Midterm Islamic art history

dome of the rock, geometric, themes, motifs,

Several characteristics of Umayyad sculpted ornament can be defined, albeit tentatively. 1) with the exception of capitals and of certain niche-heads, especially at Khirbat al-Mafjar, it follows the mosaics of the _____ ___ ___ ____ in developing on its own, unrelated to the architecture. This is true of the large triangles of Mshatta and most of the panels at Khirbat al-Mafjar. 2) except for a few border motifs, the Umayyad artists created their designs within simple ______ frame— squares, rectangles, triangles, even circles — which occur both on a large scale (for example the triangles of Mshatta) and on a small scale within the single panel. This point is important in explaining the operation of an Umayyad construction site. Such a tremendous mass of work was accomplished in such a short time only by means of a large corvée-created labour force. Some master-mind probably planned the basic outlines and then gave free rein to individual gangs for the details; thence derives the unity of organization as well as the multiplicity of detail. 3) characteristic of Umayyad decoration is the tremendous variety of its ________ and _______. They can be divided into 2 major categories: a) geometric ornament, used for borders and frames, but also for such features as the balustrades, parapets, lintels, and windows of Khirbat al-Mafjar (similar to the Damascus ones); b) and the more frequent vegetal ornament, from the luxurious naturalistic vine of Mshatta to the highly stylized artificial palmette of the Qasr al-Hayr West panel. In between we find almost all the themes and styles prevalent in the Mediterranean, Sasanian, and Central Asian worlds of the 6th, 7th, 8th centuries. It is not yet known whether this eclecticism was due to mass migrations of workers or, as is more probable, to the greater impact, especially in the last decades of the Umayyad period, of people, objects, and impressions from the huge eastern world. The fact remains that the Umayyads provided a sort of showplace and incubator for the decorative arts of all conquered areas. Of course, there are individual characteristics. At Mshatta we have mostly plants of classical origin, in a fairly natural style, with animals from west and east, and, on certain triangles, the superposition of a geometric rhythm of circles. Khirbat al-Mafjar the greatest variety of themes of different origins and in different moods, but none relics on one source only: all express a catholicity (wide variety of things) consonant with the size of the empire. In addition, many different origins are drawn on, with a curious predominance of textile patterns. This cheap and rapid reproduction of motifs from expensive sources (the point applies less to Mshatta than to the other palaces) also illustrates something of the nouveau riche side of the new civilization. A panel from the facade of Khirbat al-Mafjar contains geometric division of space, highly stylized palmettes symmetrically set in a circle, and a handsomely luxurious double trunk, ending on one side in a fairly natural bunch of grapes and on the other in a geometricized vine leaf. On the Mshatta triangles a vigorous and lively movement of stems, leaves, and bunches contrasts with geometrically perfect, static series of circles with artificial pearl borders. In every case the background has wellnigh disappeared. All is decor at Khirbat al-Mafjar, whereas at Mshatta only dark voids remain, giving the impression of filigree work. It is the opposition between intensely naturalistic and completely stylized features, the tendency to take over the whole surface of the wall, and the presence of so many different elements alongside one another that define Umayyad ornament. The latter does not yet have the sophistication and cleverness which were later to characterize Islamic decoration, but it has already separated itself from the traditions of the Mediterranean and of Iran, even though individual units and motifs and the general conception of a decorative programme partly independent from architecture derive directly from one or the other. In a curious way which, for the time being, defies explanation, much in this art bears comparison with nearly contemporary Irish and northern European art. Since there could not have been artistic contacts between these areas during the Umayyad period, the parallelisms must be structural and require an eventual theoretical rather than historical explanation.

hypostyle, iwan

2 mosque types: Courtyard _____ (earliest - predominant to 12th century) the cruciform or 4-____ plan (12th C on) Type 2: Cruciform or 4-Iwan Type Basic unit = vaulted space (iwan) Emphasis on 2 horizontal axes + maqsura Taking a hypostyle and extending, adding more spaces it extends the purpose of the mosque.

Messiah

Basin and canteen Metalwork: executed in beaten. turned and soldered brass sheets. and lavishly decorated with inlaid and chased silver in a wealth of detail. Sumptuous and utilitarian, the objects are also enigmatic, puzzling and paradoxical- appearing alongside the Islamic decorative imagery deployed upon their surfaces are friezes of saints. vignettes from the life of Christ and a majestically enthroned Madonna and Child. Tools of art history answered the 'where' and 'when' of these objects and placed them within recognized taxonomic and formal categories, the 'why' of them and their hybrid imagery remains an open question. In revisiting them here. we salute the Freer's founding principles and the founder's belief in the universality of human creativity. while at the same time exploring some of the ways in which we so consistently and so humanly manipulate memory in order to construct distinct identities. Paradox: Islamic manufacture but with decoration that seems Christian in content, has earned the group a special place in the history of Islamic metalwork. Created within the historical context of the Crusades, the objects raise a number of questions about markets and systems of patronage, about manufacturing techniques and formal models, about the identities of makers and users. and symbolic meanings and functions. To list a few: 1) formal models for the episodes of the life of Christ represented on the canteen have been located in local Syriac manuscripts, does this imply that the canteen and related pieces were designed and used by Christians, or do the deviations from the models bespeak makers unfamiliar with iconography or users for whom these 'Errors' were irrelevant? The canteen is anonymous; was it simply a sumptuous object to be used by Latin Christian knights in a new land or a souvenir to be transported, once the knights tour of duty was completed, to the homeland? It scrutinizing the circle of riders on the flat side of the canteen read a battle Scene between Christians knights and Muslim ones (an interpretation of the figure aiming his cross-bow at the rider behind him; was the canteen then a power object, or one that reflected the modus vivendi (way of life) of the mixed society of the Time? Was al-Salih's basin a gift (one that comes with a permanently attached reminder of the giver) to a Crusader king or vice versa? Were the canteen and basin market objects (to one of which a name was later added), or were they commissioned to commemorate victories, battles, or even peace treaties and alliances (of which there were many)? Does the unusual hybrid imagery reflect benign considerations, does it imply a consumption of meanings associated with the enemy and so an erasure or identity? All these questions and more reflect the enigmatic nature of the two objects and the problems surrounding their interpretation. The arrangement and detail of the Christian motifs on the canteen, for instance, have suggested that it had a Latin owner for whom images were meaningful representations of religious history. In contrast. prominence of the band of polo-players and the abbreviated nature of the Christian motifs on the basin have suggested that, for al-Salih, these images had a primarily symbolic or emblematic value. Such interpretations revolve around the contrast between the 'Islamic' and the 'Christian' subject matter of the imagery: the meaning and of each object are largely a result or the ways in which we read this imagery. exhibit elements of the princely cycle of pleasures and prerogatives (privilege) associated with Islamic portable and their decoration; polo-playing, hunting. feasting, music-making and other entertainments. real and fantastic animals often associated with good luck, zodiacal symbols and propitious planetary conjunctions are time-honored motifs appear on numerous objects of different types and in different media. This Islamic decorative repertoire echoes the Content of accompanying Arabic inscriptions that invoke blessings and impart goal wishes (long life. happiness, health and success) to the (often anonymous) owners. The repertoire is emblematic: read each of its elements as representative or the meaning of the cycle as a whole. A direct result of these readings is a negation of narrative as a principle that underlies this system of visual expression as a whole. In contrast, Christian imagery, no matter how Abbreviated, is largely narrative and/or compels narrative readings. This is partly due to existence of an underlying textual narrative that allows representations to be identified in relation to Christian religious history. The elements of narrative, text and time that are integral to Christian representations are exactly what appears to missing from the Islamic system of visual expression. At the most fundamental level, therefore, the paradox of our 'Ayyubid objects with Christian images' does not result from Islamic or Christian meanings inherent in the images themselves, but from this difference between the two systems Of visual expression. As a result, current scholarship interprets the representations of the life of Christ either as 'Islamic', hence non-narrative, emblematic, or purely esthetic in content, or as 'Christian' in the sense of having Christian meaning and narrative content against a decorative backdrop of Islamic motifs. But what if we were to reverse these applications and, instead, resolve the paradox by reading the episodes or the life of Christ as Ayyubid-Islamic images with a narrative content? Are there any Ayyubid-Islamic narrative accounts that would explain enigmatic appearance of this singular repertoire? representations on canteen and the basin focus on Mary and Jesus and therefore on Bethlehem and Jerusalem (The loci of Jesus's birth and his eventual return). This cycle is framed by the two events of the Annunciation and the Entry into Jerusalem, and the canteen especially highlights Mary as the mother of the Messiah through its inclusion and central positioning of the enthroned Madonna and Child. These themes generally correspond to accounts of Mary (Maryam) and Jesus (Isa ibn Maryam) in Islamic scriptures, where Jesus is one of the many Muslim prophets preceding Muhammad. The Merits of Jerusalem, sing the praises of the city as the site sanctified by God, limned by angels and blessed by prophets. They also gloss the lives of the prophets associated with it, often while expanding on its sacred topography; for instance, Ayn Sulwan (the Spring of Siloam) is mentioned in relation to Jesus as the location where Mary was tested about truth of the Immaculate Conception, and Jerusalem was visited by the Prophet Muhammad during the Night Journey (in which the Prophet was Miraculously transported from Mecca to Jerusalem and thence to heaven), when he also stopped to pray at the birthplace of his 'brother Jesus' in nearby Bethlehem. Aside from bringing God's message in the Gospels, the Messiah's most important role in these accounts is eschatological; he will return to Jerusalem to battle al-dajjal (the 'anti-Christ') and bring about Resurrection at the end of time. By the time that Saladin retrieved Jerusalem in 1187, the Merits had grown into a whole new literary genre. Their popularity and their dissemination at all levels of society through oral recitation to large audiences may have led to the for visual representations of the same special narrative repertoire as well as accounting for the wide range of quality among the group of eighteen metal objects. In the more politically motivated poetry of the time, the Messiah seeks succour and victory over the Crusaders under the Ayyubid banner. Repeatedly, the _____ appears in contemporary poetry to condemn and deny 'the worshippers of the cross' who had desecrated the holy city. The representations on the basin and canteen reflect the recapture of Jerusalem's memories and recall the role of the Messiah as its saviour by depicting his life from the moment it is announced to his eventual return to the holy city. Significantly, the episodes depicted on these objects omit crucifixion, which is not part of the Islamic cycle. But this omission does not eliminate the possibility of Christian readings (and users) for the objects and their repertoire, a measure of the degree to which the counter-Crusades were not conceived as a war between Muslims and Christians, but as an effort to repel foreign invaders from the Holy Land. The poetry and Merits reaffirm Jerusalem's identity as Islamic holy city and universal shrine, and recapture the memory or Jesus as Messiah and Muslim prophet. Jerusalem and Jesus are positioned within a web of associations and memories that allowed them to be shared by diverse communities or Muslims, Jews and Christians, all of whom returned to the city and, as in the case of the local Christians, were protected by Saladin and the Ayyubids after 1187. This narrative image of Jesus and Jerusalem parallels the representations on the basin and canteen in both content and receptivity to various interpretations. The figural repertoire of the 2 objects tells the story of Jerusalem's shared prophet from the announcement of his coming to his eventual return to resanctify the holy sanctuary, the locus of memory that is protected by the 'holy Warriors of the faith' and celebrated by processions or warrior saints. Although the representations necessarily follow available models of this figural narrative repertoire they should not be read as images that are exclusively 'Christian' in meaning or as symbols of the Ayyubid-Islamic 'appropriation' of the identity and memory of the other. Nor should their meanings be restricted to a single, exclusionary interpretation. Rather. they are as open and as receptive to different memories and imaginations as the liminal space to which they refer. The Freer's Ayyubid basin and canteen, therefore, represent a markedly different (and more open) approach to the relationship between image and identity, and between place and memory, from the Crusaders' restrictive practice.

martyrium/ciborium

Circular plane: _________ or Ciborium -centralized plan/circular design -commemorative function: memorializes a person, object, or plane/ event -Emphatic function: draws attention to the importance of the center and any object, person, etc located there (the rock) example: Santa Constanza Rome 4th century (Byzantine in style). circle with a sarcophagus in the center Dome of the Rock

pictorial, minor, court

Samarra Palace Jawsaq al-khaqani Fragments of large mural paintings in the dwellings and bath houses of Samarra and, most particularly, in the domed central hall and the private quarters of the palace of Jawsaq. The classical strain still predominant in Umayyad figural representations was overshadowed in Samarra by what may be called a _____ style in the old Persian tradition. 1) Lively animals in full movement, drawn in the Hellenistic manner, still occurred, and one of the more imposing frescos of the palace consisted of powerfully composed rinceaux with branches like cornucopias, inhabited by human and animal figures, a theme common in late classical art. 2) Most of the paintings, however, represent nearly static, heavily built, expressionless human figures and animals with close parallels in Sasanian silverware, and a few contemporary textiles; also similar is the treatment of the motifs as patterns and the lack of interest in landscape and the miseen-scéne. Similar material has been found in frescos from Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan. The physiognomy (person's facial expression) and coiffure (person's hairstyle) so common in Samarra occurred in Turfan, and frescos excavated at Varakhsha and Panjikent, though in many respects quite different, also exhibit some related features. These paintings have to be seen as a mixture of strongly orientalizing versions of Hellensitic themes on the one hand, and motifs and modes of representation derived directly from the Ancient Orient on the other. 1) use of both 3-quarter and frontal views of the human face clearly demonstrates this dichotomy. Some marked differences are also apparent: 1) a pronounced preference for the female figure had manifest under the Umayyads, while in early and middle Sasanian art it played a very _____ role. Unfortunately the finds were too limited to allow much generalization about favoured themes, but obviously the pleasures of the ____ — the hunt, dance, and the drinking of wine — are frequently represented. 2) Other subjects may be of a more symbolic nature or intended simply to produce rich surfaces; written sources even tell of a painting showing a monastic church, and one fragment came from a bottle with the representation of a Christian monk. A typical example of this art is the scene of a huntress from the private part of the palace. The main figure has often been compared with the huntress Diana, but the face has a distinctly oriental cast, with its long hooked nose and fleshy cheeks, as has the bunch of black hair at the back and the slender curl on the temple. She seems animated, as do her prey and the dog, but the movement is both petrified and exaggerated, an effect further accentuated by the expressionless gazes of both huntress and prey. The decorative spots on the animal and the patterned fall of the huntress's garment contribute to the unrealistic quality of this skillfully composed work. All the Jawsaq paintings were designed by Qabiha, mother of the caliph al-Mutazz, then covered with whitewash by his puritanical successor al-Muhtadi. At least so it is reported in a much later story. Like the other arts, the paintings from Samarra were apparently influential elsewhere in the caliphate. The Tulunids of Egypt even went one step further: the second ruler of the dynasty, Khumarawayh, had painted wooden statues of himself, his harem, and singing girls put in his palace, a most unorthodox artistic display yet one that, in its presentation of the courtly pleasures, fitted well into the general picture of themes known to have gratified many of the ruling princes of this period.

hypostyle (t-plan hypostyle)

_____: a flat-roofed structure supported by columns having roof supported by pillars typically in several rows The 1 main mosque is the prophet home in media People come there and congregated The plan used in all homes in his era: rectangle or square building with open courtyard and covered portico Hypostyle "Many columns" Need space large enough to accommodate a community and create community center T-plan: articulated main entrance that leads to the maqsura space and the qibla all has been extenuated Most mosque in Arabic lands used variant of the basic hypostyle for the next few centuries Later used central plane mosque and 4 iwan mosque A word must be said, however, about the first religious buildings of Islam in Iraq, even though most of our information on them is only textual. They were simple, consisting of a large, generally square, area with a deep portico signifying the qibla side and serving as a covered hall of prayer; eventually shallower porticoes were added to the other three sides of the enclosure, resulting in a central courtyard surrounded by porticoes. At first, the covered parts were set on supports taken from older buildings; later they rested on specially built columns or piers. The method of roofing is uncertain; there may at times have been vaults. According to prevalent understanding, this simple plan is based on that Of the mosque house of Muhammad in Madina, which would have become the model in newly founded cities. Although the double purpose of combined dwelling and place of worship was no longer possible of meaningful, these mosques were usually set next to the governor's palace and included within their boundaries a small structure serving as the treasury of the Muslim community (such structures have survived in Damascus and Hama, both in Syria). They were thus not only religious buildings but also the main social and political centres, as implied by the construct al-masjid al-jami, usually translated as congregational mosque. Each quarter of the town had its own small mosque or oratory, but we know nothing about their shape. The significance of the large Iraqi mosques goes beyond the mere fact that in form and function they probably imitated the Madinese house of the Prophet, for, primitive and simple as they were, they reintroduced the hypostyle hall into the Middle East as a characteristic architectural type. This was no conscious mutation of the Old models of Persian apadanas (large halls with many columns), Roman fora, or Egyptian temples: 1) it arose rather from the combination of the need for large space in the newly created cities with the accidental prototype of Muhammad's house in Madina 2) and the availability of disused units of construction like columns. The most significant characteristics of the revived hypostyle are that it was generally connected with a vast interior open space and that, at least in these initial stages, its components could be multiplied at will. from the house of the Prophet at Madina to the Iraqi hypostyle before c. 700 based almost exclusively on textual evidence Courtyard hypostyle (earliest - predominant to 12th century) the cruciform The wide distribution of the hypostyle mosque throughout the lands of the Middle East and North Africa where Arabic is spoken has led some to call them "Arab-type" mosques, although they are also known in Iran and Anatolia where other distinctive mosque plans evolved. 1) The mosque of the Prophet in Medina was only one of several prototypes for hypostyle mosques; other prototypes include the 1) Great Mosque of Damascus 2) the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem 3) the Great Mosques of Samarra. The Great Mosque of Damascus Umayyad caliph al-Walid (r. 703—15) within the peribolus of the ancient Temple of Jupiter, which had already been replaced by the Byzantine church of St. John the Baptist. A large oblong courtyard is surrounded on the north, east and west by arcades. Facing the courtyard, on the south, is the arcuated facade of the prayer-hall, with a higher central nave. The prayer-hall consists of three wide, gabled aisles parallel to the qibla wall. borne on a double arcade and cut transversely by the nave leading to the mihrab. The central bay of this nave is domed; the corresponding dome of the original structure may have been over the bay in front of the mihrab. The qibla wall was originally revetted in quartered marble and glass mosaic, as were the vestibules, the interiors of the arcades and all facades of the courtyard. The fragmentary remains show an experimental phase in the decoration of mosques: they depict landscapes filled with trees and buildings. The meaning of mosaics is uncertain, although they are best interpreted as representing paradise. This mosque, which combines Byzantine architectural forms and decorative media in a new way, was imitated in many Syrian and Anatolian mosques into the 14th century, most notably the Isa Bey Mosque at Selcuk, neat Ephesos (1374. The Aqsa Mosque, Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem, was built on the site of the unnamed "furthest mosque" (Arab. majid al-aqsd'), Muhammad's miraculous journey to which is recounted in Koran 17: l. By 670 a makeshift mosque had been constructed in the ruins of the Herodian stoa on this side of the Haram, and this version of the mosque was replaced in the early 8th century. Much modified by later rebuilding, the Aqsa Mosque develops the form of the mosque of the Prophet in Medina, although it is unusual because it has no integral court, undoubtedly due to the peculiarities of its situation, The essential form of the building, a gable-roofed hypostyle mosque on arcades supported by marble columns. with a wider axial nave and a dome before the mihrab, was repeated far afield in the congregational mosques of Fustat (Old Cairo) in Egypt, KAIROUAN in Tunisia and Cordoba in Spain, although these later buildings all feature integral courts. The Great Mosque of Cordoba 785 by 'Abd al-Rahman I, the Umayyad ruler of Spain, and repeatedly extended by his successors like al-Hakam Ill, who was responsible for the present mihrab area and its magnificent mosaic decoration, undoubtedly ordered in imitation of Umayyad precedents in Syria, although the Cordoban geometric and vegetal ornament shares little with the naturalism of the prototypes. The mosque is unique in its system of naturalism, with double arcades of alternating brick and stone voussoirs, and its intersecting lobed arches that screen off the bays in front and on either side of the mihrab. The arrangement of the mihrab as a small room behind an open arch, however, and the scheme of the decoration around that arch set a model for later mosques in the western Islamic world, such as the Great Mosque of Tlemcen. Tlemcen is representative of many North African congregational mosques of the 12th to 14th centuries, which comprise a distinctive subtype. They have a mihrab formed as a supports, a recess for the minbar when not in use, rectangular brick piers supporting simple and complex arcades of varying profiles, a central aisle hardly wider than the other bays, an elaborate dome over the bay in front of the mihrab, a gabled tile roof and little emphasis on the portals or exterior facades. The minarets of these mosques are square towers, often placed, as at Kairouan, in the center of the arcade opposite the qibla wall. The mosques of Damascus and Jerusalem also served as models for Cairene mosques of the 11th to the 15th centuries, although many variations were introduced. Such examples as the mosques of al-Hakim (989/90—1013) and of al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh (1415—20) retain the wider central aisle and hypostyle plans but show increased height, elaborately decorated portals and multiple minarets. Egyptain mosques are generally flat-roofed, as the dry climate does not demand vaulting or gabled roofing. A fourth prototype for hypostyle mosques is represented by the two congregational mosques at SAMARRA, the 9th-century capital built by the Abbasid caliphs on the Tigris north of Baghdad. The one called the mosque of Abu Dulaf was of yet another type, longer than it was wide and covered with a flat roof borne on rectangular brick piers. This form, including its separate, helicoidal minaret, was the model for the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo (879) and, with the exception of the minaret, for many early congregational mosques in Iran and Central Asia, such as the Tarik-Khana at DAMGHAN (9th century) and the 9th-century mosque at Isfahan. The introduction of the T-plan is more difficult to explain. It may have been an attempt to impose on a large diffuse plan of equal units a skeleton emphasizing certain major lines; in this sense the T-plan could be understood as a continuation of the axial naves of Umayyad times. In addition, as the Abbasid princes withdrew into their Palaces, the mosque began to Iose some of its social and Political character as the locale where the Commander of the Faithful or his representative met with the faithful to worship and transmit decisions and policies; a professional khatib (preacher) replaced the caliph, and the religious and Devotional aspect of the building because further emphasized, particularly the wall indicating the direction of prayer and its holiest place, the mihrab. This could be another explanation for the T-plan. However, ruling princes still built mosques at that time, even if they did not use them regularly, so perhaps the plan was intended to emphasize the maqsura, the enclosed area reserved for the prince and his suite; this interpretation coincides with the explanation proposed for the axial nave under al-Walid and also fits with certain later developments, like those at Cordoba. The sources do not help us to choose between these technical or aesthetic, religious, and royal ceremonial hypotheses; all provide fruitful lines of investigation, and it can be argued that all contributed to the newly created type.

