. Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas , town houses and forts . They were normally supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or by aqueduct . The design of thermae is discussed by Vitruvius in De architectura . Roman temples were among the most important and richest buildings in Roman culture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Their construction and maintenance

2718-503: 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

2869-841: 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

3020-568: 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

3171-412: A structure which survives to this day. A smaller lighthouse at Dover , England also exists as a ruin about half the height of the original. The light would have been provided by a fire at the top of the structure. All Roman cities had at least one thermae , a popular facility for public bathing, exercising and socializing. Exercise might include wrestling and weightlifting, as well as swimming. Bathing

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3322-544: 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

3473-425: 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

3624-452: 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

3775-533: A whole room (cella), a closet (armarium), or only a chest or strong box (arca, arcula, locus, loculus)." Multi-story apartment blocks called insulae catered to a range of residential needs. The cheapest rooms were at the top owing to the inability to escape in the event of a fire and the lack of piped water. Windows were mostly small, facing the street, with iron security bars. Insulae were often dangerous, unhealthy, and prone to fires because of overcrowding and haphazard cooking arrangements. There are examples in

3926-549: 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

4077-553: Is arguably the Roman contribution most relevant to modern architecture. The amphitheatre was, with the triumphal arch and basilica , the only major new type of building developed by the Romans. Some of the most impressive secular buildings are the amphitheatres, over 200 being known and many of which are well preserved, such as that at Arles , as well as its progenitor, the Colosseum in Rome. They were used for gladiatorial contests, public displays, public meetings and bullfights ,

4228-636: 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,

4379-564: Is constructed from Roman bricks 15" square by 1½" thick. There is often little obvious difference (particularly when only fragments survive) between Roman bricks used for walls on the one hand, and tiles used for roofing or flooring on the other, so archaeologists sometimes prefer to employ the generic term ceramic building material (or CBM). The Romans perfected brick-making during the first century of their empire and used it ubiquitously, in public and private construction alike. They took their brickmaking skills everywhere they went, introducing

4530-426: 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

4681-414: Is not found especially close to Rome, and was only rarely used there before Augustus , who famously boasted that he had found Rome made of brick and left it made of marble, though this was mainly as a facing for brick or concrete. The Temple of Hercules Victor of the late 2nd century BC is the earliest surviving exception in Rome. From Augustus' reign the quarries at Carrara were extensively developed for

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4832-538: 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

4983-569: 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

5134-809: The Aqueduct of Segovia , the Pont du Gard , and the eleven aqueducts of Rome . The same concepts produced numerous bridges, some of which are still in daily use, for example, the Puente Romano at Mérida in Spain, and the Pont Julien and the bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine , both in Provence, France. The dome permitted the construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and made possible large covered public spaces such as public baths and basilicas , such as Hadrian's Pantheon ,

5285-922: 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

5436-516: The Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla , all in Rome. The Romans first adopted the arch from the Etruscans and implemented it in their own building. The use of arches that spring directly from the tops of columns was a Roman development, seen from the 1st century AD, that was very widely adopted in medieval Western, Byzantine and Islamic architecture . The Romans were the first builders in

5587-469: 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 the present day, features an exterior ribbed profile with

5738-653: 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

5889-489: 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

6040-615: 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

6191-553: 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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6342-571: 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

6493-579: 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

6644-588: The Imperial period , after they had combined aspects of their originally Etruscan architecture with others taken from Greece, including most elements of the style we now call classical architecture. They moved from trabeated construction mostly based on columns and lintels to one based on massive walls, punctuated by arches , and later domes , both of which greatly developed under the Romans. The classical orders now became largely decorative rather than structural, except in colonnades . Stylistic developments included

6795-565: 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

6946-559: 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

7097-617: 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

7248-761: The Tuscan and Composite orders ; the first being a shortened, simplified variant on the Doric order and the Composite being a tall order with the floral decoration of the Corinthian and the scrolls of the Ionic . The period from roughly 40 BC to about 230 AD saw most of the greatest achievements, before the Crisis of the Third Century and later troubles reduced the wealth and organizing power of

7399-570: The aqueducts of Rome , the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla , the basilicas and Colosseum . These were reproduced at a smaller scale in the most important towns and cities in the Empire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the town walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis , now northern Spain. The administrative structure and wealth of the Empire made possible very large projects even in locations remote from