Sassanian

TypeA: geometric figures fulled with floral patterns (vine leaves, grapes, palmettes, and stalked). The floral patterns contrast with background by having their surfaces carved in small geometric patterns of various types Type B: rosette shape dominates, no stems or stalkes. Floral representations not naturalistic, thus are origin of arabesque. both derive from ______ art Style A: vine-leave ornament bearing resemblance to the Hellenistic, naturalizing origin. Style B: vegetal ornament with some abstraction such as no stalks from which the leaves grow. Style C: moulded pattern, very abstract with a combination of vegetal and geometric motifs. Patterns are normally inscribed within borders.

qsar, Military, administrative, fortified, portals, 2, classical, ruler

_____: palace, castle or enclosure Palaces were a combination of ______ and _______ centers They were luxury quarters for royalty extensive gardens---> impressive because they are in the desert, be able to command water and irrigation shows power Groups would come there: Think of it in terms of like a summer home/having different residence (large structure because they would need housing for all members of the entourage) In deserts in levant (Syria, Jerusalem, Jordan) Not a lot of urban remains (were built on top of) Desert Housing for all members of the entourage Was like a summer home/having different residence They Umayyad caliphs lived lavishly Functions: it served as a place for fun (hunting, entertain, vacation) political purpose: The Umayyad empire covered a lot of land, in order to keep people outside the city of Damascus under control and mange them you have to interface with them. They were anchors where people could come meet with the caliph. There are mosque in them It served as a place to escape the pressure of being rulers in Damascus. Have bathhouses In the 8th century epidemics would break out so they would go to the desert Start building begin in 8th century by mid 8th century the Umayyad fell to Abbasids and they escaped to Spain. Characteristics of Umayyad non-urban palaces all in desert 1) ______ (castrum) and palace (type) of square enclosed (ca. 70 m./side)with round towers 2) monumental ______ (entrance, archway) 3) _____ story porticoed courtyards 4) mixture of byzantine and Sasanian construction details and decorative techniques 5) emphasis on synthesizing themes from ____ world 6) search for new imagery of the ____ How ruler present themselves and solidify power (We have the synthesis of their characteristic in terms that visual culture that they bring in Byzantium and Sassan elements, and build off the Romans (to articulate a certain form)) Qasr al-hayr documented two important points: 1) First, the forms and techniques used originated in the architectural vocabulary of Late antiquity, for the most part from the Mediterranean. There is no technical or formal invention here, but there is a different use of these forms. 2) The second point also derives partly from Roman architecture: utilities such as waterworks or inns are given a striking monumentality. One can only hypothesize about the historical and human conditions which created Qasr al-Hayr, but undoubtedly the exterior monumentality of its buildings served the purpose of demonstrating wealth and the power of a new empire. In summary, the Umayyad chateaux, varying in size and wealth, transformed the fortress and the bath into places for gracious living, according to the norms of the time. In all specific aspects — shapes of rooms, methods of construction, size, techniques — the Umayyads followed the traditions of Roman and early Byzantium, and in Iraq and Palestine dependence on precise pre-Islamic monuments and types is clear. But, at the same time, the bringing together of these features and their new use for early Muslim princes, as well as their location outside great urban centres, bestow upon them a specifically Umayyad character. The techniques of painting and sculpture in Umayyad palaces are not much different from those of preceding centuries: fresco painting in the roman manner, and stone-carving as had been practised for centuries in syria and palestine. More important, both for its implication of oriental influences and for its impact on architecture, is the large-scale use of stucco sculpture. Its cheapness and rapidity of execution permit the easy transformation of an architectural unit into a surface for decoration, a tendency common enough in the sasanian world.

bands, vine leaf, freehand, themes, abstract, moulded, relationship, background, ornament, vertical axis, arabesque, abstraction

By and large Abbasid mosques were decorated very soberly. At Samarra there is almost no applied ornament. Much of the architectural decoration of the Abbasid period, especially in mosques, is still quite Late Antiquity in spirit, even though the themes may have changed, decoration of the palaces and houses of the ninth-century capital in Iraq where, in fascinating contrast to religious buildings, the walls of almost every house and every room in the palaces were covered with decorated and painted stucco) (in addition to occasional marble panels), in continuation of Iranian and Umayyad practice. Samarra stuccoes can be divided into three basic styles. Their order of appearance cannot be determined. Style A: tends to develop within identifiable frames, most commonly in long _____ (at times T-shaped), but sometimes in simple rectangles or polygons. 1) Its characteristic feature is the _____ ____, its parts always sharply outlined, with four deeply sunk 'eyes' and often with incised veins. 2) The striking and effective contrast between the theme itself and the deeply carved void of the background can be explained by the peculiar technique of execution ex Situ on specially prepared mats. Both vocabulary and treatment are related to the vine ornament, already used by the Umayyads, which prevailed throughout the eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. By the 9th century the same few formulas are being dully repeated, and Samarra is not comparable with the facade of Mshatta. Style B: 1) was usually carved _____, with a greater variety of ____, motifs, and shapes. The motifs develop within much more diversified frames, from all-over patterns to many different polylobes and polygons. 2) the contrast between subject and background is much less apparent than in Type A, because the design takes over almost the whole surface, and is heightened by the deep grooves around individual motifs. 3) while the vegetal origin of most of the themes is clear, the surface of the individual leaf or flower is almost totally covered with small notches and dots, and its outline has been simplified into an almost _____ shape which acquired its significance only in relation to other units of decoration and to a pre-established pattern. While perhaps not very beautiful, this style is peculiarly appealing because in the best examples its symmetrically arranged patterns constantly contrast an inner tension and movement with the rigidity of geometric frames. 4) can best be understood as a further modification of Late Antiquity ornament, perhaps to contrast with the exuberance of Umayyad palatial ornament; for the central characteristics described above were already present in the stuccoes of the great Umayyad palaces, and no new and external impetus has yet been identified. While the first two Samarra styles are related to the tendencies of the 1st Islamic century, Style C introduces something quite new and far-reaching in its implications. 1) Its first characteristic results from its technique: the design was _____, and consists of endless rhythmic repetitions of curved lines with spiral endings, at times with additional notches, slits, pearl borders, or other identifiable elements. 2) Moreover, throughout, the lines were 'beveled' (they meet the surface obliquely) so that the wall surface has a strongly plastic quality. 3) style is identifiable not through specific units of design but rather through a certain relationship between lines, notches, and planes; in other words, the unifying factor is no longer the elements themselves but rather their _____ to each other. 4) none of the traditional geometric, vegetal, or animal themes is used, and the ______ has disappeared, so that in effect the whole surface of the wall is _____. 5) The final characteristic (at least in stucco) is symmetry on a _____ ____; but (except where the exact size of the wall surface known, or where the decorator has introduced a geometric unit) the axis is not self-evident front the design, but can vary from place to place. Type C major characteristics are 1) repetition 2) bevelling 3) abstract themes 4) total covering 5) symmetry. Its significance goes beyond Abbasid architectural decoration, for it is the first, and in certain ways the purest and most severe, example of the 'delight in ornamental meditation and aesthetic exercise"" which has been called the ______. Its impact was immediate, for it appears in the stuccoes of the mosque of Ibn Tulun and in many small objects, and it remained in use for several centuries. Origins of Style C A series of capitals found in the area of the middle Euphrates, near or in Raqqa, shows an evolution from vegetal ornament which leads almost to the Samarra pattern, and the third style, like the 2nd, could be another systematized variation on earlier decorative principles which was given striking effect through the use of an original technique and the impact of metal or wooden moulds. But eastern Syrian capitals are not datable and they may be later than Samarra, and therefore perhaps indebted to it. Another explanation is based on the fact that Central and even Inner Asian wood work and metalwork from nomadic areas show a very similar technique and fairly similar transformations or vegetal designs. Samarra's Style C. should probably be explained as a moment in an evolutionary process simplifying forms of Antique origin to the point of total ______, because of a willed or repressed avoidance of living beings in publicly accessible monuments. Its quality of abstraction may explain its impact in the rest of the Muslim world.

sultan Hasan, madrasa, congregational

Complex of _____ ______ never completed, the mosque of Sultan Hasan been praised as one of the major monuments of the Islamic world Its founder, sultan Hasan, was not one of the major rulers of Egypt; he came to power as a child, and authority was in the hands of his regents. His rule was interrupted, and when he was killed, his body was hidden and never found again. Cairo's greatest mausoleum was empty until an amir was buried there more than a century later. The mosque of Sultan Hasan was a madrasa for the four rites of Islamic law, and for first time in Cairo, the madrasa had also the status of a congregational mosque for the Friday sermon. It is the most gigantic of Cairo's mosques, built to house 400 students. The cost became so high that the work had to be left uncompleted. TILE SITE Erected on the site of a palace that was pulled down, overs square where the hippodrome and horse market were located, beneath the royal residences of the Citadel (one of the most prestigious sites in Cairo, and the centerpiece of the panoramic view from al-Qasr al-Ablaq with its huge gilded window grills). The entire architectural conception of this gigantic building responded to the privileged character of the site. Its location was, however, also a liability, for with its massive walls and proximity to the Citadel, it suffered in ways that no other mosque in Cairo did. The mosque is free standing, has 3 facades 4th side has the large commercial complex and other dependencies belonging to the waqf of Sultan Hasan which financed the foundation. A waterwheel is still in place. The facade: has a dome flanked on each side by a minaret. The dome was that of the mausoleum, it was huge and bulbous, built of wood and covered with lead as is the dome of Imam Shaifi. 1 of the 2 original minarets has survived, the highest minaret of medieval Cairo at 84 meters. It is octagonal throughout and shaft has geometric patterns made of inlaid stone, and its top is composed of a bulb on 8 columns. Its silhouette is massive compared to other minarets of the same period. The 2nd minaret collapsed in 1659 and was replaced by the interior structure we see today on the north corner of the mausoleum. The facade of Sultan Hasan's mosque seen from the Citadel is quite irregular. Domed square of the mausoleum protrudes on 3 sides and is high, over 30 meters At its top is a projecting stalactite cornice in carved stone running along the facade of the building. Center of each of the 3 mausoleum facades is decorated with a medallion with a bull's-eye in the center, framed by interlaced bands in two colors. Has 2 rows of windows, 1) the upper ones inserted in recesses crowned with stalactites surmounted by a shallow couch, an arrangement similar to portal treatments. The shallow conch is decorated with interlaced bands. 2) lower windows are inserted in recesses that have a stepped pyramidal profile and were once decorated with faience mosaics. These mosaics show that the craftsmen from Tabriz who came during the reign of Sultan al-Näsir Muhammad, Sultan Hasan's father, must have had their workshops in Cairo for several decades. Finely carved columns with stalactite capitals and bases grace the corners. The twisted carved motif on the shaft of the columns is also seen on the colonnettes decorating the facade of the al-Aqrnar mosque, a motif going back to Byzantine tradition. The southern facade of the complex has 8 horizontal rows of windows, each 2 corresponding to one story of student cells. This composition gives the facade the appearance of a modern highrise not seen in any other medieval building in Cairo. The northern facade, with the mosque's portal, is also characterized by a multitude of windows. THE PORTAL portal occupies whole length of the facade. Its most remarkable feature is that it is set at an angle to the rest of the facade. It may have been set askew so that it is visible from the Citadel, or perhaps simply to suit the street alignment. The portal is dominated by a cascade of dripping stalactites surmounted by a fluted half-dome. The architecture of the portal with minarets flanking the stalactite vault , the carved bands framing it, and the panels filled with geometric patterns. Original plan of the mosque, with two prayer hall at the portal. The original plan called for four minarets: 1) one was built at the portal, but collapsed before the 2nd was erected, and the plan to build minarets at the portal was abandoned. Sultan Hasan portal could have been designed by a Cairo craftsman who had been in Anatolia and was impressed by the portal of the madrasa, or it could have been made by an Anatolian craftsman in Cairo who was inspired by the same building. According to Maqrizi craftsmen from all over the world worked on the mosque of Sultan Hasan. The portal of Sultan Hasan's mosque is superlative in size and the quality of the craftsmanship involved in its decorations. The decoration was never completed, though work on the mosque continued for years after Sultan Hasan's death. Because the prayer hall dictated the orientation of the main part of the mosque, it was the part completed first. Carved bands adorning portal are not continued above, and stages of work can thus be seen: the carvings below are completed and the patterns above them are incised but not carved out, showing that work began on the lower part and moved upwards. The uppermost part of the portal is devoid of decoration and seems to be lacking its facing. Carved, not completed, decoration at the portal presents Chinese flower motifs (chrysanthemums and Chinese lotus flowers). These patterns were common in Mamluk 14-century minor-art objects, but this is the only known example in architecture. The patterns do not imply that Chinese craftsmen worked on the mosque, but that the craftsmen who did were familiar with Chinese art motifs. Trade between the Far East and the Islamic world flourished during the fourteenth century, promoted by the opening of land routes between the Mediterranean and China, under the Mongols' Asian hegemony. Chinese porcelains and silks, highly cherished in Egypt, must have inspired Cairene artists to enlarge their decorative repertoire with these exotic designs. On the right side of the entrance is a narrow, carved panel with architectural designs, such as a Gothic portal and a domed structure with gabled roof of Western, probably Byzantine, origin, possibly a craftsman's signature in disguise. In fact, the layout of the vestibule, with a stone dome on pendentives flanked with three half domes dripping with stalactites, is Byzantine in style The domed structure has been interpreted as the Dome of the Rock. Before entering the vestibule, there is a handsome inlaid marble inscription and two marble niches inlaid with geometric designs, whose conchs are decorated with stalactites as in Anatolian prayer niches The vestibule has a large stone bench that may have been used by Quran readers, and also has medallions of inlaid marble with intricate geometric patterns and carved stone niches. The original bronze door of Sultan Hasan's mosque and huge bronze chandelier are else where now. The Interior The courtyard framed by four unequal and enormous vaulted halls or iwans. In center is an ablution fountain completed in 1362 composed of 8 marble columns carrying a bulbous wooden dome decorated with an inscription band in relief. This is perhaps a replica of the missing mausoleum dome that was also wooden, and bulbous. The great size of the 4 iwans leaves no space for the cells to overlook the courtyard (there many windows overlook the street on the southern and northern facades). The other cells have windows onto light shafts. Between the 4 iwans are the 4 entrances to each of the madrasas. Entrances: 1) decorated with rich multicolored marble inlay work. 2) The largest madrasa, on the right side of the prayer hall of the Hanafi rite. Next largest, on the left side of the sanctuary of the Shäfi'i rite. The Maliki and Hanbali madrasas are on the opposite side. 3) Each madrasa has a courtyard with ablution fountain, a qibla-oriented iwan, and four stories of living units. Some cells are larger than others, and a number of latrines are included in the living quarters. Each cell on the street side has 2 large windows, one above the other, making the interior very light and giving the inhabitants a view outside. Some features of the plan of Sultan Hasan's mosque. such as the location of the cells in relation to the four iwans, may have been inspired by the madrasa of Sarghitmish. However, the madrasa or Sultan Hasan locates most of the cells on the street, the only Cairene madrasa to do so, leaving the courtyard dominated by the four huge vaults At the madrasa of Sarghitmish, some cells overlook the courtyard and others open onto The main and side streets, but the windows are not so organically integrated into the architecture of the facade as they are at Sultan Hasan. The marble pavement of the courtyard is modern. There is no decoration of the iwans except that of the sanctuary. This iwans is the largest vaulted hall of the medieval Muslim world and is reported by Maqrizi as being even a few cubits larger than the iwän of Kisrå at Ctesiphon. The iwan of Kisrå, or vault of Cyrus (Khusraw), still standing not far from Baghdad, was part of a gigantic palace built at Ctesiphon, the Sassanian capital, and attributed to the emperor Cyrus. It is the largest single-span brick vault in the ancient World (twenty-six meters width by twenty-nine meters height), as famous in the past as at is today. The iwan of Sultan Hasan is richly decorated. The qibla wall is paneled with a large polychrome marble dado, as is the prayer niche, flanked with columns whose style indicates that they must be trophies from Crusader buildings in Palestine. A marble dikkat al-muballigh, the bench standing in the sanctuary near the courtyard, is adorned with remarkable columns composed of different colored stones. The pulpit for the Friday sermon is one of the few made of marble. It is topped by a carved bulb and has a portal leading to the steps with stalactite cresting and a beautiful bronze door with openwork bosses in the repoussé technique. There are several other bronze doors leading to various rooms that are masterpieces of medieval metalwork, particularly the one at the window between the sanctuary and the mausoleum, inlaid with silver and gold and bearing the names and titles of Sultan Hasan. Qibla iwan feature is the large inscription band that runs along its three walls, made of stucco with ornate Kufic script on a background of floriated scrolls with Chinese lotus blossoms. There is a similar band in the iwan of the Hanafi madrasa, but there is nothing else similar in Cairo architecture. The style is, however, typical of Qur'an illuminations of the period, and the architect must have been inspired by these to translate the designs into stucco. Close to this band on the right is the signature of a Naqqash or decorator called 'Abel Allah Muhammad 'Ali Hasan. 'Abd al-Wahhab's interpretation of another signature found on the inscription band of the Hanafi madrasa as that of the architect is contradicted by historical sources, for the signature is that of the Shad Al-'ama'in, or supervisor of works, who was usually an arnir, not a craftsman. The Mausoleum The domed chamber of the mausoleum is reached by a door on the left side of the prayer niche and is thus located just behind the sanctuary, an unusual plan in Cairo. Only the mosque of Amir Husayn (1319) and the mosque of Mahmud Pasha (1568) have the mausoleum behind the prayer hall. Usually, if attached to the qibla wall, the mausoleum is to one side of the prayer hall so that worshipers do not pray toward the founder's mausoleum. The unconventional location of Sultan Hasan's domed mausoleum is most likely explained by the urban setting of the building, built to impress the viewer from the Citadel with the mosque's grand scale and exotic dome. Because of the location, the mausoleum is free standing on three sides and its windows open onto the street though the structure still adjoins the prayer hall. The concession made to gain these advantages was the unconventional, perhaps unorthodox, but apparently not forbidden, placement of the dome. In fact, building a mausoleum for a founder is in itself unorthodox in Muslim religion, as is even the decoration of mosques. None of the medieval historians, however, seem to have been upset by the location of Sultan Hasan's mausoleum. The chamber, the largest domed mausoleum in Cairo, thirty meters to the top of the rectangle, is twenty-one meters wide Its wooden inscription band, whose high relief is painted white, is easily read from below. The wooden stalactite pendentives formerly carried a wooden dome higher than the present one. In the upper part of the transitional zone are inscriptions with the name of Sultan indicating that restorations must have been carried out during his reign. Restorations were also made in 1671-77, as stated in an inscription. The Islamic Museum in Cairo houses a large collection of glass enameled lamps that once hung in the mosque, as well as gigantic and splendid bronze chandeliers. Many chains still hang from the ceiling, but the lamps have gone

maqsura

_____: screened area where the ruler sits (originally for his safety and anonymity) Screen which encloses the area of the MINBAR & MIHRAB "Maqsura area" or bay: A module of space Create a space often enclosed by a dome above it Most important space in the mosque Like the front of the church and it sanctifies the different architectural elements. It is a way of off setting the space. No one prays in the maqsura Enclosure in a mosque, situated near the mihrab and minbar, defined by a metal or timber screen, used by a ruler for purposes of protection and status

qibla

_____: the direction of Mecca; the wall in a Mosque toward which Muslims bow down to pray, the wall that faces toward Mecca

Aleppo Citadel, Machicolations

______ ______, al-Ghazi, 1193- 1215 The Great Mosque of Aleppo the minaret was destroyed, hypostyle, modeled on the Great mosque of Damascus Arrow Slits at Aleppo Citadel Machicolations at Aleppo Citadel Gate of the Serpants at Aleppo Citadel Citadels Islamic about military architecture? Military architecture is the most direct expression of power In Islamic world, almost every major city had a citadel Reading: Question about every major civilization had made defensive architecture. If defensive architecture is intrinsic to The Human Condition can we say there is something special about those made in Islamic world (unique about them)? With respect to the architecture of war and power, can you speak of this architecture illustrate cultural particularities? Can you say that? In middle ages, the citadel of Aleppo is one of the most sophisticated for its age. Early Muslims followed earlier prevailing military architecture What is needed for military architecture: walls, size windows, walls that limited interior and exterior connections (the plan), fortified gates and entrances, vantage points (surveillance towers and build on highest point of ground), space of barracks (places for people to live and survive, places for people to move about and having mobility), using geography (cities and terrain to create obstacles), irrigation and means of bring in water These citadels were in cities but they were like mini cities onto themselves (had many subsidiary buildings in the heart of the city proper). Distinctly Islamic? Aleppo citadel In Syria: Aleppo is heavily attacked in Syria civil war. It is currently divided between the loyalists and rebels. Part of wall is bombed. 10th century: used as a Fortress and center of military power in Aleppo 12th century: increased fortification and addition of mosque 13th century: major reconstruction that turned it into the Aleppo city that it is It sits on a hill with a steep (significant grade) slope. The mound was made and reinforced with stone. A moat around it. If you did get over the moat there is a very steep slope you then have to climb (it is very open, exposed side). palatial spaces are inside the citadel (ruler go there during attack) There is a tiny bridge (it is small, very thin (narrow) It limits the number of people who are able to attach the citadel and it is very exposed (you can be shot by arrows). Less troops can go through at a time (smaller line of people attacking) By the time you get through the city, and you are on the bridge, archers in the windows will shot at you and you have to cross the tiny bridge. The Citadel operates on a complex system of movements in which it tries to control the movements and tries to anticipate the behavior of the attacker. Arrow Slits at Aleppo Citadel: Complex ways of accessing it is big enough to shot arrows through (nothing can really come in). The window is tapered to improve accuracy and range (you can move from side to side to shot). The monumental facade: ________ at Aleppo Citadel Machicolations: holes in the walls, sit at spaces that have been pushed out (from projected structures) They poured hot oil and rocks from these The inside is dark (not lit) sections of different levels. There are six 90 degree right turns to get in and there is more Machicolations. Narrow corridors and different stair levels Applying strategy to architecture Improvements (technology) by Islam culture to make the structure more defensive: (innovation of 13th) 1) narrow arrow slits with angled entrances 2) Machicolations 3) bent gate Narrower corridors Decoration is little There is inscription Gate of the Serpants at Aleppo Citadel Is terrify you have to walk on The little decoration there is is meant to inspire fear and cast sense of authority over those who might attack it. Suggest impregnable. The highest point is the minaret: important symbolism. It is a call to prayer and can see everything (visibility) It fuses the idea of piety (religious devolution) with power We are defensing Aleppo as an Islamic city (defense of the faith and of the city) Why defensive architecture? the crusades Crusades is for 2 centuries (1096-1300) They were military expeditions initially by medieval papacy to rescue the holy lands from Muslim control The levant, Syria, Jerusalem Holy warriors emergy The Popes are different person: trained in military exploited and generals Why? 1) Europe see need for economic advantage The Mediterranean and Levant had not been under western control since the holy Roman empire. It was well connected to the trade routes (money, goods, trade, etc). 2) There was a bunch of angry, young men in Europe. There was a population boom (during the 2 centuries of the Crusades). It was convenient in turning away internal feuds between different principalities in Europe and making alliance to send troops to war. Wanted this area that was once a part of the Roman Empire There was 9 major crusades, it was not very successful (not much territory) It reopened the connection between the Mediterranean and into the Levant and into the modern Eastern mid-east which leads to China Was important for globalization 1) They opened up trade routes 2) Change in mood: movement of ideas and build communities (created level of optimism in Europe, a sense of superiority, self confidence and sense of shared ideas that then sent people on these missions, gave Europe the confidence to be the colonial Explorers they are later going to be) Foritifed gate, the bridge, massive barbican defending the entrance and reception hall built over it Citadel (qal'a, kuhandiz or qasaba): A fortified defensive unit. occupied by a king or by a feudal lord and located in an urban centre, is of course not a new development, for it is found in ancient Assyrian cities. Likely Arabs took over existing citadels in the areas they conquered (north-eastern Iran). Another type of government building appeared in western and central provinces of the empire as Turkish military became the main ruling force in most of the Muslim world, old citadels were refurbished (Jerusalem or Aleppo) and new ones were built (Cairo). 10th and 11th centry every town of importance had a aquired seat of power. These took the form of a forbidding, fortified area, usually built astride the city's walls, but sometimes tucked away in a commanding corner of the city or, much more rarely, situated outside the city. The most spectacular and best preserved of these citadels is the one in Aleppo located on a partly natural and partly artificial mound overlooking the whole town. A superb stone glacis emphasizes the height of the monument, which can only be reached through a bridge over a moat. Inside, ornate, formal audience halls adjoin mosques, baths, living quarters, even a religious sanctuary dedicated to Abraham, cisterns (tank for water), granaries, and prisons. There is something very haphazard about the internal arrangements of Aleppo's citadel, possibly because of the rugged requirements of the terrain, but also because there was no set plan for citadels and Aleppo's citadel grew according to the whims of individual local rulers. Few citadels are as impressive as Aleppo's, but most of them were located in such a fashion that both practically and symbolically they dominated the urban centres that they controlled. Hypothesized citadels initially were strictly military, serving to accommodate alien soldiery away from the city's population. As the version of feudalism peculiar to Islam developed and as local dynasties were founded, some amenities of life were introduced into citadels, as well as official reception halls and other symbols of power such as fancy inscriptions on walls and gates — for example the sculptures of lions and snakes on Aleppo's citadel. Eventually citadels became the palace of local rulers or of governors appointed from elsewhere. The constituent elements of citadel architecture were drawn from the wide collection of forms and functions created elsewhere : baths from the city, reception halls from palaces, walls and towers from defensive architecture. It is unlikely that there was a compositional order tor citadels, and originality of the Islamic citadel lies rather in the fact that so many very different kinds of monuments combined together in the same ensembles. Walls with towers, and gates and citadels serve primarily military functions. Because of its universal uses military architecture is rarely original in themes or techniques and Muslim examples are no exception. The appreciation of monuments like Aleppo's citadel, the outer walls of Cairo and Diyarbakir, the gates of Rabat or of Marrakesh lies more in a fascination for their impressive location, or for their unusual state of preservation, than in an awareness of their technical achievements. In most other ways these monuments simply continue a long tradition of military architecture already fully developed in ancient Middle Eastern empires and in Rome. In construction or decoration they reflect prevailing local tastes, with occasional tendencies toward grandiloquence.

Great Mosque of Damascus

_____ _____ ________ ___ _______, Caliph Al-Walid I, 715 Umayyad T-Plan, Hypostyle Damascus is an old city like Jerusalem. Founded in the 3rd millennium BCE. It is the oldest, continuous inhabited city in the world (since copper age). Influenced by foreign groups for most of its history. Was conquered by the Egyptians, Syrians, Greeks, Romans, and one of the first sites Christianity spread to, Byzantines, Arabs, the moguls, etc have occupied Damascus. Syria has been dangerous place. Damascus becomes the capital of the Umayyads. Caliph Al-Walid I is son of Abd Al-Walid (made dome of the rock). Follows his father in using building to present the majesty of Islam. Trying to one up his father. Torn down Church of st. John, before that it was a temple of Jupiter, to build the mosque. History of architecture is filled with destruction and taking over the space. They reuse the columns from the temple of Jupiter. They demolished the church for the most part but keep some of the foot print. They had shift the prayer hall towards Mecca (Corinthian capitals were reused). Belief there is a shrine to saint John (his head). Al-Aqsa Mosque of Al-Walid -sets on the noble sanctuary in Jerusalem -changed so many times we can't study as his mosque The Prophet's House/Mosque ca. 622: Hypostyle Courtyard The Damascus Mosque ca. 710: T-Plan, Hypostyle Courtyard Is a specialized hypostyle. Finishes it in 715 Had been reused so much they shift the prayer hall to face Mecca Is inspired by the Muhammad's house (open courtyard) but is tweaked slightly Found rectangular shaped more effective >Courtyard (arcades: arches, columns, piers; clerestory), tripartite triumphal entrance to prayer hall >Hypostyle: Prayer hall >Decoration in marble & mosaic: Some original mosaics survive in the courtyard Church plan is long, rectangular form (basilica) The mosque is lateral, because people line up to pray towards mecca (more effective form) Both hypostyle: covered, courtyard, covered portico Called it a T-plan: t leads you to the minharb and maqsura, minbar. Becomes most common plan for the next several hundred years When it was built it could hold all male Muslims in the city of Damascus The caliph had his own entrances (there is 4 entrances). It has a treasury (to the side of the courtyard). (The head is supposable on the left hand side). The treasury was used to hold money, makes sense because part of being a muslims is giving donations. St. Stephen Church (Jordan) & Damascus Mosque mosaics: Cities of the Empire Damascus Mosque Mosaic panel & mosaics from a Byzantine Church- also cities Interior: decoration in marble and mosaics Similar mosaics to ones in Dome of the Rock (in visuals form and color, but what they represent is unusual) There are buildings and realistic trees 715 In the 19th c fire destroyed many mosaics Retailed architectural scenes with no people 1) representation of the empire? The great cities under the Umayyad empire 2) one up his dad 3) very serious and depth and space 4) tendency to represent of paradise, lofety chambers of paradise Qur'an: And those who believe, and do righteous deeds, We shall surely lodge them in lofty chambers of paradise, underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever; This is paradise and those who fill these chambers of prayer will be able to go to this paradise (for being faithful) Dome of the Rock- more playful vegetal, imagery (things growing out of things) geometrical, floral designs still the same Color similar The crafts people (Byzantine) might be the same St. Stephen (Church in Jordan) we also see mosaics of buildings (so there was an existing traditions) See two saints and buildings, so they removed the saints and place in trees in the mosque the space went though different transformations. They are keeping the essentials but are changing the space (keep the foot of the building and redesign it) It established a precedent for mosques types. Hypostyle, colonnades inside, mosque elements (inside: minbar, mihrab, maqsura) (outside: minaret and mayd'a) Decoration: mosaics programme, informed by Byzantine and unclear Meaning: paradise, empire looks like, and existing traditions (Byzantine churches)

Baghdad, Mesopotamian, Sassanian, palace, Sasanian

round city of _______, 762, al-Mansur Abbasid Abbasid & Fatimid Royal Cities Abbasid caliphate (begun 750) capitals at Baghdad and Samarra (Iraq) The Umayyad rulering class was a very small minority (Arab minority) maintain by a strong military. All the People who converted were unhappy with what the Umayyad's were doing. Those who championed the causes so the Abbasid emerged. Abbasid visual program 1) see decline of Syria as central place of empire (Syria become another city in the empire instead of central node) 2) decline in Hellenistic influences in art and architecture. Makes sense because they move center of power eastward (Iran and Iraq). 3) rise empire of purely Arab domination (Iran, Iraq) (Arab people) Abbasid: North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran Fatimid: Syria and Egypt When western world think oriental world of past they think of Abbasid- Arabian nights, courts thought of Make bold moved that differentiate them from Umayyads. Umayyads: we are an empire and we are going to up our stamp on Jerusalem and take over Damascus and move to places like Spain and take over cities like Cordoba. Give Islamic stamp on preexisting urban plan Abbasid: we are going to make our own cities.... build a new city Baghdad (along Tigris) Abbasid Architecture & Art Abbasid caliphs 750-1258 Cultural Sphere: Mesopotamia Capitals: Baghdad, Samarra Characteristics: Centralized imperial rule (to 10th century) Turkish & Iranian elements in government, military, & art Transformations in building techniques, scale, material & decoration from Mediterranean/Classical to _______/______ Shift away from Classical and Mediterranean to Mesopotamia and Sassasin influenced Abbasid wanted to treat their cities as intellectual centers, make the Islamic version of Rome Rome: was apex of the empire, all roads lead to Rome They use rivers to open up trade routes Baghdad becomes trade center Adopted models from Sassanian government, had intelligence services and strong military force. Very connected with the rest of the world reappropriate Mesopotamia Round city of Baghdad founded 762 by al-Mansur Madinat al Salaam, Baghdad, Round City of al-Mansur 762 named "city of peace" by caliph al-Mansur founded as round city Why circle? suggest unity, easy to protect, people moved in rings that extend outward Symbolize: the rest of the world radiates out from the caliph's house and mosque (the center of the universe) Gates: represent the 4 directions (North, South, East, West), connects the empire, there is always a gate not matter the direction you are going from that lead you to and way from the city. Why circular city does not work? circles often used, but are abstract idea but aren't in execution. Suppose of be Baghdad as center and gate connect it to all the various points with the caliph and mosque at the center. The people were in the outer sector (arcade). Why it failed because if you need to extend you have to extend all the way around, but that is not sustainable. Only remains perfect shape for a few years and people leave city to live in the suburbs. Ended up functioning as royal palace. It was built on a flood plan and built entirely of brick so not much was left after abandoned. City created its own mythology (was written about and drawn) Dome (green) at center of palace and was surmounted by a statue of a writer. Emperor was sitting at comic point of significant and the city as perfect and center hold upwards. Abbasids: how thoughtful in their project to ruler the world bleed into different spheres of life. They standardized Arabic. The circle as unit of measurement for both standardization Arabic and an unit of measurement, abstract and perfect idealized city. In relation to Dome of the Rock: Difference as city v.s monument: They are emphatic, showing where emphasis is to be placed. The city is place of living and serves it people and the dome of rock is emphasis on looking. The monument people moving in and out easily because its an experience while the city is confined and made it difficult to move around. second half of the eighth century, al-Mansur's Bagdad founded in 762, but it is sufficiently well described in written sources to lend itself to detailed analysis.' Officially called 'City of Peace' (Madina al-Salam), it was conceived in true imperial style as the navel of the universe, and al-Mansur called engineers and labourers from all parts of Islam to build it. It was perfectly round. In the outer ring were houses and shops protected by heavy walls and cut by 4 long streets covered with barrel-vaults. Each street opened on the outside through a two-storeyed gateway and a system of vaults and passages over moats. On 2nd floor of the gateway, accessible by a ramp, was a domed reception hall (majlis) probably to be connected with a Mediterranean imperial tradition, for it was found in Rome and Byzantium and transmitted to the Muslim world by the Umayyads. The entrances were symbolic rather than defensive. Three of the doors were taken from older cities (one attributed to Solomon). The idea behind them was a statement of repossessing the ancient traditions of the area. The extent of the outer ring is uncertain, but the central area was clearly large and, originally mostly uninhabited. At its heart lay a palace and a mosque. The mosque was at the same time the royal mosque attached to the palace and the congregational mosque for the whole population of the city. The palace: 1) was arranged around a court, an iwan of unknown shape, and 2 domed rooms, one above the other, all probably deriving from the Sasanian tradition already adopted in Umayyad buildings in Syria and in Iraq. 2) At the centre of the whole city was a higher dome, the Green (or Heavenly) Dome, surmounted by a statue of a rider with a lance. The interest of Baghdad is twofold. 1) conceived and planned with the cosmic significance of the centre of a universal empire. It remained in its ideal shape for only a few years, for economic necessity pushed it out beyond the walls, and caliphs or major princes abandoned their palaces in the centre for the quietude and security of suburban dwellings. 2) many features derived from the architectural tradition of palaces, for example both the gates and the domed throne room as well as the overall design with four gates for royal audiences. The Abbasid city was thus a magnified royal palace rather than the rich industrial, administrative and commercial centre that it later became. Since nothing is left of the round city of al-Mansur, it is difficult to say whether new methods of construction or architectural forms were introduced. We have only 2 other early Abbasid monuments to compare it with. 1) the complex of cities in the middle Euphrates area known today as Raqqa, is mostly buried. To this Abbasid city founded in 772 supposedly on the model of Baghdad (it is probably the horseshoe-shaped city still visible today), Harun al-Rashid added after 795 number of further constructions. All that remains above ground is a much restored mosque; possibly the location of walls and gates also corresponds to the original Abbasid plan. 2) palace of Ukhaydir. Related its construction to events in the caliph's family and dated it around 778. Its location and fortified exterior relate it to the Umayyad palaces of Syria, but its size and much of its construction are Quite different. The technique (rubble in mortar covered with stucco and brick for vaults), the heavy pillars making up arched recesses on the side of long vaulted halls, the pointed curve of the vaults, and the use of blind arches for the decoration of large wall surfaces all show the persistence of Sasanian methods. In plan, the entrance complex on several floors preceding a domed room followed by a long vaulted hall, plus the central official group of court, iwan, and dome, correspond on a small scale to the textual descriptions of Baghdad. Thus Ukhaydir confirms that in plan Baghdad relied on _____ architecture, and in technique on _____ methods. Ukhaydir illustrates the continuation of the Arab aristocratic tradition of building outside the main cities. Astronomers presided over the tracing of this round city, roughly a mile in diameter. A mighty wall with four axial gates. bearing the names of the provinces or cities towards which they led, enclosed an outer ring of living and commercial quarters, and, in the centre, a mosque and the imperial palace. The latter was provided with two superimposed domes, the symbolic centres of the city and of the universe. The uppermost dome was green, topped with the statue of a rider, and it was echoed by four gilt domes, one over each gate. Nothing survives of this Baghdad and it did not last very long in its ideal state. Contemporary or nearly contemporary literary sources, however, are sufficiently precise to allow a reasonable reconstruction of a city whose geometric perfection, rationally conceived order, and even its name — the City of Peace served as a physical demonstration of the new empire's power and universal claims.