7550-528: The arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the former empire, sometimes complete and still in use today. Roman architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture . Few substantial examples survive from before about 100 BC, and most of

7701-469: The bathhouse , and civil engineering such as fortifications and bridges. In Europe the Italian Renaissance saw a conscious revival of correct classical styles, initially purely based on Roman examples. Vitruvius was respectfully reinterpreted by a series of architectural writers, and the Tuscan and Composite orders formalized for the first time, to give five rather than three orders. After

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7852-594: 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

8003-437: The floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment. Factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults and arches , together with a sound knowledge of building materials, enabled them to achieve unprecedented successes in the construction of imposing infrastructure for public use. Examples include

8154-470: The history of architecture to realize the potential of domes for the creation of large and well-defined interior spaces. Domes were introduced in a number of Roman building types such as temples , thermae , palaces , mausolea and later also churches. Half-domes also became a favored architectural element and were adopted as apses in Christian sacred architecture . Monumental domes began to appear in

8305-711: 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

8456-410: 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

8607-402: 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,

8758-476: 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

8909-525: The "concrete revolution", was the widespread use in Roman architecture of the previously little-used architectural forms of the arch , vault , and dome . For the first time in history, their potential was fully exploited in the construction of a wide range of civil engineering structures, public buildings, and military facilities. These included amphitheatres , aqueducts , baths , bridges , circuses , dams , domes , harbours , temples , and theatres . According to Gottfried Semper , Roman architecture

9060-428: The 1st century BC in Rome and the provinces around the Mediterranean Sea . Along with vaults , they gradually replaced the traditional post and lintel construction which makes use of the column and architrave . The construction of domes was greatly facilitated by the invention of concrete , a process which has been termed the Roman architectural revolution . Their enormous dimensions remained unsurpassed until

9211-415: The 3rd or 2nd century BC with the development of Roman concrete as a readily available adjunct to, or substitute for, stone and brick. More daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes. The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture, concrete's strength freed

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9362-437: The 5th century and of animal killings in the 6th, most amphitheatres fell into disrepair, and their materials were mined or recycled. Some were razed, and others converted into fortifications. A few continued as convenient open meeting places; in some of these, churches were sited. Architecturally, they are typically an example of the Roman use of the classical orders to decorate large concrete walls pierced at intervals, where

9513-401: 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

9664-465: 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

9815-461: The Etruscans, but after the Roman conquest of Greece directly from the best classical and Hellenistic examples in the Greek world. The influence is evident in many ways; for example, in the introduction and use of the triclinium in Roman villas as a place and manner of dining. Roman builders employed Greeks in many capacities, especially in the great boom in construction in the early Empire. The Roman architectural revolution , also known as

9966-411: The Forum proved to be the most influential for years to come. According to Walter Dennison's The Roman Forum As Cicero Saw It , the author writes that "the diverting of public business to the larger and splendid Imperial fora erected in the vicinity resulted in leaving the general design of the Forum Romanum". Every city had at least one forum of varying size. In addition to its standard function as

10117-471: 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

10268-426: 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

10419-400: 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

10570-428: 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 ,

10721-421: 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 ),

10872-501: 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

11023-495: 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

11174-410: 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

11325-444: The Roman port town of Ostia , that date to the reign of Trajan , but they seem to have been found mainly in Rome and a few other places. Elsewhere writers report them as something remarkable, but Livy and Vitruvius refer to them in Rome. External walls were in opus reticulatum and interiors in opus incertum , which would then be plastered and sometimes painted. To lighten up the small dark rooms, some tenants able to afford

11476-573: 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

11627-426: The ancient Romans was followed by a 600–700 year gap in major brick production. Concrete quickly supplanted brick as the primary building material, and more daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes rather than dense lines of columns suspending flat architraves . The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely decorative columns in front of

11778-730: 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 the Taj Mahal ( Agra ), and at Humayun's Tomb ( New Delhi ), in India;