4 iwan mosque/cruciform, Taqkasra

4-iwan plan (12th C on) Cruciform or 4-Iwan Type Basic unit = vaulted space (iwan) Emphasis on 2 horizontal axes + maqsura Remains of Sassnian palace The _____ 540 (Iraq) iwan = a vaulted opening onto a courtyard hellenic elements= the orders and classical facade The four-iwan architectural plan in which each iwan represented one of the four orthodox schools of Islamic law was a result of the madrasa concept The Great Seljuq Re-invention of the mosque The 4-Iwan Plan (Cruciform) The Great Mosque of Isfahan reflects this broader development. The mosque began its life as a hypostyle mosque, but was modified by the Seljuqs of Iran after their conquest of the city of Isfahan in the 11th century. Like a hypostyle mosque, the layout is arranged around a large open courtyard. However, in the four-iwan mosque, each wall of the courtyard is punctuated with a monumental vaulted hall, the iwan. This mosque type, which became widespread in the 12th century, has maintained its popularity to the present. A second major type of congregational mosque, particularly favored in Iran and Central Asia, developed out of the hypostyle mosque. Beginning in the 11th century, some major hypostyle mosques were substantially remodeled. This process can be seen most clearly at the Friday Mosque at Isfahan, but it can be documented elsewhere, as at the congregational mosque in HERAT, Afghanistan. In the late 11th century, after the Saljuqs (r. 1038—1 194) had made Isfahan their capital, a large dome was constructed over many of the bays in front and on either side of the mihrab, probably as a maqsura for the sultan. Some years later, probably after a fire in the early 12th century, the original hypostyle plan was further modified by the introduction of iwans, or open vaulted halls (see IWAN), in the middle of each side of the court's four sides. Many later additions to the Isfahan mosque extended its boundaries and resulted in an irregularly shaped mass closely integrated with the surrounding urban fabric, but the arrangement of a central court with iwans on each of the four sides, the one on the qibla side leading to a dome chamber, became the standard plan for Iranian mosques. It was adopted almost immediately for mosques in the Isfahan region, such as those at ZAVARA ( 1 135—6) and ARDISTAN (1 158—60). This type was further developed with the addition of grand portals corresponding in volume to the iwans (see PiSHTAQ), as at the congregational mosque at YAZD (14th century). Slender towers and supplementary dome chambers are added in later Persian and Central Asian examples, such as the congregational mosques at Varmin (1322-6), the mosque of Bibi Khanum at Samarkand, Gawharshad's mosque for the shrine of Iman Riza at Mashhad and the Shah Mosque at Isfahan. Although the Iranian type of four-iwan and qibladome mosque is found on the Indian subcontinent (e. g. THATTHA, Friday Mosque, 1644), its essential features were more often adapted to create a distinctive regional type more suited to the Indian climate, such as the Atala Mosque (1377—1404), JAUNPUR, or the Badshahi Mosques Lahore (1673—4), said to be the largest on the subcontinent. This type of courtyard mosque is normally raised on a high plinth and comprises a vast walled court with minarets set at the corners. Portal blocks on the main and lateral axes are approached by flights of steps and are topped with small minaret-like towers and open pavilions (chatri). Within the court, which is often devoid of any surrounding arcade, the covered prayer-hall projects from the qibla wall, often occupying most but not all of its width. It is usually fairly shallow and comprises a central iwan-like portal in front of a dome chamber for the mihrab. This principal element is usually flanked by smaller versions of it, other domed bays and towers linked together behind a screenlike facade.

mosque of Damascus

What are the architectural accomplishments of al-Walid? Al-Waild built the ______ __ _______ which was completed in 715.

luster

____: originally a technique for decorating glass, later adopted for decoration of pottery; made by adding metal alloys on the glaze, then firing at low temperatures.

Freer Canteen

_____ _____, 13th Century In monotheistic religion: not be someone who is indulgent or wealth that is gratuitous. There is a thought of precious metals as being gratuitous and wealth and on the other side in churches we see metal items (heavenly). They are luxury items but there is certain items that okay to have. Being of 13th century there is a development technologically in Arab world in metalworking. A new height of technical sophistication. start with Iraq where metalworkers produce works with interlocking shapes with kufic scripts and figural cycles (blending figures and script on metal objects). In Iraq 13th c, invaders from Mongolia defeat the Abbasids and the metalworks moved eastward and moved to south (Damascus and Egypt which is were a lot of Crusade are happening). It is a intricate and refined craft In Qur'an: "those in paradise will drink from silver vassal"- suggest something heavenly about this Strange mix of imagery with the background of the crusade Freer Canteen', 13th C It is only known example of this type of object form the Islamic world It recalls pilgrim vessels, but on massive scale It is made from 7 pieces of brass 2 larges solder together to create the spherical and flat side There is calligraphy, decorative motifs, geometric designs, and christ imagery Flat 1) 25 saints on outer band: not specific saints, evoke idea of saint but they are portrayed in generic type 2) inner band: princes on horse back (princely cycle: hunting, riding,) Vegetal motif decorate the background Spherical 1) center: Madonna and Child 2) around center is kufic script 3) 3 Christian scenes: NAvity, presentation at the Temple, and entry into Jerusalem Do not see representation of crucification and resurrection 4) medallions of zoomorphic tendrils (leaves that look like fishes, abstracted forms) 5) kufic script around outer section, around Madonna Childern, and on opening of the canteen We see medallions, animals, figures and geometry on the side It was made and is very decorative in the time of a holy war Suggest harmony the history of the crusades belies, blending of Christianity and its images and alongside the Arabic world It might have been for Christian patron who traveled to Levant and was fascinated by the metal objects or made by Muslim patrons who was interested in Christianity Celebrate life of christ as prophet but not the son of god Merits of Jerusalem Global spirit 'Freer Canteen' — a giant of its type at over 5 kilogrammes and almost 40 centimetres in diameter- -is constructed of 7 pieces of brass, of which the two largest are soldered together to form the spherical and the flat sides of the body. -Despite its size, it is functional; a depression in the flat side allowed it to Be mounted on a beam and rotated to dispense the liquid contents. -is covered with a rich variety of decorative motifs: 1) Medallions With birds, animals, musicians and signs of zodiac are organized in bands or at regular intervals upon its surfaces. 2) Geometric and floral interlaced designs accompany Arabic inscriptions in a variety of scripts, including a stunning example of an animated band on the shoulder. 3) spherical side: framing a central medallion with an enthroned Madonna and Child (Mary and Jesus) 3 discrete scenes present episodes from the life of Christ- the Nativity with the Baptism in Bethlehem, the Presentation of the Christ-child at the Temple in Jerusalem (when he miraculously spoke to the rabbis) and the Messiah's Entry into Jerusalem. 4) Annunciation (in which Gabriel informs Mary of her forthcoming role as the mother of Jesus) punctuates a frieze of saints and priestly figures marching along the outer perimeter of the flat side (Gabriel and Mary are the 2nd and 3rd figures to the right of the spout), while 9 riders with banners, lances and cross-bows display their knightly skills in a perpetual chase an inner circular band. The inscriptions toast an anonymous owner who is, however, characterized in the animated inscription as a 'leader, soldier and warrior of the frontiers.' The arrangement and detail of the Christian motifs on the canteen, for instance, have suggested that it had a Latin owner for whom images were meaningful representations of religious history. Such interpretations revolve around the contrast between the 'Islamic' and the 'Christian' subject matter of the imagery: the meaning and of each object are largely a result or the ways in which we read this imagery.

Samarra

______, al-Mu'tasim Abbasid architecture of the 9th century shows significant changes: 1) 836, caliph al-Mu'tasim founded new capital Why? difficulties between Turkish guards and Arab population of Baghdad and to express anew"' the glory of his caliphate. The chosen site was Samarra every caliph added to al-Mu'tasim's city creating a huge conglomeration extending over 50 kilometers. Finally, there are the palaces, of which those at Samarra are the most important. Examination of the available information about the Jawsaq al-Khaqani, the Balkuwara, and the IstabuIat leads to a number of conclusions. 1) Their most striking feature is their size. All are huge walled compounds with endless successions of apartments, courts, rooms, halls, and passageways, whose functions are not known. From a city in the shape of a palace, as Baghdad was, we have moved to a palace the size of a city. 2) each has clearly defined parts. There is always a spectacular gate: at Jawsaq al-Khaqani, an impressive flight of steps led up from an artificial water basin to a triple gate of baked brick, in all probability the Bab al-Amma, the 'main gate', of so many texts. Gates and gateways appear inside the palaces, and in the Balkuwara a succession of impressive doorways emphasized passage from one court to the other. On axis of main entrance a series of courts generally leads to the main reception area, which is cruciform. A central domed room opens on four iwans which open on 4 courts. At times, mosques, baths, and perhaps private quarters filled the areas between iwans. Textual and archaeological sources indicate that this cruciform arrangement of official rooms derives from eastern Iran. The only other clear feature of these palaces is the appearance in and around them of large gardens and parks, carefully planned with fountains and canals, game preserves, or even racing tracks, as is suggested by a rather extraordinary area in the shape of a four-leaf clover through air photographs near the Jawsaq al-Khaqani. Ancient Near Eastern and Hellenistic traditions of the royal 'paradise' were adopted by the Abbasids and sung by their poets. Structural technique: baked and unbaked brick, natural in Iraq, was the usual material and vaulting the prevalent mode of covering. The real importance of these buildings lies in their conception of a royal palace, totally new to Islam. It is a hidden and secluded world, completely self-sufficient. The fact that its splendour was outside sparked the imagination of story-tellers and poets, who began at that time to develop the theme of secret marvels familiar to readers of the Arabian Nights. From Samarra this conception, if not always the scale of execution, spread to the provinces, as we can see from the description of the palace which Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun built in Egypt. Although Baghdad and Cairo are the most obvious and most celebrated cities of power, they are not the only ones that were founded during the early centuries of Islamic history. The ideas they exemplify are found in varying degrees of forcefulness in several other instances. Samarra was developed in the 9th century along the Tigris, a city of palaces and of military settlements. On the whole, it was less a city expressing power than one that housed power by removing the Turkish armies and the government from the cantankerous urban centre of Baghdad. Somewhat more precise information exists about the several large palaces of Samarra, Madinat al-Zahra' near Cordoba, and the Fatimid palaces of Cairo. All of them seem to have been sprawling conglomerates of many separate units, ranging from very functional and specific elements, such as baths and dwellings, to formal audience halls (cruciform in Samarra, basilical in Spain), gardens, and vast areas with no concretely identifiable purpose. In the 9th-century palaces of Samarra there were compositional axes in the main parts of the buildings, perhaps corresponding to a ceremonial order of progressive remoteness. The implication in almost all of these palaces is that their recognition as monuments of official power lay less in their individual architectural characteristics than in their general presence as walled enclosures, separating the world of power from the world of the common man.

basin

basin- original owner is identified in inscriptions around the interior and exterior as al-Maiik al-Salih Najm al-Din (d. 1249) of the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty (c. 1171-1260), which was continuously engaged in the politics and wars instigated by the Western European Crusader invasions of Syria and Palestine. Al-Salih's basin includes the same thematic repertoire seen on the canteen, but differs in the manner of its organization and in the depiction of its Christian motifs, which are less detailed. 1) exterior: dominated by a band of polo-players interrupted by medallions with inhabited scrolls 2) Above this band five medallions with figural representations break up an inscription that invokes glory to 'the sultan al-Malik aJ-Salih, the illustrious lord, the holy warrior, the warrior of the frontiers'. 3) theme of medallions pertains to Christ and the 5 highly abbreviated scenes represented in them have been read as the Annunciation, the Adoration/Enthronement of the Madonna and Child, Christ's miracle of the Raising Of Lazarus from the dead, the Last Supper of Christ and his disciples and the Entry into Jerusalem. 4) The inscription on interior declares al-Malik al-Salih 'Friend or the Commander of the Faithful,' implying recognition by the caliph in Baghdad, and so possibly dates the basin between 1247 (when al-Salih received caliphal investiture as ruler of Egypt and Damascus), and 1249, when he died fighting the Crusade of St Louis.. 5) A band of 39 figures framed by arches and mostly arranged in facing pairs is below this inscription, and the rest of the basin. both inside and out. is covered with scrolls, friezes or real and fantastic animals, and medallions with musicians. The worn condition of the bottom of the basin testifies that it was more than a display Piece or been caused Later, when the basin came into the possession of the French counts of Bornioi, who added their crest to it. Al'Shalih was knowledgeable of silver-inlaid metal objects hybrid imagery of the basin. The ewer and a candlestick (1242 and 1248,) and the basin and tray provided 14 remaining objects (including canteen) with a mainly Syrian (but also, because of stylistic considerations, Egyptian) provenance and dates of around the mid-13th century. The unusual imagery shared by these objects has earned them the collective tag 'Ayyubid metalwork with Christian themes' (or 'images'). Prominence of the band of polo-players and the abbreviated nature of the Christian motifs on the basin have suggested that, for al-Salih, these images had a primarily symbolic or emblematic value. Such interpretations revolve around the contrast between the 'Islamic' and the 'Christian' subject matter of the imagery: the meaning and of each object are largely a result or the ways in which we read this imagery.

Complex of Sultan Hasan

________ __ _____ ______, 1356-66, Cairo Mamluk (Egypt) 4-iwan mausoleum-mosque-madrasa complex Variations on the Iwan theme The mausoleum-mosque-madrasa complex (public service institutions) of the military states the socio-political center for Islamic rulers mamluk empire: solider slaves of another group who formed their own empire. Military group. Largely involved in the crusades. Who are the Mamluks? 1st group (BAHRI Mamluks) : soldier slaves of the Ayyubids 2nd group (CIRCASSIAN Mamluks): soldier slaves of the Bahri Mamluks Builders of madrasa complexes in Syria. Introduced the madrasa to Egypt. Built the Citadel of Cairo. Best known: Saladin (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi). Saladin most famous Mumluk figure The mamluks are going to bring together the mosques, mausoleum, and madrasa and the 4 iwan is super conducive in brining these together Sultan Hasan mausoleum complex Complex of Sultan Hasan son of Nasir Muhammad son of Qalawun, built 1356-66 The mausoleum-mosque complex of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, 1356-1363 (Mamluk period) Sultan Hasan ascended the throne at age 13 and people he liked in positions of power which made the dignitaries upset. They arrested him and held him in jail for 3 years and promoted his brother to power. He studied and read in jail and returned to power and spent a lot of money (including the mosque). People were upset and his commander has him assassinated. Is one of the largest mosques to date Huge spaced Combination of cruciform plan, domed mausoleum, madrasas, & dependencies The (angled) entrance: into street, because of the way the street was laid out, it had a vault with Muqarnas designing and layer on the top entrances. You come in and layers of buildings and rooms where the school happened (didn't fully complete the school because he died and it was very expensive). The courtyard & two iwans The mosque iwan (The qibla wall) -The qibla wall & entrance to the mausoleum -hanging lamps (hang from vault and light to make a beautiful effect) -minbar and mihrab -a door adjustment to the mihrab (to the tomb--> the holiest of holiest place which allows the body to have connection to God and to faith) -raise dais where made in the other two iwans because the mosque is large and the two people under the imam would continue the line of communication Mosque iwan: grand fountain, qibla wall Maqsura iwan and the mausoleum is behind it The schools were designed up to 400 students with dormitories and many public services. Mausoleum: dome on top, spaced where Qur'an is placed, wasn't space you can access on any given day, the sarcophagus was enshrouded with a screen, the mihrab is in the mausoleum, the body is laid out so the head is facing mecca Brings together these major elements in a massive way

Mosque of Damascus

________ __ _______ Umayyad His reign — the first to see the Islamic world secure in its conquest and without major internal troubles — was a period of great expansion east and west and of consolidation within the empire. A concern for prestige and the expression of newly acquired power led the caliph to build, at least in part, major mosques in Damascus (706), the capital of the empire, Madina (706—10), in which the Muslim state was first created, and Jerusalem An earlier Roman temenos on the site determined its size (157 by 100 metres), its location, and the lower courses of some of its walls, as well as the position of the east and west entrances. A Roman triple gate on the south wall has recently been freed of the shops which had hidden it for decades. All other features date from al-Walid's time although a fire in 1893 destroyed much of the superstructure; the subsequent rebuilding was not entirely done in good taste and the very recent reconstructions have been much criticized. The mosque consists of a courtyard surrounded on three sides by porticoes on piers alternating with two columns; on the fourth side is the qibla. It has three wide aisles, Parallel to the southern wall, cut in the centre by a perpendicular (axial) nave over whose second bay rises a high dome, whose present appearance is most unfortunately modern, but whose supports can probably be assigned to the eleventh century. (It is not clear whether an earlier dome in the axial nave was in front of the qibla wall or on the site of the Present one.) The aisles have large monolithic columns taken from older buildings, surmounted by capitals, impost-blocks, and arches. Above the arches an additional small arcade lifted the gabled roof even higher. In the qibla wall are four niches known as mihrab, of which one is clearly modern. The date of the Others, symmetrically arranged with the central one right in the middle of the axial nave, is uncertain, and it is not likely that all three are Umayyad. The two minarets on the southern side of the building, largely based on-Roman corner towers, do possibly date from that period; the third, over the northern entrance, was built before 985, but it is not certain that it is al-Walid's. The small octagonal building on columns in the northwestern corner of the court, again Umayyad, was the Muslim community's symbolic or real treasury, traditionally kept in the main mosque of the town. Of the four entrances to the mosque — one on each side — the southern one, next to the axial nave, was reserved for the caliph and connected directly with the Umayyad palace. The nature of the entry from the courtyard to the sanctuary remains obscure. Today there are doors; the curtains reported by a fourteenth-century source may or may not have been the original arrangement. Just as in the Dome of the Rock, practically all the elements of construction derive from the traditional architecture of Syria. The innovations are two: the plan and the introduction of the mirhrab. The problem of creating a plan on a pre-established site was solved by the Umayyad architects as follows. They adopted Madina's basic order of a porticoed court with a deeper sanctuary, but, instead of transforming their sanctuary into a hypostyle hall on the pattern of the Iraqi mosques, they created a tripartite division, possibly under the impact of Christian churches, although the Danutscus aisles differ in being of equal width. But a more remarkable innovation, in plan as well as elevation, is the axial nave. Its aesthetic significance in relieving the monotony of a facade 137 metres long is obvious enough; its historical importance is far greater. Creswell pointed out that it closely resembled a facade of the palace of Theodoric as represented on a well-known Ravenna mosaic. Sauvaget was the first to relate the axial nave in Damascus, as well as similar ones in Jerusalem and Madina, to Umayyad royal ceremonies, and to show that this architectural feature, which appeared first in what we may call Umayyad 'imperial' mosques and was to be frequently copied, originated in an attempt to emphasize the area reserved to the prince, and imitated a palace throne room. Thus, the plan of the mosque of Damascus is important in two ways. 1) First, the arrangement is more organically conceived than in the diffuse and additive mosques of Iraq, as it has a clearly defined central focus. 2) Second, its three-aisled sanctuary with axial nave and its proportions partly imposed by the Roman foundations became a standard model in Syria and elsewhere, although not for the other two mosques built by al-Walid, which were both hypostyle with many parallel aisles including a wider central one, leading to the qibla, and which had peculiar features pertaining to their sites. The mosque in Damascus also has the earliest remaining concave mihrab. The philological and formal background of the mihrab is remarkably complicated: for the sake of clarity we shall consider only its common application to the mosque. It is generally understood today as a niche on the qibla wall of a mosque indicating the direction Of Mecca. But it is absent from all the earliest mosques; it is never visible from more than a fraction of the area of the building; and the whole plan of a mosque makes the direction of prayer so obvious that there is no need for so small a sign. Nor is It fully satisfactory to explain the mihrab as an abbreviated throne room, as has been suggested by Sauvaget, for it became almost immediately a fixture of all mosques, and eventually a common artistic motif on pious objects. In order to understand its original purpose, we should bear in mind two points. 1) To begin with, medieval writers generally agree that a concave mihrab first appeared at al-Walid's mosque in Madina, which replaced and embellished the Prophet's own house/mosque. 2) Second, the mihrab there was set not in the middle but by the place where according to the Traditions the Prophet used to stand when holding prayers. We can suggest then that its purpose was to symbolize the place where the first imam (or leader of prayer) stood; that it began as a precise memorial in the Prophet's mosque, and then, through the foundations of al-Walid, spread out to the whole Islamic world. Just as the office Of the successor of the Prophet had royal connotations, so did the mihrab; but only through its significance as a religious memorial could it have become accepted almost immediately in all religious buildings. The point is strengthened by comparing such immediate adoption with the development in Umayyad times of the minbar, the pre-Islamic throne-chair used by the Prophet in Madina. Under the Umayyads the minbar began to appear in mosques other than the one in Madina, and it was clearly a symbol of authority. As such, its adoption was more fully controlled than in the case of the mihrab. It was often a movable object which did not properly belong in the religious institution, and for several centuries the existence of mosques with minbars was one of the criteria which distinguished a city or an administrative centre from a mere village The entirely different destiny of the mihrab suggests that, whatever its relationship with royal ceremonies in the mosque, its primary function was not royal but religious. The formal origin of the mihrab is certainly to be sought in the niche of classical times, which through numerous modifications appeared as the haikal of Coptic churches, the setting for the Torah scrolls in synagogues, or simply as a frame for honoured statues. It is also related to the growth, still unsystematic, in the Umayyad period of a dome in front Of the central part of the qibla wall. Domes, of course, are well-known architectural means of honouring a holy place and, as such, already existed in pre-Islamic Arabia. The earliest reference we have to a dome in front of a mihrab is in the eighth-century mosque of Madina. The axial nave, the concave mihrab, and the minbar in front of the mihrab were destined to play an important part in the history of Islamic architecture. In Umayyad times their precise functions and purposes emerged from still rather obscure origins; more specifically, all of them appear together in the imperial mosques of al-Walid. They are difficult to interpret because they fulfilled an ambiguous role, and their varying functional and formal origins and destinies are not yet fully understood. Their ambiguity reflects that of the Umayyad mosques built by al-Walid. Just as these features which in Umayyad times can be related to dome functions will tend more and more to acquire a religious meaning, similarly the mosque's significance as a place of worship grows in importance without its ever losing completely its function as a social and political centre. This ill-defined shift in emphasis explains the peculiar characteristic of the Umayyad mosque of the early eighth century: its architectural elements reflect both royal and religious concerns, the former more often creating specific forms and the latter the dimensions of their coming interpretation. While the architectural characteristics of the three mosques of al-Walid can be reconstructed on the basis of texts and archeological data, for their adornment we must rely almost entirely on the one at Damascus, which has preserved important parts of its original decoration. Like the Dome of the Rock, it had magnificently carved window grilles. The marble panelling on the lower part of its walls was renowned from the very beginning for the extraordinary beauty of its combinations, of which only a small and poorly reset fraction remains by the east gate. The most celebrated decorative element was, however, the mosaics which originally covered most, if not all, of the walls in the porticoes, on the court facade, in the sanctuary, and perhaps even on the northern minaret. There are many literary references to these mosaics, but much uncertainty remains: we do not know, for instance, whether the many accounts of the importation of Byzantine mosaicists are true, or merely reflect the feeling that works of such quality doubtless are of Constantinopolitan origin. Most scholars tend towards the first hypothesis. In spite of the disgraceful restorations which have affected sizeable segments of the original mosaics since the 1960s, large fragments can be identified everywhere in the courtyard, and drawings made shortly before the fire of 1893 record something of the sanctuary mosaics. In most instances, the motifs are vegetal, akin to those of the Dome of the Rock, although more realistic in their depiction of specific plants and with fewer mixtures of forms of different origins. Their greatest originality consists in the massive introduction of architectural themes. On the facade of the axial nave and on some of the spandrels of the northern and western porticoes, buildings of all types appear in the foliage. The best preserved of these compositions is the large (34-50 by 7.155 metres), richly framed panel on the wall Of the western protocol. In the foreground a number of small rivers flow into a body of water along which stand splendid tall trees, rather irregularly set, but providing a frame for a series of smaller architectural units remarkable for their thematic variety (small houses clustered around a church; vast piazzas surrounded by porticoes, stately palaces on the banks of a river) and for their stylistic differences (illusionistic techniques next to fantastic constructions of unrelated elements). These mosaics raise two questions. 1) The first is formal: how should one explain the coexistence of widely different manners of representation, and is there a style specific to them? Mosaicists and painters since the first century C. E. had availed themselves of all the different styles found on the Damascus walls; the apparent innovation of the artists working for the caliphs was to use them alongside each other. These artists, or their patrons, show a remarkable catholicity of taste, an interest in all available forms, whatever their date or original purpose. To an even greater extent than in the Dome of the Rock, the pre-Islamic models of the Damascus mosaics usually included human or animal forms. None is found here — which implies that the Muslim patrons imposed themes and manners of representation upon the mosaicists, whatever their country of origin. The large trees — although not the main subject matter and amazingly artificial in relation to the rest of the landscape may have fulfilled the formal function of figures in comparable older work. 2) The other question raised by the mosaics is that of their meaning. Some later medieval writers saw in them images of all the towns in the world, and a few contemporary scholars have interpreted the remaining panel as the city of Damascus. Topographical representations are known in pre-Islamic art, and the Damascus mosaics — like those of the Dome of the Rock — could be explained simply as symbols of the Umayyad conquest. Or perhaps an ideal 'city of God' is intended, derived from classical and postclassical representations of paradise, but omitting all living things. The theme of an idealized landscape could be related to the setting of the Muslim paradise (for instance Qur'an 4: 57ff.); later indications suggest that mosque courts were at times compared to a paradise' and the most recent interpretations of the mosaics of Damascus have accepted their paradisiac meaning. Objections exist to every one of these explanations. Reference to specific cities throughout the building could hardly have led to the peculiar stylistic and iconographic inconsistencies of mixing precise depictions with artificial constructions, and to the appearance together of architectural units of such different character (towns, villages, single buildings) and on such different And, while a landscape with water and buildings could be understood as a representation of a Muslim paradise, the idea of illustrating the Holy Book at such an early date does not seem to coincide with the contemporary Muslim uses of the Qur'an. Instead, a combination of these explanations remains possible. Writing in the late tenth century, al-Muqaddasi, our earliest interpreter of the mosaics, pointed out that 'there is hardly a tree or a notable town that has not been pictured on these and a fourteenth-century author redefined the idea, including a precise identification of the Ka'ba. It is, therefore, valid to assume that there was an attempt to portray, within the confines of the imperial mosque, the fullness of the universe — cities even with their churches and surrounding nature — controlled by the Umayyad caliphs. But, at the same time, the golden background, the unreal and unspecific character of many of the compositions, the open ensembles of buildings as opposed to the walled cities of pre-Islamic models, and the centrally placed tall trees give these mosaics an idyllic and earthly feeling, which contradicts any attempt to identify actual cities. Instead one can suggest that the imperial theme of rule over the natural and human world has been idealized into the representation of a 'Golden Age' under the new faith and state in which a peaceful perfection has permeated all things' Thus, some fifteen years later, the mosaics Of Damascus recall those of Jerusalem, but, instead of being an assertion of victory, they reflect the newly acquired security of the Muslim empire. Their most striking feature is that whatever meaning they had does not seem either to have maintained itself within Islamic culture or to have spawned a clearly defined programme for mosques. They should possibly be understood as an attempt at an Islamic iconography which did not take roots because it was too closely related to the ways of Christian art. Mosaic decoration existed also in the other two mosques built by al-Walid, but no Umayyad work remains, although the much later mosaics on the drums of the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem probably reflect Umayyad models. In spite Of some controversy around the subject, the wooden panels preserved from the ceiling of the same mosque, with their remarkably original variety of decorative motifs, are possibly Umayyad or slightly later. It should, finally, be mentioned that, during excavations carried out in Ramlah in Palestine, an early eighth-century mosaic floor was found with the representation of an arch over two columns which may or may not be a mihrab and with a fragment from, possibly, the Qur'an. The context of this floor, so different from most other examples of Umayyad mosaics, makes it almost impossible to explain without additional archaeological information.

Mosque of Samarra

________ __ _________, Al-Mutawakkil, 848-52 Abbasaid hypostyle with ziyadas commissioned in 848 and completed in 851 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned from 847 until 861 Abbasids 9th c. (Umayyads had fled to Spain) Different in there way to expand and they solidify their hold in the Arabia peninsula and more eastward Bagdad as their capital and thought of it was the center of the universe in which all of the empire emulated out of. They ruled from 750-1258 The name of the empire derives from the uncle of Muhammad, Al-Abbas, took down Umayyads in 750 The Great Mosque of Samarra (848-52) (Iraq) Samarra was for a little while was the capital The outer-wall still stands, very little of the inside The outerwall was supported by 44 semi circular towers, including 4 towers It is made from brick and was decorated Regional variations in mosques is that resources are determined by what materials are available. The minaret is a regional variation The minaret is spiral. Why? Something beautiful about the shape, rhythmic process of ascending, What we don't? the Ziggurat was an iconic building form in Iraq. The abbasids designed this minaret because they were influenced by the Ziggurat. The shape, and rotation.... The base is 33 square meters and about 3 meters high. There is a vestibule which adores the minaret and caps it off. It was bombed in 2005 and was damaged slightly. It was a beautiful form and they were exploring different forms and it was a regional types. They were the followers of the Umayyads while they adopt this presence for the hypostyle they find the idea of altering and challenging its forms. The plan: the hypostyle makes a cut half way with an open court yard (it had walls). Here it has covered entrance ways around it with a courtyard in the middle. It has several entrances, niches windows with decoration Sammara (Mutawakkil) mosque plan doesn't look as orientate as the Umayyad mosque, but we don't know for sure. They have found glass shared so there was mosques and decoration. We don't know what it looked like because it was destroyed. Ja' fariyya (859) Mosque of Ahi Dalaf commonality of mosques in iraq Inner enclosure with bastions surrounds the mosque (prayer hall and sahn). Hypostyle plan with pier supports (square bases under octagonal brick piers with marble columns at corners). Very large mihrab, originally entire prayer hall expensively decorated. A fourth prototype for hypostyle mosques is represented by the two congregational mosques at SAMARRA, the 9th-century capital built by the Abbasid caliphs on the Tigris north of Baghdad. The one called the mosque of Abu Dulaf was of yet another type, longer than it was wide and covered with a flat roof borne on rectangular brick piers. This form, including its separate, helicoidal minaret, was the model for the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo (879) and, with the exception of the minaret, for many early congregational mosques in Iran and Central Asia, such as the Tarik-Khana at DAMGHAN (9th century) and the 9th-century mosque at Isfahan. It is particularly unfortunate that nothing remains from any one of the three late eight-century and early ninth-century mosques in Baghdad, the newly created capital of the Abbasid empire, especially from the one located right next to the caliphal palace, in the centre of the city (see below, p. 52). It was a large building, certainly on a hypostyle plan, with a tower/ minaret added in the early ninth century. Whether it had any other distinctive features is not clear from written sources, but its impact must, almost by definition, have been considerable. Two mosques remain in Samarra, the short-term capital of the Abbasids north of Baghdad (see below, pp. 54ff), both apparently built under the caliph al-Mutawakkil (847—61). The earlier, the Great Mosque, the largest known in the Islamic world, is an immense rectangle of 376 by 444 metres. 1) Inside a second rectangle, 240 by 156 metres, surrounded by walls and separated from the first by largely empty tracts (used for storage, latrines, ablutions) known as ziyadas, is the sanctuary proper, essentially a hypostyle hall with a court and porticoes. 2) It features octagonal brick piers with four engaged columns on a square base, an inordinately large mihrab decorated with marble columns and mosaics, a flat roof, exterior towers which serve both to alleviate the monotony of a long, flat brick wall and as buttresses, and a curious spiral minaret on the main axis of the mosque but outside its wall. 3) Such minarets have generally been connected with the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamian architecture, but this is hardly likely since none has survived in its original shape and they were on an altogether different scale. In fact the source remains a puzzle.

Dome of the Rock

_________ ___ ___ _____ Umayyad earliest remaining Islamic monument, and in all probability the first major artistic endeavor of the Umayyads. Eventually the Dome of the Rock became connected with the miraculous Night Journey of the Prophet to the Masjid al-Aqsa (the 'farthest mosque', Qur'an 17: 1) — generally presumed to be in Jerusalem, although the earliest evidence in our possession is not clear on this point — and with Muhammad's ascent heaven from the Rock. This is today the conception of the Muslim believer. In fact, however, the location of the mosque on Mount Moriah, traditionally accepted as the site of the Jewish Temple and associated with many other legends and historical events, its decoration of Byzantine and Sasanian crowns and jewels in the midst of vegetal motifs, its physical domination of the urban landscape of Jerusalem, its inscription with their many precisely chosen Qur'anic quotations, and a number of recently rediscovered early Muslim traditions suggest several purposes for the original Dome of the Rock: 1) to emphasize the victory of Islam that completes the revelation of the two other monotheistic faiths; 2) to compete in splendour and munificence with the great Christian sanctuaries in Jerusalem and elsewhere; 3) to celebrate the Umayyad dynasty with a shrine containing Solomonic connotations through the representation of paradise-like trees and in recently published later accounts of the religious merits of Jerusalem. And, in very recent years, attention was brought to Traditions of the Prophet (hadith) which claimed that the rock was the place from which God left the Earth after creating it and returned to heaven. For a variety of theological reasons, these traditions were rejected in the ninth century, but they had been accepted earlier, at least by some, and they reflect an old, Christian and Jewish, sense of Jerusalem as the site where time will end, the Messiah come, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment begin. This messianic eschatology became part of Muslim piety and has always been associated with Jerusalem. Only after the full establishment of the Islamic state as the governing body of the area did these precise, ideologically laden, early aims fade away, to bc replaced by a more strictly pious and religious explanation probably derived from popular beliefs and practices. The building is admirably located on an artificial platform, itself part of a huge area known today as the Haram al-Sharif (the 'Noble Sacred Enclosure'), created in Herodian times. The platform is ascended by six flights of stairs, two on the southern and western sides, one on each of the other two. An arcade crowns each flight. Both stairs and arcades can be documented only from the tenth century onwards, and no information exists about access to the platform in Umayyad times. Not quite in the centre of the platform, the building has a large central dome (about 20 metres in diameter and about 25 metres high) consisting of two wooden shells originally gilded on the outside and placed on a high drum pierced by sixteen windows in its upper part. It rests on a circular arcade of four piers and twelve columns; around the central part two ambulatories are separated by an octagonal arcade of eight piers and sixteen columns. The marble columns, together with most of the capitals, were taken from older buildings. The piers are of heavy stone masonry. A continuous band of tie-beams separates the capitals of the columns and the shafts of the piers from the spandrels. The sloping roof of the octagon abuts the drum of the dome just below the windows. Outside, each side of the octagon is divided into seven narrow vertical panels separated by pilasters. Five contain windows with double grilles dating from the sixteenth century; the original ones probably had marble tracery on the inside and ironwork on the outside. There are four entrances preceded by porches, one on each side of the cardinal points. Above the roof of the octagon runs a parapet. The building is richly decorated. The mosaic which together with marble — adorned the outside were almost completely replaced in Ottoman times by magnificent Turkish tiles, but the interior decoration, while often repaired and at times replaced, has maintained a great deal of its original character. The walls and piers are covered with marble. Mosaics decorate the upper parts of the piers, the soffits and spandrels of the circular arcade, and both drums; only the latter show traces of extensive repair and restorations, which, however, did not alter significantly the nature of the designs. Marble now sheaths the inner spandrels and the soffits of the circular arcade as well as three friezes, one between the two drums, the other two above and below the windows of the outer wall. It is likely, however, that these areas were originally covered with mosaics, which — from the remaining decoration of the porch — one can surmise were also used on the vaults of the porches. The ceilings of the octagon and of the dome are Mamluk or Ottoman carved woodwork and stamped leather. The Umayyads probably used only wood, as we can conclude from other buildings. The tie-beams were covered with repoussé bronze plaques, Finally, we must imagine the thousands of lights which supplemented the meagre illumination from the windows, making the mosaics glitter like a diadem crowning a multitude of columns and marble faced piers around the somber mass of the black rock surmounted by the soaring void of the dome. In its major characteristics the Dome of the Rock follows the architectural practices of Late Antiquity in its Christian version. It belongs to the category of centrally planned buildings known as martyria and, as has often been pointed out, bears a particularly close relationship to the great Christian sanctuaries of the Ascension and the Anastasis, to name only those in Jerusalem itself. Similarly, most of the techniques of construction — the arches on piers and columns, the wooden domes, the grilled windows, the masonry of stone and brick — as well as the carefully thought-out and intricate system of proportions also derive directly from Byzantine church architecture, perhaps quite specifically from local Palestinian practices. The same is true of the decoration. Although few examples remain, wall mosaics and marble facings were common in Christian sanctuaries The endless variations on vegetal subjects, from the realism of certain trees to highly conventionalized garlands and scrolls to all-over carpet-like patterns, are mostly related to the many mosaics of Christian times in Syria and Palestine. The same holds true for the decoration of the tiebeams (see below p. 60) Yet it would be a mistake to consider all this a mere reuse of Byzantine techniques and themes. In addition to the fact that its significance was not the same as that of its presumed ecclesiastical models, this first monument of the new Islamic culture departs in several areas from the traditions of the land in which it was built: 1) the nature Of the mosaic decoration, 2) the relationship between architecture and decoration, 3) and the composition of its elevation. The mosaic decoration, which has remained almost entirely in its original state on a huge area of about 280 square metres, does not contain a single living being, human or animal. Evidently the Muslims already felt that these would be inconsistent with the official expression of their faith, and they were selective about the artistic vocabulary offered by the lands they had conquered. However, the mosaics were not purely ornamental in the sense that their purpose was not exclusively one of pleasing the eye. Thus, only the inner facings of the octagonal and circular arcades and the drums introduce jewels, crowns, and breastplates, many of which occur as the insignia of royal power in the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. Their position, added to the fact that no traditionally trained artists would willingly mix royal symbols with vegetal designs, indicates that these are the regalia of the princes defeated by Islam, suspended like trophies on the walls of a strictly Muslim building. It has also been possible to propose iconographic meanings for many other features of the mosaics. Thus, the trees, some realistic and others quite artificial, have been seen by some as recollections of Solomon's palace, which had been located somewhere in Jerusalem and whose brilliance was much enhanced in early medieval lore. Others have selected certain details of the rich decoration of the intrados of arches to detect the presence of Christian or Jewish motives, or at least artisans. More cautious scholars prefer to emphasize the all-over effect of brilliance rather than specific details. Discussions and debates around the meaning of this decoration will continue, because of the astounding quality of the work and the absence of comparable monuments or of direct written information about them. Writing, in the form of a long mosaic inscription running below the ceiling of the octagons, appears with both decorative and symbolic significance, possibly the earliest known Instance in medieval art of this particular use of writing in a building. 1) It is decorative because it takes over the function of a border for the rest of the ornamentation. 2) And it is symbolic because, although barely visible from the ground, it Contains a carefully made selection of passages from the Qur'an dealing with non-figural which do not contradict Christian doctrine. Thus, the inscription emphasizes the Muslim message in Christ's very city. Furthermore, the later caliph al-Ma'mun saw fit to substitute his own name for that of the founder, 'Abd al-Malik, thus showing his acceptance of the aims and purposes of the building. Unwilling to use the traditional figurative imagery derived from Antiquity, the Muslim world expressed its ideas in non-realistic terms. Alongside classical motifs the mosaics have palmettes, Wings, and composite flowers of Iranian origin. Thus the Umayyad empire drew upon features from the whole area it had conquered, amalgamating them to create an artistic vocabulary of its own. Finally, the mosaics of the Dome of the Rock introduced two decorative principles which would continue to develop in later Islamic art. 1) The first is the non-realistic use of realistic shapes and the anti-naturalistic combination of naturalistic forms. When they felt a more brilliant decoration was needed, the artists did not hesitate, for instance, to transform the trunk of a tree into a bejewelled box. The possible combinations of forms and themes are limitless, without the restraints imposed by the naturalism of classical ornament. 2) The second principle is that of continuous variety. On close analysis, the mosaics of the -Of the Rock show comparatively few types of design — mainly the acanthus scroll, the garland, the vine scroll, the tree, and the rosette. Yet nowhere do we find exact repetition. Certain differences are qualitative, apprentice reproduced the design of a master." But in most instances each variation within a theme represents an individual interpretation of some general principle of design. The social or psychological reasons for these variations remain unexplained. As far as future development is concerned, the most significant artistic feature of the Dome of the Rock is the establishment of a new relationship between architecture and decoration. Until this time the Mediterranean had continued, albeit with modifications, the classical principle of decoration, especially ornamental decoration, as the servant of architecture, emphasizing certain parts of the building, but rarely suppressing the essential values of the construction itself. The builders of the Dome of the Rock, however, hid almost all of their clearly defined, classically based structure with brilliant marble and mosaic. Particularly striking in this respect is one of the soffits of the arches of the octagon. We see three bands of design, two of which take over one half of the surface, the remaining one the other half. However, the composition is asymmetrical, for the wider band is not in the centre but towards the inner side of the building, thus deliberately destroying the basic unity of the surface Furthermore, one motif, and one only, continues on to the vertical surface of the spandrel, thereby emphasizing one curve of the arch as against the other one. This does not mean that the mosaicists of the Dome of the Rock completely rejected the architecture they decorated: in using trees for high rectangular surfaces and scrolls for square ones, they certainly adapted their ornamental forms to the areas provided by the architects. But in the choice of many specific motifs (for instance, the rosettes on the soffits) as well as in the total covering of the available walls, they created an expensive shell around the structure which broke away from the traditions of the area. The Umayyads might have developed this taste on their own, or, as has been argued in the past, they were already under the influence of an Iranian fashion known through Sasanian stuccoes covering mud-brick walls. Perhaps they tried to recreate in the language of the Mediterranean the effects of the Ka'ba in Mecca, covered on the outside with multicoloured textile hangings and filled inside with a huge number of idols and treasures, including paintings. The Dome of the Rock would represent the first step toward what will come to be called an Islamic aesthetic of the textile, or else it was an example of the many ways of visual expression being developed in Late Antique art since the time of Justianian in the sixth century. The third original feature of the Dome of the Rock is the way in which the dome itself juts out of the octagons. The effect is quite different from that of San Vitale in Ravenna, of the Holy Sepulchre, or of the palace church in Aachen with which the Dome of the Rock is frequently compared — justifiably so, if one looks at plan alone. The designer made the dome more significant from the outside than from the inside, where it is in fact nearly invisible because of its height and the location of the Rock. It is as though the building has two messages: 1) one to proclaim to the rest of the city that Islam has sanctified anew the place of the Jewish Temple; 2) the other to convey the impression of a luxurious shrine for restricted and internal purposes. To accomplish these aims, the sponsors of the building (presumably the caliph 'Abd al-Malik and his entourage in Damascus), the engineers or supervisors in charge of the construction itself (Raja' ibn Hayweh and Yazid ibn Salam, presumably Arab Muslim functionaries of a new state or emissaries of the ruler), and the artisans who did the actual work (presumably local or imported Christians) simplified an existing architectural type to its purest geometric shape. Such minimal departures from exact geometry as exist serve a very specific visual purpose. Thus, the slight displacement of the columns of the octagon leads the gaze of anyone entering the building right through it and reveals each of its constituent parts. Set on a traditional holy site, and drawing on its Late Antique heritage for methods of construction and decoration, the Dome of the Rock created an entirely new combination of artistic conceptions to fulfil its purpose. It is a most splendid and singular achievement, a true work of architectural art.