11929-410: 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

12080-424: 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

12231-474: The capital, and other sources around the empire exploited, especially the prestigious Greek marbles like Parian . Travertine limestone was found much closer, around Tivoli , and was used from the end of the Republic; the Colosseum is mainly built of this stone, which has good load-bearing capacity, with a brick core. Other more or less local stones were used around the Empire. The Romans were fond of luxury imported coloured marbles with fancy veining, and

12382-649: 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. Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted

12533-515: The central governments. The Romans produced massive public buildings and works of civil engineering, and were responsible for significant developments in housing and public hygiene, for example their public and private baths and latrines, under-floor heating in the form of the hypocaust , mica glazing (examples in Ostia Antica ), and piped hot and cold water (examples in Pompeii and Ostia). Despite

12684-469: 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

12835-505: 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

12986-399: The columns have nothing to support. Aesthetically, however, the formula is successful. The Roman basilica was a large public building where business or legal matters could be transacted. They were normally where the magistrates held court, and used for other official ceremonies, having many of the functions of the modern town hall . The first basilicas had no religious function. As early as

13137-485: The craft to the local populations. The Roman legions , which operated their own kilns , introduced bricks to many parts of the Empire; bricks are often stamped with the mark of the legion that supervised their production. The use of bricks in southern and western Germany, for example, can be traced to traditions already described by the Roman architect Vitruvius . In the British Isles , the introduction of Roman brick by

13288-483: 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

13439-652: 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

13590-566: 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,

13741-518: 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

13892-460: 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

14043-472: The end of the 2nd century BC, with the first known public horreum being constructed by the ill-fated tribune Gaius Gracchus in 123 BC. The word came to be applied to any place designated for the preservation of goods; thus, it was often used to refer to cellars ( horrea subterranea ), but it could also be applied to a place where artworks were stored, or even to a library. Some public horrea functioned somewhat like banks, where valuables could be stored, but

14194-531: The excessive decoration and display of wealth that aristocrats' houses contained. Luxury in houses was not common, as the life of the average person did not consist of being in their houses, as they instead would go to public baths, and engage in other communal activities. Many lighthouses were built around the Mediterranean and the coasts of the empire, including the Tower of Hercules at A Coruña in northern Spain,

14345-402: 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

14496-615: The external language of classical ancient Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans , but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often considered one body of classical architecture . Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and to an even greater extent under the Empire , when the great majority of surviving buildings were constructed. It used new materials, particularly Roman concrete , and newer technologies such as

14647-545: 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

14798-810: The flamboyance of Baroque architecture , the Neoclassical architecture of the 18th century revived purer versions of classical style, and for the first time added direct influence from the Greek world. Numerous local classical styles developed, such as Palladian architecture , Georgian architecture and Regency architecture in the English-speaking world, Federal architecture in the United States, and later Stripped Classicism and PWA Moderne . Roman influences may be found around us today, in banks, government buildings, great houses, and even small houses, perhaps in

14949-460: 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,

15100-758: The form of a porch with Doric columns and a pediment or in a fireplace or a mosaic shower floor derived from a Roman original, often from Pompeii or Herculaneum . The mighty pillars, domes and arches of Rome echo in the New World too, where in Washington, D.C. stand the Capitol building , the White House , the Lincoln Memorial , and other government buildings. All across the US the seats of regional government were normally built in

15251-509: 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

15402-457: 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

15553-518: The framework was removed, the new wall was very strong, with a rough surface of bricks or stones. This surface could be smoothed and faced with an attractive stucco or thin panels of marble or other coloured stones called a "revetment". Concrete construction proved to be more flexible and less costly than building solid stone buildings. The materials were readily available and not difficult to transport. The wooden frames could be used more than once, allowing builders to work quickly and efficiently. Concrete

15704-422: 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

15855-708: 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

16006-575: The giant Horrea Galbae in Rome were used not only to store grain but also olive oil , wine, foodstuffs, clothing and even marble . By the end of the Imperial period, the city of Rome had nearly 300 horrea to supply its demands. The biggest were enormous, even by modern standards; the Horrea Galbae contained 140 rooms on the ground floor alone, covering an area of some 225,000 square feet (20,900 square metres). The first horrea were built in Rome towards

16157-504: The grand traditions of Rome, with vast flights of stone steps sweeping up to towering pillared porticoes, with huge domes gilded or decorated inside with the same or similar themes that were popular in Rome. In Britain, a similar enthusiasm has seen the construction of thousands of neoclassical buildings over the last five centuries, both civic and domestic, and many of the grandest country houses and mansions are purely Classical in style, an obvious example being Buckingham Palace . Marble

16308-506: The horreum as a structure made of brick, the walls of which were not less than three feet thick; it had no windows or openings for ventilation". Furthermore, the storehouses would also host oil and wine and also use large jars that could serve as cache's for large amounts of products. These storehouses were also used to keep large sums of money and were used much like personal storage units today are. "These horrea were divided and subdivided, so that one could hire only so much space as one wanted,

16459-414: The interiors of the most important buildings were often faced with slabs of these, which have usually now been removed even where the building survives. Imports from Greece for this purpose began in the 2nd century BC. The Romans made fired clay bricks from about the beginning of the Empire, replacing earlier sun-dried mudbrick . Roman brick was almost invariably of a lesser height than modern brick, but

16610-666: The introduction of structural steel frames in the late 19th century (see List of the world's largest domes ). Roman architecture supplied the basic vocabulary of Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque architecture , and spread across Christian Europe well beyond the old frontiers of the empire, to Ireland and Scandinavia for example. In the East, Byzantine architecture developed new styles of churches, but most other buildings remained very close to Late Roman forms. The same can be said in turn of Islamic architecture , where Roman forms long continued, especially in private buildings such as houses and

16761-428: The landscape of northern Britain with Hadrian's Wall . While borrowing much from the preceding Etruscan architecture, such as the use of hydraulics and the construction of arches, Roman prestige architecture remained firmly under the spell of ancient Greek architecture and the classical orders . This came initially from Magna Graecia , the Greek colonies in southern Italy, and indirectly from Greek influence on

16912-476: 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

17063-586: 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

17214-544: The magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised dais. The central aisle tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that light could penetrate through the clerestory windows. The oldest known basilica, the Basilica Porcia , was built in Rome in 184 BC by Cato the Elder during the time he was censor . Other early examples include the basilica at Pompeii (late 2nd century BC). After Christianity became

17365-488: The main centers, as did the use of slave labor, both skilled and unskilled. Especially under the empire, architecture often served a political function, demonstrating the power of the Roman state in general, and of specific individuals responsible for building. Roman architecture perhaps reached its peak in the reign of Hadrian , whose many achievements include rebuilding the Pantheon in its current form and leaving his mark on

17516-430: The main entertainment sites of the time. Circuses were venues for chariot racing , horse races , and performances that commemorated important events of the Empire were performed there. For events that involved re-enactments of naval battles , the circus was flooded with water. The performance space of the Roman circus was normally, despite its name, an oblong rectangle of two linear sections of race track , separated by

17667-573: 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

17818-464: The major survivals are from the later empire, after about 100 AD. Roman architectural style continued to influence building in the former empire for many centuries, and the style used in Western Europe beginning about 1000 is called Romanesque architecture to reflect this dependence on basic Roman forms. The Romans only began to achieve significant originality in architecture around the beginning of

17969-524: The middle of the first century BC, but most were built under Imperial rule, from the Augustan period (27 BC–14 AD) onwards. Imperial amphitheatres were built throughout the Roman Empire; the largest could accommodate 40,000–60,000 spectators, and the most elaborate featured multi-storeyed, arcaded façades and were elaborately decorated with marble , stucco and statuary. After the end of gladiatorial games in

18120-627: 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

18271-525: The most important class of horrea were those where foodstuffs such as grain and olive oil were stored and distributed by the state. The word itself is thought to have linguist roots tied to the word hordeum , which in Latin means barley. In the Johns Hopkins University Press , The Classical Weekly states that " Pliny the Elder does indeed make a distinction between the two words. He describes

18422-655: 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

18573-471: 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

18724-545: The official religion, the basilica shape was found appropriate for the first large public churches, with the attraction of avoiding reminiscences of the Greco-Roman temple form. The Roman circus was a large open-air venue used for public events in the ancient Roman Empire . The circuses were similar to the ancient Greek hippodromes , although circuses served varying purposes and differed in design and construction. Along with theatres and amphitheatres , circuses were one of