mayda'a

____: Ablutions fountain Is the fountain that gives you the opportunity to wash your hands and feet before you go in to pray The fountain are gendered (man and woman used different fountains) In the courtyard

al-Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya

___-____ __-________, Baghdad 1233 named after and built by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir 4-iwan mosque Mustansiriya Madrasah Plan & elevation (with projecting entrance) al-Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya, Baghdad 1233 4-iwan mosque Madrasa: gets designed off of the 4 iwan. A madrasa plan. Means the school, is the highest place of learning (theology, literature, math, the Qur'an) first site to unify the schools of Sunni thought in the 13th century. microcosmic 4 iwan version rectangle form The 4 iwan becomes popular as a model because it is very conducive if you think about what a school is (divided into subjects and different spaces dedicated to different areas of learning. Madrasa is very imitable to that. The history and development of Iraq - defined here in the medieval sense as the lower part of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys - were somewhat overshadowed by the momentous events taking place in Iran, Anatolia, and Syria. Nevertheless, the orthodox Abbasid caliph resided in Baghdad, and in spiritual and intellectual power the city was as great as ever. Nizam al-Mulk founded his most important madrasa there, and the tombs of Ali and of the great founders of schools of jurisprudence in Baghdad, Kufa, and Najaf became the centres of large religious establishments whose impact was as wide as the Islamic world. The port city of Basra in the extreme south was still one of the major Muslim Gates to the Indian Ocean, and travellers such as Ibn Jabayr and Benjamin of Tudela were struck by the wealth and importance of Iraqi cities, even though Baghdad had lost some of its population. But Iraq's political significance had Shrunk to revive briefly in the first decades of The thirteenth century, when the caliphs al-Nasir and al-Mustansir asserted themselves as more than figureheads. In 1258 the last caliph was killed and the city sacked. Few monuments survive from this period. Of those mentioned in texts, mostly chronicles, many were reconstructions or comparatively minor additions. The Mustansiriya in Baghdad, innaugurated in 1233 by the caliph al-Mustansir, stands out both ideologically and architecturally. The first recorded madrasa built for all four Islamic schools of jurisprudence, it reflected the idea of the caliphate as the sponsor of an ecumenical Sunnism, a strong feature of the new guidance that the later Abbasids attempted to provide. Built along the Tigris, the Mustansiriya is a huge rectangle ( 106 by 48 metres) with a large central court (62 by 26 metres). Herzfeld and others believed that six iwans opened on the court, but Creswell showed that it had three, one of which communicated with the entrance; on the fourth side was a long hall with three openings which served as an oratory. Between iwans and oratory lay long halls at right angles to the court, and various other halls and rooms extended to north and south, probably equally divided between the four rites. Extensive reconstructions and long use of the Mustansiriya as a customs house have greatly altered the internal aspect of the building, but two points about it are of special significance. 1) First, although, with its two superposed arches In rows symmetrically arranged on either side of larger single arches, it was clearly influenced By the Iranian courts with four iwans, it differs in that one of the iwans was transformed into An oratory whose function separated it from the rest of the building - a function emphasized by a triple entrance on the qibla side of the court, balanced by a totally artificial triple facade on the opposite (entrance) side. Thus the openings on the court do not correspond with the same clarity as in Iran to the purposes and forms of the covered parts behind them; from being a meaningful screen, the court facade has become a mask. 2) Second, the ratio between length and width, the multiplication of long cupola halls, and the peculiar separateness of the muqarnas are all anomalous features. They could be due to the location of the Mustansiriya in a bazaar area where previous constructions and a highly organized big-city rhythm of life imposed peculiar forms on the new buildings; on the other hand they may derive from earlier developments in Iraq in the eleventh and twelfth centuries of which as yet we have no knowledge. In any case, the originality of the ecumenical function of the Mustansiriya is indubitable.

Al-Aqmar Mosque, urban, bent gates, arrow slits, machicolation, vaulting

___-______ ______ (The Moonlit), 1125, Cairo built as a neighborhood mosque by the Fatimid vizier al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi Hypostyle Fatimid Fatimid Architecture & Art Capital: Cairo Characteristics of Fatimid Mosque Architecture: 1) The use of projected portals and domes over mihrabs for ceremonial purposes. 2) The use of keel-shaped arches in porticoes and arcades. 3) The profusion of fine stucco decoration, especially in mihrabs and qibla walls. 4) The dependence on iconographic inscriptions, especially on the entrance façade Al-Aqmar (Moonlit) 1125 profuse use of inscription as decoration It was located on on the main artery of the city elaborately ornamented which sets a tone for what Islamic architecture in Cairo will look like (Sultan Hasan is after, this mosque sets tone of what external decoration looks like in Cairo) Idea of using inscription, muqarnas portals see here Hypostyle (not T-plan) The street is why facade is at angel (they kept the rectangle but have to fit the needs of its location (fit in interior complex of royal city). It is brick with stone facing which is highly decorated with sculpture decoration and inscription We see: arches are etched into the stone (blind arches, are inscribed into the building that are apart of its overall program and bringing that arch we often have on the inside (the arches that line the interior courtyard and bringing them out and using them as a decorative element.) Lovely arches used as decoration Inscription at the top (like a band that runs around the exterior) (Arabic is standardized but here they are more inventive they are making a variation on Thuluth Arabic that was being used in the Abbasid court.) Texture--> geometric (triangles) and traces of muqarnas on sides of main portal Keel arch, carved away so it is abstract and makes a texture There is a medallion (circle, has inscriptions (like Muhammad)) that sits in the center of the portal It seems like its at street level. Originally in 12th century it was built above a row of shops (which are now buried) which would have been attached to the mosque. The shops would have been the revenue stream for providing the mosques endowment. They were taxed exempt. (the shops were probably less permanent architecture). There was stairs which showed how people got up to the mosque. Why was street alignment important? (Relation to palaces; shops) By placing it between the two palaces it frames it as an important place and its location on a busy area makes it a center of Cairo's culture. Its street alignment makes it more accessible since it is located on the main thoroughfare. It is the face of the city, it connects the city to the walls beyond the palaces. Cairo, or al-Qahira, is an collection of 4 cities founded within the area. The name al-Qahira did not exist until the last of these was created in 969 as capital of Egypt under the Famtimids. Before this city came a succession of capitals beginning with al-Fustat (641), the Abbasid foundation or al-'Askar (750), and the Tulunids establishment of al-Qata'i (870). al-Fustat: first established as a place where caliph Umar Ibn al-Khattab station his troops. Settled here because he could easily communicate with Arabian Penisula and it became a commerical and industrial center of Egypt. Garrison town, unplanned agglomeration with mosque at center- mosque of 'Amar: a simple construction for the religious needs of the troops and, adjacent to it, the commander's house. The mosque overlooked the Nile, whose channel was much closer to it than it is now. City originally divided into distinct quarters occupied by various tribes of conquering army. Abbasids established al-'Aska with new mosque and governor's palace. Later fused with al-Fustat. Ahmad Ibn Tulun set to Egypt by Abbasids as governor and asserted independence as ruling dynasty, new capital al-Qata'i. Conquest of Egypt by Fatimids, Isma'ili Shi'a. Al-Qahira had quarters for various ethnic groups composing the army, Greeks, Europeans, Armenians, Berbers, Sudanese, and Turks. Al-Qahira became seat of power, ceremonial, residential center where Caliph dwelt with his court and army. Al-Fustat remained the economic center (called Mist) and was very grand (high rising buildings with roof gardens, thriving markets selling goods from all over the world, sewerage systems) and suffered from narrow streets, stale air from improper ventilation caused by terrain, contaminated water from throwing dead animals into Nile. City expanded under many rulers. Mamluks extensive development along road leading from bab Zuwayla to Citadel and royal palace. Cairo derives from Arabic al-Qahira but Egyptains call it Masr. al-Qahira was established by Famtimid as residential city. Misr (Fustat) was found by Amr Ibn Al-As. The term Misr later extended to refer to whole capital composed of al-Fustat and al-Qahira. Habit of called Egyptian capital Cairo or al-Qahira begun by Europeans who visited Egypt and was reinforced by Napoleon French Scholars who called city Le Kaire translated by British as Cairo. By 11th century Misr and Qahira became separation between indigenous people and ruling elite. Misr supported production and mercantile population and Qahira inhabited by foreign rulers and their entourage A more original manner of expressing power occurred in cities through the location and design of monuments that in themselves are not directly connected with the functions of authority. The point can most easily be demonstrated in a street such as the shari'a bayn al-qasrayn in Cairo. Originally the central artery of the restricted Fätimid city, it became one of the main axes of a bustling metropolis after the fall of the dynasty. Over the centuries, wealthy patrons who were endowing pious foundations of all sorts (madrasas, schools, hospitals, convents) or building warehouses and hostels for mercantile activities sought to justify their expenditure by conspicuously exhibiting its presence along a major street in the city. Thus an unparalleled succession of faqades and minarets, whose main buildings are squeezed into whatever space was available, appear to broadcast the wealth and power of their patrons like a succession of neon signs in a modern Western town. The Cairene phenomenon is particularly spectacular but is not unique; in Damascus, Jerusalem or Aleppo, facades of pious monuments similarly adorn streets without necessarily revealing their full size or their purpose. In Isfahan, and probably in several other Iranian cities, facades and especially minarets proclaim the power and the wealth of their sponsors more than the pious purposes of the buildings. And in Ottoman times the great külliyes, buildings serving a wide range of practical social functions around a mosque, also expressed the power of individual sultans. The interesting point about these examples is that one or two characteristic forms of buildings, most frequently facades, gates or minarets, became the formal expressions of the presence and importance of their sponsors rather than of the purposes of the buildings. This point had further implications for the forms of power in Islamic architecture. As well as fortified and unfortified country and mountain mansions, the rich and powerful also built in cities. One aspect of their urban architecture has already been mentioned: the facades, minarets, and domes that adorn pious foundations, creating in many cities competing clusters of monumental complexes, each fulfilling the same social functions and looking alike, but identified with different individuals or social groups. These complexes are most readily observable in Cairo, but also exist elsewhere. In 14th-century Yazd, for instance, the sponsors of the major local monuments, mostly members of the local patriciate, also built for themselves gardens with pleasure, or living, pavilions, bagh; and with apparently formal portals, dargah, in which official business was transacted. Yazd demonstrates that surburban and urban developments were intimately tied to each other both economically and in terms of monumental constructions. The theme of a new city as an expression of power ran through much of Islamic history. When Cairo was founded in 969 as the dynastic capital of the missionary and exclusive Fätimids, some of the procedures used in Baghdad were repeated and the Egyptian capital became known as the Victorious One, al-Qahira — although there is an alternate explanation that its name refers to the planet Mars. As an example of urban design Cairo was less impressive than Baghdad, although there too the palaces occupied roughly the central part of the city, and living quarters for selected groups of followers were set in the rest of the enclosure. The remains consist of stone walls and three gates, two of which are known as Gates of Victory, belonging to an 11th-century reconstruction. To the idea of a city as an expression of power Cairo added the notion of power as expressed in the separation of a royal city from the urban centre proper. Gates or walls become curtains, dividing the community rather than, as in Baghdad, enclosing the whole community, from its leaders down to the poorest members. And perhaps it is no accident that, whereas the very name of City of Peace implies universal ecumenism, al-Qahira, like its immediate Tunisian predecessors, al-Mansuriyya or Mahdia, was one of the new cities whose names either glorified their founders or perpetuated a specific idea of power and victory. This particular development may be the result of the Fatimid peculiarity of belonging to a minority sect with a religious mission, or perhaps by the IIth century a sense of the universality of the Muslim world no longer was applicable. Until the pre-modern empires, Islamic civilization is supposed to have avoided elaborate external symbols of its power and presence. In reality no continuous culture with a long history and a complicated past can avoid expressing its collective and individual successes, or its glory. Islamic civilization was no exception, even though it did not develop the coherent system of architectural forms of power found in Imperial Rome. The earliest remaining major monument of Islamic art, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, was meant initially to be a visual proclamation of the new Faith in the city of Judaism and Christianity. In all these examples the forms of the architecture differ enormously: the Dome of the Rock and the Juyushi Mosque are octagonal martyria with high cupolas; the minarets are tall towers; the Court of the Lions is a square hall around a porticoed court; the Puerto del Vino is a gateway. And in all of them it is inscriptions that provide the clue to the building's interpretation. Most frequently they are Qur'anic passages, suggesting directly or metaphorically the meaning of the monument; at other times they are poems written for the occasion. It is therefore the applied decoration, rather than the architectural forms, that actually defines the building's initial purpose. With the passing of time, this purpose was either simply forgotten or its associations were modified. This is what happened to the Dome of the Rock, where pious meanings took over after the original motivation for the monument was gone. Symbolic expression of authority is also found in royal or dynastic mausolea. A small dynastic mausoleum may have been more of a private monument than a public display of power. But enormous monuments were all deliberate and conspicuous displays of personal or dynastic wealth and glory. Many of them were focal points in the layout of cities and incorporated technical innovations in their construction and decoration. It is even possible to interpret them as a competitive display of personal or family power and wealth around a holy place — much in the manner of late medieval private chapels in the West. Human vanities and ambitions often prevailed over the strictures of the Faith. The powerful Official and formally impressive monuments or the palaces in varying degrees, permeated with details and meanings that reflect the taste of a patron, his unique personality and habits, or are a tribute to memories that are only remotely related to power. A number of monuments exist whose primary purpose was for personal satisfaction or expression, although some of them also have more official and formal associations with power. They differ from purely vernacular architecture in that each one of them tends to be unique and that the quality of almost every one required a financial and technical investment not available to everyone. The earliest examples of an architecture of the powerful are provided by the Umayyad palaces of Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, Mshatta and Khirbat al-Mafjar, seem to have been country residences built in the large estates that were taken over by the new Arab aristocracy of the Levant. Typologically, they can be related to the country villas of Roman Antiquity. They included living quarters, common areas, a bath, and a small mosque. Almost all of them were also provided with official halls, usually varied in their shapes. Some scholars have argued that these were for formal reception (were throne rooms of official palaces), others felt that, even though their forms are closely related to those of throne rooms, they were more probably entertainment rooms, reflecting no doubt the semi-official character of princely pastime. The most interesting feature of the main Umayyad palaces is their wealth of decoration. Paintings. mosaics, stucco or stone ornament covered most walls, but vary enormously in quality. All sorts of representational themes (people, animals, narrative scenes) are found alongside pure ornament. Many of these themes have not yet been deciphered and explained ; they include official scenes (enthroned princes. alien ancestors of Muslim rulers), private events (uniquely Arabian hunting scenes), routine symbols of pleasure and fun (hunting, women), copies of older monuments, and possibly even reflections of contemporary literature. This very variety of representational motifs is partly the result of the sudden and recent impact of the rich Classical heritage. The absence of such themes in the monuments found in cities suggests that these Umayyad palaces illustrated primarily the private world of a nouveau riche Arabian aristocracy. It is only in very recent years that scholars have begun to investigate the economic bases of urban architecture, although significant differences existed between large Iranian monuments and smaller Syrian ones based on different types of land ownership. Further studies will probably show that the power, wealth, and importance of individual patrons is reflected in the dimensions and location of their pious constructions as much as in the forms they chose for them. This peculiar situation has been made possible in the Muslim world by the legal provisions of waqf endowments, whereby the wealthy were encouraged to invest their income in socially useful pious constructions available to the whole community. How and when the system grew is still very unclear. As early as in the 9th century, the Darb Zubayda, the great caravan road from Iraq to Mecca, whose scientific archaeological investigation has just begun, was endowed with caravanserais, wells, bridges, and possibly even small palaces by Harun al-Rashid's wife, presumably from her own personal funds. A 10th century waqf from Samarqand gives a wonderful description of the complicated mosaic of owners in this particular city. Even though it says very little about individual monuments, it does suggest that they reflected the power structure of the town. By then it can be assumed that the legal system of traditional Islam was sufficiently well established for almost all major Muslim cities to have developed nodes of monumental ensembles, reflecting local or imported power and wealth. Foreign amirs established themselves locally by endowing schools and sanctuaries. while local patrician families competed with them and with each other by sponsoring the same functions. Because of its universal uses military architecture is rarely original in themes or techniques and Muslim examples are no exception. The appreciation of monuments like Aleppo's citadel, the outer walls of Cairo and Diyarbakir, the gates of Rabat or of Marrakesh lies more in a fascination for their impressive location, or for their unusual state of preservation, than in an awareness of their technical achievements. In most other ways these monuments simply continue a long tradition of military architecture already fully developed in ancient Middle Eastern empires and in Rome. In construction or decoration they reflect prevailing local tastes, with occasional tendencies toward grandiloquence. Certain characteristic Western military structures, such as the totally independent chateau-fort with its elaborate internal arrangements, are rare in, lslamic architecture, although Crusader castles like the Crac des Chevaliers or Kerak were taken over by the Muslims and imitated in a few instances. A more original Muslim development may have been the growth of _____ citadels. Although known elsewhere (the Kremlin for instance), the elaborate fortified palace-city, containing the whole gamut of living amenities and activities as well as administrative and coercive functions, might be called a uniquely Islamic phenomenon, if for no other reason than its ubiquity from Spain to Central Asia. While it is probably true that the functional originality of Islamic military architecture lies only in a comparatively small number of technical modifications — for instance the development of ____ _____ or various improvements in _____ _____ and _____ — there is one area where military architecture may possibly have played an important role within the evolution of Islamic architecture in general. It is curious to note that major changes and inventions in techniques of _____ and roofing roughly coincided with the increase in the number of fortresses, citadels, city walls, and other primarily military monuments in the 10th and 11th centuries. Possibly the practical concerns of defence architecture required experimentation and invention in stone and brick vaulting, and as a result of its immediate feudal needs a new tone was given to the conceptual and technical effort Of the whole culture. A wide question that may be asked about an architecture of power is: can its forms be defined according to any cultural ideological categories? At one level it may be argued that there was no uniquely Islamic formal system to reflect authority or wealth, except on the purely cosmetic levels such as the degree Of decoration, amount of expensive materials used, and variations in size. There were no standard plans for Islamic palaces and the most obvious way of indicating power or social importance was to use towers, facades, domes and other architectural components seen in all Islamic architecture. Even in decoration, if one excepts the explicit themes of Umayyad paintings, mosaics and sculpture, there is little in the arts immediately associated with architecture that can be compared to the royal imagery found in almost all forms of Islamic art. Occasional symbols such as the animals and personages found on the fortresses, walls, and gates of the Fertile Crescent in the 12th and 13th centuries have not yet been fully explained and it is uncertain whether they reflect power or whether they belong to a more fundamental folk tradition of apotropaic images. Although the same range of forms is used in Islamic architecture to express power as is employed for monuments of trade or for pious buildings, it would probably be a mistake to conclude that no ways existed to express the functions of power. It is nevertheless difficult to distinguish between Islamic caravanserais, palaces and ribats or Safavid royal pavilions and mausolea. For it is unlikely that any culture would be unable to identify the uses or purposes of the monuments that surrounded it; and, even if one can argue the validity of ambiguity in certain kinds of sophisticated artistic endeavours, it is hardly likely to apply to a social art such as architecture. Means must have existed whereby power, wealth, and authority were identified within a common language of forms. One such means was certainly the symbolism of decoration. Inscriptions and probably other hitherto undiscovered visual signs served to identify otherwise unspecified forms as symbolic of power. Another manner of identification was context, or setting. A characteristic peculiar to the architecture of power and wealth in the Muslim world was that its order and sense appear less in formal compositions than in the presence (or absence) of certain, sometimes minor, features or in the relationship of the monument of power to other monuments and especially to contemporary life. For instance, water in the shape of streams, a pool, or fountains or fancy gardens around or within buildings serve to identify it as a palatial setting rather than a sanctuary. But the most consistent identification of a function or power lay in human uses and associations, in the ways in which official ceremonies or ordinary living habits determined the quality of otherwise unspecified forms as forms of power. (the daily life of a Cairene street identified the respective importance of the patrons of facades, domes, and minarets.) The originality of Islamic architecture of power would thus be less in its forms than in the breadth of its uses. Islamic architecture of power appeared in. a wide spectrum, ranging from the totally secret world of the prince to the public announcement of the rich city patrician.

Mosque of Cordoba

____ __ ____, Abd al-Rahman I, Abd al-Rahman II, Abd al-Rahman III, Al-Hakam, 784-967 Umayyad (Spain) Central aisles is a T-plan The hypostyle moved placed to placed: Umayyads were defeated in 750 by the Abbasids and the last member (Abd Al-Rahman I) flees to Southern tip of Spain Spain was known as Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula) (711-1492) Umayyads (711, 756-1031) wanted to fashion Cordoba into a Damascus, it became a center of culture (libraries, learned people). He imported things to Spain to remind him of Damascus, fruit trees (oranges because Islamic empire imported them). He promoted agriculture and building programs. Cordoba reminded under Islamic rule until 1492 with Nasrid dynasty The Great Mosque of Cordoba Abd al-Rahman I (784-6): starts the church Abd al-Rahman II (833-52) Abd al-Rahman III (912-61) Al-Hakam (961-67) Abd Al-Raham I imported orange trees which are planted in the mosques courtyard Now: their is a cathedral in the middle of the mosque, centered weirdly, ridges (triangular to the roof), still hypostyle The Nasrid dynasty falls in 1492 and King Ferdinand III (Catholic) conquers Cordoba and wanted to demolish it. There was a community outcry and so he converted it into a cathedral (Gothic). Abd Al-Raham I: the mosque was small. Courtyard, prayer hall with columns, not a T plan, mihrab, rectangular shaped. Then more columns were added and the qibla was moved back. (extended it vertically, longer) It the grew laterally (horizontally) and a side wing was added. So it is slightly asymmetrical. Why add onto it? for legacy, to accommodate more people, to approve upon it The mihrab is a room and has rooms on each side which connect and a room behind the mihrab (with a dome over it) Double tier (piggy back) arches, CM, Merida aquaduct Consist the program in how columns are articulate and off set it slightly Roman temple there and their was roman materials laying about. Reused classical columns The arches sit on classical columns They imported the pattern, it has red and white voussoirs (the stones which comprise arch way) Most of the arches were moorish/horse show arches with double tier, ablaq (bi-chrony) (Interior Arcades comparison horseshoe, double tier arches, ablaq (bi-chromy)) Al-Hakam's Central Aisle Maqsura: Polylobed arches Difference as spaces: Great mosque of Damascus and Cordoba more intimate darkness more direct Still have columns and arches in hypostyle, but interpreted different. "Forest of stone" you progress through. Heighten, the trees in the courtyard and you come into the mosque you already encountered trees so you see a forest of columns and arches (dark). The progression towards to maqsura, its about us moving there and arriving so the building is moving use from place to place. The Central aisles is a T-plan, hypostyle comes with last caliphe Al-Hakam. he wanted to extenuate the main passage way to the maqsura. What is different at the maqsura: there is polylobed arches: off set the central aisles They are floral and emulate mosaic patterns. Alter your attention. Why put rooms on side of miharb? usually there is only niches, there is sense that with this decision to add two rooms off to side is what we think of triaxial. In churches the apse there is a abs in the center with two side aisles. So there is speculation this is an appropriation of the triaxial form but removed of its Christian context. The mosques's dome (in maqsura): break from other mosaics, mosque colors are different (blue and green are secondary to the orange and gold) We see floral and vegetation motifs, calligraphy, floral and geometric borders and motifs offsets the text, The text as a bounding function, the calligraphy is difficult to read and because of painterly nature looks like forms and words take on a artistic quality, the dome has a floral shape, the building as declarative There is a secret room behind the mihrab with a slightly scallop dome. The arches and works together, it takes that vision of paradise and takes the visual elements (like colors) transports it to the ceiling and makes the dome a beautiful space of color and decoration. The mosque shows a interest in domes, dome to codify a visual language The mosaics are on the qibla wall The essential form of the building, a gable-roofed hypostyle mosque on arcades supported by marble columns. with a wider axial nave and a dome before the mihrab, was repeated far afield in the congregational mosques of Fustat (Old Cairo) in Egypt, KAIROUAN in Tunisia see ARCHITECTURE, fig 7) and Cordoba in Spain, although these later buildings all feature integral courts. The Great Mosque of Cordoba was founded in 785 by 'Abd al-Rahman I, the Umayyad ruler of Spain, and repeatedly extended by his successors. most notable among them was al-Hakam Ill, who was responsible for the present mihrab area and its magnificent mosaic decoration, undoubtedly ordered in imitation of Umayyad precedents in Syria, although the Cordoban geometric and vegetal ornament shares little with the naturalism of the prototypes. The mosque is unique in its system of supports, with double arcades of alternating brick and stone voussoirs, and its intersecting lobed arches that screen off the bays in front and on either side of the mihrab. The arrangement of the mihrab as a small room behind an open arch, however, and the scheme of the decoration around that arch set a model for later mosques in the western Islamic world, such as the Great Mosque of TLEMCEN (rebuilt 1136) in Algeria. The Great Mosque of Tlemcen is representative of many North African congregational mosques of the 12th to 14th centuries, which comprise a distinctive subtype. They have a mihrab formed as a room, a recess for the minbar when not in use, rectangular brick piers supporting simple and complex arcades of varying profiles, a central aisle hardly wider than the other bays, an elaborate dome over the bay in front of the mihrab, a gabled tile roof and little emphasis on the portals or exterior facades. The minarets of these mosques are square towers, often placed, as at Kairouan, in the center of the arcade opposite the qibla wall.

Khirbat al-Mafjar

______ __-______ The castle always has an entrance, generally quite elaborate, and along the walls full towers often arranged in apartments (bayts) of three or five rooms. There was often a second floor with official apartments, throne rooms, and so on. In addition, Khirbat al-Mafjar's castle has a small private mosque on the south and a small underground bath on the west. Within the same framework, Mshatta, the most ambitious of all, although unfinished has a slightly aberrant interior with a large entrance complex (with mosque), a courtyard, and a throne-room complex opening on the court, all set on an axis independently from the living quarters. These differences from typical Syrian constructions and plans can be explained by the impact of Umayyad architecture in Iraq, as we know it in Kufa. The origins of the fortress-like plan, improper for defence, lie in the forts and palace-forts which started on the Roman frontier of Syria and spread to Roman imperial palace architecture elsewhere. The construction — both stone, the most common material, and brick, used in Mshatta and in some parts of other palaces — follows the traditional methods of Syria, with the addition of a few Mesopotamian and strictly Constantinopolitan features. We know less about the ceremonial rooms, since in most instances they were on the second floor over the entrance. However, the remaining examples at Mshatta and Khirbat Minya used the ubiquitous basilical hall of the Mediterranean world which at Mshatta had an appended dome area and triconch. An important feature of these establishments is their baths. All have small hot-rooms, which follow in all practical respects the heating and water distributing techniques of roman baths. But while the heated rooms shrank, a significant but variable expansion took place in what corresponds to the Roman apodyterium (entrance into bath). a large hall, with a pool at one side, a magnificently decorated entrance, and a luxurious small domed private room at one corner. The superstructure is more uncertain: there were 16 huge piers, and a central dome; whether we must assume something like two ambulatories around it or some other system is less certain. The effect was certainly grandiose, especially if one adds the splendid mosaics, the carved stucco, and the paintings which decorated walls and floors. The function of room is difficult to define. It has already been pointed out that its size and decoration, as well as the 2 entrances one public to the east, one princely and private to the southwest — are fully appropriate for the relaxation generally associated with medieval baths. It was certainly not an apodyterium (primary entry in the public baths) in the strict sense of the word: instead, it must have been a place for official royal entertainment, as practiced by Umayyad princes. May have had a complex mythical meaning connected with the legends surrounding the Prophet-King Solomon. Its pre-modern equivalent would be the ballroom of a rich residence, serving at the same time for pleasure and as a symbol of social status; for the bath always had the connotation of well-being (hence the importance of astrological and astronomical symbols in baths), and royal entertainment (lahwa) increased well-being. Furthermore, to the Arabs a bath building was indeed one of the higher forms of luxury. Spectacular mosaics are at Khirbat al-Mafjar: 1) bath hall was entirely covered with 31 different abstract designs, all related to classical themes, but with a decorative, rug-like quality not usually found in pre-Islamic mosaics. These very same characteristics appear at Khirbat al-Minya, where 1 panel in particular has the colour pattern arranged so as to give the impression of woven threads. 2) small private room off the bath has preserved the best-known of Umayyad floor-mosaics, showing a lion hunting gazelles under a tree. Here again the tassels around the panel suggest a textile imitation. The delicacy of the design, the superior quality of colour-setting in the progressively lighter tones of the tree, and the vivid opposition between the ferocious lion, the trapped gazelle still on the run, and the 2 unconcerned gazelles nibbling at the tree make this panel a true masterpiece. Its location in the apse of a semi-official room suggests an allegory of Umayyad power, since earlier examples had such a meaning, but recently Doris Behrens-Abu Sayf has proposed an erotic explanation based on the images of contemporary Arabic poetry. The stylistic antecedents are to be sought in the Mediterranean world, but the theme is an ancient Near Eastern one. But the important issue is why the first Muslim dynasty revived an art of sculpture in the round or in high relief which had all but disappeared- may be purely visual impact of the classical monuments which covered most of the Roman world and which would have appeared to the Umayyads as characteristic prerequisites of an imperial life. Out of the great number of painted or sculpted subjects remaining from Umayyad palaces, the most original are figural reprsenation, which form the majority of paintings at Qusayr Amra and include many fragments from Qasr al-Hayr West and Khirbat al-Mafjar. subject matter not east to determine from many themes which existed in pre-Islamic times and those which were adapted to new Umayyad meanings or for decorative value or because they reflected ideas and modes of life taken over by Arab princes. Various iconographic interpretations for sculptures and paintings of courtly life. Four royal figures remain; whether they were caliphs or not is uncertain. 1) The first, at the gate to the bath of Khirbat al-Mafjar, is a prince standing on a pedestal with two lions. He wears a long coat and baggy trousers in the Sasanian manner and holds a dagger or a sword. In all these instances, position as well as Iconography imply an official glorification of the prince. The considerable variations between these images borrowed directly from Sasanian and Byzantine princely representations indicate that, with the exception of a few details, the Umayyads did not develop a royal iconography of their own; this is confirmed by the vagaries of early Islamic coins. Official representations derived almost exclusively from Sasanian or Byzantine types, indicates the level at which Umayyad princes wanted to be identified. Themes were adopted to the Umayyad situations. These subjects emphasize the strength and power of the Arab princes. The same theme is implicit in a number of other representations. In the small room in the back of the main bath hall at Khirbat al-Mafjar, the striking 6 heads in a flower on a dome supported by 4 winged horses and a procession of birds may have had some kind of cosmic symbolism, although here once more a peculiar ambiguity exists between decorative value and specific symbolic or other meaning. A second royal theme is of particular interest for three reasons: 1) it was almost exclusively borrowed from the Ancient Orient through the Iranian kingdoms conquered by the Muslims; 2) it corresponded to a certain extent to Umayyad practices; 3) and it remained a constant in later Islamic princely art and practice. The theme is the royal pastime. It includes male and female attendants, dancers, musicians, drinkers, acrobats, gift-bearers, and activities such as hunting, wrestling, bathing, and nautical games. In most instances a prince is the focus, and an idealized court is represented; but as usual there are modifications inconsistent with the official character of the imagery and which illustrate two further aspects of Umayyad art: its decorative value and its earthiness. At Khirbat al-Mafjar, the use of 4 acrobats or dancers in pendentives either means a confusion between the court theme and the old motif of Atlantes (mythical figures holding up world), or, more likely, serves simply to cover the surface of the wall. It is not clear why a few non-courtly themes appear. Human beings also occur in a decorative context, especially at Khirbat al-Mafjar. Whether painted and fully integrated with a vegetal design, or sculpted and protecting from the decoration, their origins are probably to be sought in textiles. Hypothesize about the existence of an iconographic programme can be made due to fragmentary state of remains at Khirbat al-Mafjar. Sculptures are not of very great quality either, as in the crude eroticism of the Mafjar female figures. The decadence of sculpture in the round, hardly peculiar to Islamic art at this time, is clearly shown by the fact that the more successful and impressive figures are those in which heavily patterned clothes hide the body. The Umayyads achieved more remarkable results only in a few faces with rough planes and deep sunken eyes reminiscent of what prevailed in the Mediterranean world during the 4th and 5th centuries. The background of this sculpture is still Unclear. Its main source of inspiration must be sought in Iran, perhaps even in Central Asia; but there is some trace also of the local Syro-Palestinian pre-Christian styles of such Nabatean sites as Khirbat al-Tannur or of Palmyra, although we cannot yet tell why these sculptural styles were revived several centuries after their apparent abandonment. Finally there are instances of simply copying classical figures. Umayyad painters and sculptors represented (humans and ) animals. Most of them are found at Khirbat al-Mafjar: rows of partridges or mountain goats below the bases of domes, winged horses in pendentive medallions, and an endless variety of monkeys, rabbits, and pig-like animals in vegetal scrolls. The significance of these fragments is twofold: 1) practically all of them derive from Persian and Central Asian models; on the other, they show a far greater imagination and vivacity than the representations of human figures. Umayyad palaces have also preserved purely decorative fragments, mostly carved in stone or stucco and in a few instances moulded in stucco.

size,

How is the mosque made visible in the city? How does this relate to Umayyad visibility in the city? In cities across the empire? Central area -its ____, believed to be able to hold all male Muslims in the city of Damascus would have made it an important social and political center. Not to mention the treasury located in the courtyard of the mosque and its close approximation to the caliph's palace would have marked it as important. Additionally, al-walid had the church of St. John teared down to build the mosque. Its location on a holy site would have marked it was important and its splendour in its visual programme would have made it a symbol of the Islamic faith. Thus, making the city Damasuc a place of religious important within the Umayyad empire and for Muslims all over. Additionally the mosaics within the building represent in a way the empire and majesty of the umayyad conquest. Its very presence would show not only the power of the caliph but the security of the umayyad empire after Al-waild secured Jerusalem and Madina back.

portals, domes, keel, stucco, inscriptions

Fatimid Architecture & Art Capital: Cairo Fatimid a group Came up through the Abbasids. Believed a little different than the dominate Abbasids court. Shi'ite believe one must be direct descendent of Muhammad to be leading Islam. They argued they could trace their lineage back to Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah. They wanted to weakened and destabilized centrality of Abbasid rule. They broke off and moved away from Iraq and set up capital in Egypt. Wanted to establish more conservative mode of government. Cairo= al-Qahira (The "victorious") began 969 (before Mamluks) The Ibn Tulun Mosque already existed Al-Qahira of Al-Mu'izz 696 They decided they wanted to establish themselves within a wall city (royal center of their empire). Cairo becomes a flourishing center of science and art, is how it becomes know and a major Islamic city. They set up and make the wall city. Bab al-Futuh (Gate of Conquests): strong, sturdy building which exudes a separation between interior and exterior of city. Bastions, big portals, made of stone The site was selected by Jawhar al-Siqilli It corners off, the city is interior facing. There are two palaces with a royal processional walkway that gone through the city (main central thoroughfare and the city builds up around the of the heart of palaces and mosques). They establish buildings, cornering off interior and exterior 1) Eastern Palace 2) Western Palace the city was built around the palaces Characteristics of Fatimid Mosque Architecture: The use of projected _____ and _____ over mihrabs for ceremonial purposes. The use of _____-shaped arches in porticoes and arcades. The profusion of fine _____ decoration, especially in mihrabs and qibla walls. The dependence on iconographic _____, especially on the entrance façade

empire

How did the mosque develop in his program? His goals, the building The mosque represents the caliph's goal in creating a stable and strong ______ which is depicted by the conquest and the lack of internal troubles. The caliph's want to represent the prestige of his rule and create a symbol of his power and of the Islamic. By tearing down the church of Saint John and eract the mosque on it is a statement to the rest of empire and to Islam of the status of Islam and establishes Damascuc as a Islamic city. We see that al-Walid incorporates existing ruins into his mosque which can be interpreted as a statement of his conquest. The Roman temenos that existed before the mosque played a large role in determining the size and location of the mosque. Al-Walid took from the hypostyle the courtyard and covered portico and the rectangular/square shape which is reminiscent of the prophet's home, the first mosque and he had porticoes placed on three sides. The minarets which were developed in Syria and Egypt were included as an important element of a mosque which continues today and were modeled after Roman corner towers. This makes sense because Damascus is an ancient city that was once occupied by the roman so it is no surprise that Al-Walid would have been influenced by them. Additionally, they reused columns from the temple which were also included in the church before it was pulled down. While he does use the hypostyle to create prayer hall supported by columns he created a perpendicular (axial) nave which shows possible influence of Christian churches. Here he makes all the aisles of equal width which allowed for people to line up more effectively to pray. In this modification he takes away the Chrsitian connotation of the importance of the middle nave as it intersects with the transept to create a cross like shape and creates emphasis on the altar. It also creates a t from the grand entrance to the minharb, maqsura, and minbar. This shows the caliph is trying to create an area of emphasis within the mosque and present the majesty of Islam. Not only is the plan innovated, but the mosque also includes a concave mihrab. It creates a clear central focus on the qiblia wall which in itself represents a focus on prayer and creates an area of which splendor decoration can be incorporated. The plan of including the concave mihrab and the axial nave is a representation of a formalization in mosque building for later mosques. The realistic depth and perspective within the mosaics and the realistic depiction of buildings, streams, and foliage along with geometric and textile like designs shows quality craftsmanship and can be associated with wealth since such work could not have been cheap to have made. The realistic depictions of cities implies a symbol of the universal power of the Umayyads as an empire that control vasts areas where members of the other 2 major monothesitic religions reside. Grand entrance Formalizing for later mosques

Islam

How is al-Walid's building program related to that of his father Abd al-Malik? Abd al-Malik's building program in Jeruslaem was about establishing the spendlour and power of ____ in the holy city of Jerusalem. To represent the power of his empire and raise the statues of Islam to rival that of the other two monotheistic religions, Christianity and Jewism. By building the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem on Temple Mount, an extremely sacred cite to all three monotheistic religions and within the holy city of Jerusalem he is making a bold statement about Islam and creating a symbol of faith. Al-Walid realizes that his father has created a religious symbol within Jerusalem and he too wanted to make a symbol within the capital city of the Umayyad empire, Damascus, to serve as the representation of Islam. By building the mosque in Damascus he continued his father's legacy in creating a symbol of Islam that puts Islam on scale with the splendor of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues within the city. He accomplished this by building it on a holy site which was already at the center of the city. Both building program is related in the fact that they were built as symbols of the Umayyad caliph's power and to memorize their rule while, more importantly, serving as a symbol of the growing statues of Islam. The buildings also serve to commemorate the conquest and grandeur of the Umayyad empire's wealth and power.