18875-404: 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

19026-469: 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

19177-854: 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

19328-592: 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

19479-475: 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

19630-449: 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

19781-486: 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

19932-468: 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 the 15th century, major Timurid monuments like the Gur-i Amir Mausoleum and

20083-457: The technical developments of the Romans, which took their buildings far away from the basic Greek conception where columns were needed to support heavy beams and roofs, they were reluctant to abandon the classical orders in formal public buildings, even though these had become essentially decorative. However, they did not feel entirely restricted by Greek aesthetic concerns and treated the orders with considerable freedom. Innovation started in

20234-622: 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, was already known in Sasanian architecture. The spherical triangles of

20385-510: The time of Augustus , a public basilica for transacting business had been part of any settlement that considered itself a city, used in the same way as the late medieval covered market houses of northern Europe, where the meeting room, for lack of urban space, was set above the arcades. Although their form was variable, basilicas often contained interior colonnades that divided the space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces on one or both sides, with an apse at one end (or less often at each end), where

20536-450: The tradition of which still survives in Spain and Portugal. Their typical shape, functions and name distinguish them from Roman theatres , which are more or less semicircular in shape; from the circuses (akin to hippodromes ) whose much longer circuits were designed mainly for horse or chariot racing events; and from the smaller stadia, which were primarily designed for athletics and footraces. The earliest Roman amphitheatres date from

20687-408: 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

20838-405: 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

20989-511: The word insula referring to both blocks and smaller divisions. The insula contained cenacula , tabernae , storage rooms under the stairs, and lower floor shops. Another type of housing unit for plebs was a cenaculum , an apartment, divided into three individual rooms: cubiculum , exedra , and medianum . Common Roman apartments were mainly masses of smaller and larger structures, many with narrow balconies that present mysteries as to their use, having no doors to access them, and they lacked

21140-541: 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),

21291-460: Was "the idea of world domination expressed in stone". A crucial factor in this development, which saw a trend toward monumental architecture , was the invention of Roman concrete ( opus caementicium ), which led to the liberation of shapes from the dictates of the traditional materials of stone and brick. These enabled the building of the many aqueducts throughout the Roman Empire , such as

21442-461: Was a major part of ancient Roman religion , and all towns of any importance had at least one main temple, as well as smaller shrines. The main room ( cella ) housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated , and often a small altar for incense or libations . Behind the cella was a room or rooms used by temple attendants for storage of equipment and offerings. Khawarnaq Too Many Requests If you report this error to

21593-420: 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

21744-478: 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

21895-556: Was an exaggeration, there is something to be said for the influx of marble use in Roman Forum from 63 BC onwards. During Augustus' reign, the Forum was described to have been "a larger, freer space than was the Forum of Imperial times." The Forum began to take on even more changes upon the arrival of Julius Caesar , who drew out extensive plans for the market hub. While Caesar's death came prematurely, his ideas, as well as Augustus' in regards to

22046-406: Was an important part of the Roman day, where some hours might be spent, at a very low cost subsidized by the government. Wealthier Romans were often accompanied by one or more slaves, who performed any required tasks such as fetching refreshment, guarding valuables, providing towels, and at the end of the session, applying olive oil to their masters' bodies, which was then scraped off with a strigil ,

22197-426: 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

22348-578: Was made in a variety of different shapes and sizes. Shapes included square, rectangular, triangular and round, and the largest bricks found have measured over three feet in length. Ancient Roman bricks had a general size of 1½ Roman feet by 1 Roman foot, but common variations up to 15 inches existed. Other brick sizes in ancient Rome included 24" x 12" x 4", and 15" x 8" x 10". Ancient Roman bricks found in France measured 8" x 8" x 3". The Constantine Basilica in Trier

22499-399: 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

22650-590: Was only for the well-off in Rome, with most having a layout of the closed unit, consisting of one or two rooms. Between 312 and 315 AD Rome had 1781 domus and 44,850 of insulae . Insulae have been the subject of debate for historians of Roman culture, defining the various meanings of the word. Insula was a word used to describe apartment buildings, or the apartments themselves, meaning apartment, or inhabitable room, demonstrating just how small apartments for plebeians were. Urban divisions were originally street blocks, and later began to divide into smaller divisions,

22801-505: 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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