Umayyad caliphate

Islamic Damascus: The ______ ______, the first Islamic dynasty (661-750) It was a melting pot, they weren't trying to formalized something that had to be incorporated but rather letting a hybrid form of culture exist Capital is in Damascus. Mosques of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock Where: Iraq and Iran, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Spain (the empire falls and goes to Spain from 756-1031) 1st Islamic official dynasty There first aesthetic empire 750 to 1258 discussions were important because they wanted to bring Islam to the same level as other cultures in the world They took their artistic influence from late antique classical naturalist tradition which had been present in the eastern shores of the Mediterranean They supplemented their interest in naturalism by the more formal modes developed by the byzantine and Sassanid empires. What is natural tradition: geography/representation of nature, vegetal motifs (like doric, iconic, and Corinthian columns (its capital has a frieze and leaves)) Roman column influence, Sassanians (mosaics), They picked from different arts (Byzantine, Sassanians, romans) to create a authentic Islamic tradition of image making Its not formal yet, its hybrid, they are adopting and modifying to create their own (to make Islamic over the coming years)

mausoleum, 4-Iwan, madrasa

Islamic world in 11th century: there is warring fraction and terminal -feudalism: militaristic society, tension in regards to the holy lands The Cultural & Geo-Political Sphere of the Seljuq and 'post-Seljuq' Period (Anatolia, the Jazira, Iran, Iraq, then Syria & Egypt) Seljuq in 11th century under them we see differences in what architectural is used for and formalization of other building types Turkish people who came to power The invade south-western Asia and founded an empire that included Mesopotamia , Syria, palestine, Some of Iran The political set-up: 1. Military (ruling) classes (ahl al-sayf = people of the sword), mostly Turkic to begin with, then include Kurds, Mongols, Circassians, etc.. >a knight oversees fiefdom (there is a king though) 2. Administrative classes (ahl al-qalam = people of the pen). Include ministers and administrators (mostly Iranian) 3. Religious elite, scholars ('ulama) and sufis shaykhs (Iranian and Arab) >studied Qur'an 4. Language: Variety of Turkic languages of the rulers replaced by Persian as court language & Arabic as language of religion and religious classes >Arabic: language of religion Persians: court language Three things that happen with the Seljuq A shift in how a mosque operate and provide for a community Architectural Innovations: 1. New articulations in canopy tombs & tomb towers (the dead is buried, a free standing tomb is being formalized and mortuary architecture come into greater prominence) ______ 2. the __-_____ mosque (cruciform) (a shift away from hypostyle) 3. the _____ (place of learning as independent of the mosque) Formal buildings to house school of instruction (higher education). Are going to develop and formalize as building and gets brought together mosque All relate to mosque design development Seen in Sultan Hasan mosque funeral architecture in 10th century comes about to glorify significant figures Were smaller buildings, for caliphs and people with wealth. Samanid Mausoleum -basket weave decoration -the building is a tapered cube (it narrows slightly at the top) -dome (as a shield for the body) -no figural decoration, treatment of patterns, backed brick, Through funeral buildings Islamic architects and designers were able to really able to specialize and make sophistically patterns to make a dome sit properly on the building and make it interesting Mausoleum: bury the dead, spaces of reflection and preparation

Standing

Umayyads Coinage: Abd Al-Malik: was a fairly benevolent ruler except when it came to currency In an effort to consolidate the Umayyad empire and validate his rule he introduced the first Umayyad coins in a time of discord between the Umayyads and Byzantine (they were in discourse about the merits of Islam vs Christianity) He has his treasury mint new coins (in 691 or 692) The Byzantine emperor was angry and refused to except the currency which fueled the tensions Abd Al-Malik ruling from Damascus issues a decree that only his currency should be used in Umayyad lands and if you do not surrender their Byzantine currency to the treasure they will be executed ______ Caliph made in 694 (made for only 2 years), full body with a weapon (confrontational ) and no cross (we still see the pole), the text is in arabic Kept the formula and used Islamic imagery was a threat Byzantine: text is in roman? 697 a radical redesign in currency Removed all images and had arabic text "There is no god but Allah, he has no associate" (center) "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah he is sent with guidance and true religion to make it victorious over all religion" (around it) (back) "Allah is one, Allah is internal, he did not beget and is not begotten" (center) "In the name of Allah this dinar was struck in the year 77" (surrounded). Why get rid of the image? 1) gradual push away from image because representation is going against god and challenging god 2) If money is power and how you spread religion then focus it on the text 3) more clear about the message: give back as a Muslims (religious devotion not about the power of caliph) and gold is everything (so it is the will of god) 4) the design was for competition because the the emperor justinian had made a currency with an image of Christ and in latin it said "King of those who rule" (christ as king) and on the other side was an image of himself with the text "servant of Christ"

mausoleum-madrasa-mosque complex, mamluks

Variations on the Iwan theme The mausoleum-mosque-madrasa complex (public service institutions) of the military states the socio-political center for Islamic rulers mamluk empire: solider slaves of another group who formed their own empire. Military group. Largely involved in the crusades. Who are the Mamluks? 1st group (BAHRI Mamluks) : soldier slaves of the Ayyubids 2nd group (CIRCASSIAN Mamluks): soldier slaves of the Bahri Mamluks Builders of madrasa complexes in Syria. Introduced the madrasa to Egypt. Built the Citadel of Cairo. Best known: Saladin (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi). Saladin most famous Mumluk figure The ______ are going to bring together the mosques, mausoleum, and madrasa and the 4 iwan is super conducive in brining these together Example: Sultan Hasan mausoleum complex Complex of Sultan Hasan son of Nasir Muhammad son of Qalawun, built 1356-66 The mausoleum-mosque complex of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, 1356-1363 (Mamluk period) Combination of cruciform plan, domed mausoleum, madrasas, & dependencies

Fatamids

What we today call Cairo, or al-Qahira, is an agglomeration of four cities founded within the area. The name al-Qahira did not exist until the last of these was created in 969 as capital of Egypt under the ______. Under the Fatimids, al-Qahira became the seat Of power, a residential center where the Caliph dwelt with his court and army, but remained the productive and economic center Of Egypt. The older city, by that time called simply Mist, had grown into a flourishing metropolis. Travelers visiting it from the tenth to the mid-eleventh centuries reported that it competed in grandeur and prosperity with the greatest Islamic cities of the time. Al-Qahira, on the other hand, stood high above the problems of the mother city Nasirii Khusraw, describing the Fatimid Caliph's city, refers to Mansions and gardens of incredible beauty. A palace complex dominating the center of town. The word Cairo is derived from the Arabic al-Qahira, which is not, however, the name commonly used by Egyptians to designate their capital. They have always called it Masr (the popular form of Misr, meaning Egypt). Al-Qahira is the official term used in written Arabic today. Egyptian medieval historians make a clear distinction between Misr and Al-Qahira. Al-Qahira is the name of that part of the capital established in 969 by the Fatamids dynasty as its residential city. Misr is the abbreviation of Fustat-Miyr, or Fustat of Egypt, designating the first Muslim capital of Egypt founded by the Arab general 'Amr Ibn al-'As in 641-42. The term Misr was later extended to refer to the whole capital, composed of both al-Fustat and al-Qahira.

madrasa

____: An Islamic theological college adjoining and often containing a mosque. A school or college, often founded through a waqf, designed to provide religious and legal education. Early madrasas were based on the combination of a mosque and a dormitory for students. It is thought that the earliest madrasas were Seljuk in the 11th C Iran. The four-iwan architectural plan in which each iwan represented one of the four orthodox schools of Islamic law was a result of the madrasa concept.

muqarnas

____: System of projecting niches used for zones of transition and for architectural decoration. honey combs, kaleidoscope (The first niches were made out of interlocking cut pieces, but fairly early on "dripping" stalactites were developed. Thin, downward projections from the cut side of the niche gives the illusion of arches suspended in mid-air. Muqarnas do serve in some ways as architectural transitions (squinches, etc.), but they are also a typically and ubiquitously Islamic decoration. Using Muqarnas as a transition for a dome makes the dome appear to stand without visible support.) honey combs: perfect pattern, nature is repeating itself Translating this perfect pattern to man made, this intense application of geometry, very deep engagement with math and understanding numbers and patters. The Islamic world is was far ahead of the rest of the world in mathematics, astrology The interest in geometry and blending design, the principles of math and geometric forms that creates beautiful effect and creates way was to perfection (in nature recreated in man made) often start at the level of the Pendentives or Squinches and continue upperwards into the dome. It is in these Mausoleum we have these early Muqarnas domes from the experiences of Pendentives or Squinches domes Architects and designers thinking about how to make something beautiful and interesting. Not necessarily structural but a way to decorate the zones so they are more beautiful The first niches were made out of interlocking cut pieces, but fairly early on "dripping" stalactites were developed. Thin, downward projections from the cut side of the niche gives the illusion of arches suspended in mid-air. Muqarnas do serve in some ways as architectural transitions (squinches, etc.), but they are also a typically and ubiquitously Islamic decoration. Using Muqarnas as a transition for a dome makes the dome appear to stand without visible support.

minaret

____: tower for the crier or MUEZZIN to call the faithful to worship 5 times a day (Minara, Mi'dhana) Tower-like structure, associated with mosques (the spire) Purpose? Visual marker of the mosque Original used to call followers to prayer (Someone go up the stairs 5 times a day and calls) NY mosque is modern (centralized plan) but has one Not there in the time of the prophet, it comes latter Damascus, ca. 715 CE A distinctive feature of mosque architecture, a tower from which the faithful are called to worship.

coins

_____ Important in reconstruction history tells use about power, representations, trade, iconography, religious climate, made of metal so it survives (we can date the metal), we can learn about metal techniques by studying the coin, it tells you have the coin is worth (economics) Byzantine Coinage: made of gold, we see cross (Christianity), figures (saints and royalty), scripture (text and dates), visual programme (visual culture, style/culture) Money is power

Dome of the Rock, martyrium

_____ __ __ _____, Jerusalem, Abd al-Malik, 691 Umayyad Circular plane: ______ or Ciburium is the 1st monument It was the Islamics way of announcing themselves to the world It was built over the rock which Muslims believed Muhammad ascended to heaven from it is 1300 years old, one of the oldest Islamic monument There was a lot of political strife, at one point they lost medina and mecca but got it back. Some believe he made it for victory established different a kind of the caliphate (empire), he started a postal service, and reformed coins to standardized his government Looking to synthetic way of thinking about the world, Byzantine and Sassan workers, engineers, and crafts people Start of Syncretic tradition ( union or attempted fusion of different religions, cultures, or philosophies) It cost 7 times more than the revenue of Egypt Church of the Holy Sepulchr and the Dome of the Rock The two churches are in each other's view (is directionally confrontational), we see the power of architecture as a symbol, show the sign of the liveliness of Islam, the victory of islam, and competing with other holy sites, it also showcases command of resources and craft Dome of the Rock Sits on a plateform Walls in 7th century stairs were added Octagonal (8 sided) Covered porticos Why this shape: 4 entrances that make a cross through the building, balance facade, symmetrical Has a timeless quality ("This is one of the most fantastic of all buildings. Its queerness and perfection lie in its shape... It is so amazing it captivates the eye... Both the inside and the outside are covered with many kinds of tiles of such beautiful make that the whole defies description. Any viewer's tongue will grow shorter trying to describe it." -Ibn Batuta 14th century) Circular plane: martyrium or Ciburium the dome and the roof slopes slightly to meet the drum The dome accentuate what is underneath it The drum has 16 windows in it to let in light The drum, arcades, columns, piers, and arches hold up the dome The dome is 2 layers (interior and exterior shell) 20 meters tall Golden color on outside with mosaics on side (copper gilded with pure gold, was redone recently with Jordan and Saudi Arabia donated eighty kilograms of gold) Bismillah and Shahada Interior: lots of mosaics (wall, ceiling, etc) Mosaics was one the highest skills for a building and was very popular (influence of Byzantine) It accentuated the architecture (relationship between architecture and decoration) Inscription: 240 feet, circles around and talks about the majesty of Allah and Muhammad is the last prophet The inscription is similar to that of the coin One of the earliest surviving examples of verses from the Qur'an There is a reference to Jesus and Mary which rejection of the divinity of Christ and reaffirms Jesus; prophethood to God. It shows effort to reinforce message of Islam The bismillah (in the name of God, the merciful and compassionate), the phrase that starts each verse of the Qu'ran, and the shahada, the Islamic confession of faith, which states that there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet, are also included in the inscription. The inscription also refers to Mary and Christ and proclaim that Christ was not divine but a prophet. Thus the inscription also proclaims some of the core values of the newly formed religion of Islam. Decorations: orientate, lots of vines and vegetal, flowly, symmetrical patterns, rhythm (articulates the architecture) Mosaics from Dome of the Rock and Byzantine church of Nativity (Bethlehem) -urn shape with vines twisting out came from looking at other churches -they left people (seen in Christian church) not figures -691 effort to move closer to aniconism -vegetal scrolls and motifs is player up the scroll looks like Sassian crown (wings), represent Islam's victory and depiction of paradise >It is not purely ornamental, there is creativity present To the East, the old Sasanian Empire of Persia imploded under pressure from the Arabs, but nevertheless provided winged crown motifs that can be found in the Dome of the Rock. Wall and ceiling mosaics became very popular in Late Antiquity and adorn many Byzantine churches, including San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Thus, the use of mosaics reflects an artistic tie to the world of Late Antiquity. Late Antiquity is a period from about 300-800, when the Classical world dissolves and the Medieval period emerges. The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock contain no human figures or animals. While Islam does not prohibit the use of figurative art per se, it seems that in religious buildings, this proscription was upheld. Instead, we see vegetative scrolls and motifs, as well as vessels and winged crowns, which were worn by Sasanian kings. Thus, the iconography of the Dome of the Rock also includes the other major pre-Islamic civilization of the region, the Sasanian Empire, which the Arab armies had defeated. The earliest remaining major monument of Islamic art, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, was meant initially to be a visual proclamation of the new Faith in the city of Judaism and Christianity. In all these examples the forms of the architecture differ enormously: the Dome of the Rock and the Juyushi Mosque are octagonal martyria with high cupolas; And in all of them it is inscriptions that provide the clue to the building's interpretation. Most frequently they are Qur'anic passages, suggesting directly or metaphorically the meaning of the monument; at other times they are poems written for the occasion. It is therefore the applied decoration, rather than the architectural forms, that actually defines the building's initial purpose. With the passing of time, this purpose was either simply forgotten or its associations were modified. This is what happened to the Dome of the Rock, where pious meanings took over after the original motivation for the monument was gone.

Cairo Citadel

_____ _____, Saladin, 1176-1183 Built the Citadel of Cairo. Best known: Saladin (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi). Saladin most famous Mumluk figure Who are the Mamluks? 1st group (BAHRI Mamluks) : soldier slaves of the Ayyubids 2nd group (CIRCASSIAN Mamluks): soldier slaves of the Bahri Mamluks The Ayyubids, Kurdish family, worked for Zangids, supported Abbasids, fighters against Crusaders & Fatimids. Builders of madrasa complexes in Syria. Introduced the madrasa to Egypt. Built the Citadel of Cairo. Best known: Saladin (Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi). Salah al-Din: a founder Ayyubid dynasty Sunnie Muslim Lead Muslim military campaign in the Levant Powerful ruler: Egypt, Syria, upper Mesopotamia, Yemen, and North Africa Cairo Citadel Built in 1176-1183 it was used as a military barracks and royal residence And over its history as a seat of government for different Egyptian rulers It is built on a hill There was a harmony between the citadel and the Bab al-Futuh (Gate of Conquests) gates in how the citadel was imagine Spiral Well & Salah al-Din's Eagle Spiral Well: a technological innovation, it was self sufficient could get water to everyone within the citadel walls tiered well- the upper part had a spiral staircase. It was cut down through solid rock and connected to the water table. The ramp was large enough animals could descended down into the well and crank the machinery. Salah al-Din's Eagle on one of the towers of Saladin's western walls. Carved in the stone and believed it is attributed to Salah al-Din himself. The eagle as a triumph symbol. He was great Islamic hero, a great fighter. It has been repurposed (on Egyptian flag) Few citadels are as impressive as Aleppo's, but most of them were located in such a fashion that both practically and symbolically they dominated the urban centres that they controlled. Interior organization varied enormously. The Cairo citadel included several palaces and mosques.

minbar

_____: In a Mosque (masjid), the pulpit on which an imam stands Stepped pulpit Used for delivering The Khutba (formal address) Used in prophet's time Ca. 629 (got up on a raised platform to address the community) What does it resemble? Originally only in Friday or Congregational Mosques: Masjid Jami' pl. Jawami' always next to the miharb The religious leader (Iman) leads prayer and give the Khutba Iman: community leader, does not interrupt the Qur'an, reads Qur'an, he guides prayer The top two steps is suppose to be left vacant, the space of the prophet The Iman does not go on these steps out of respect for Muhammad Minbar not for the usual place for mosque practicer Very orient pieces of architecture, very decorative

squinch

_____: Small arch in the corner of a building that converts a square space to an octagonal area which may then be covered with a dome. How do you fit round space on top of a spare one? You have to taper because other wise it won't cover the whole spare Converting a square into an octangon in order for the circle to hit the four corners. Fill in the area with wedges/ support that will bridge the different between the square room and the round dome First to develop, more basic of the two solutions. Fitting wedges on the top corners of the square space so that the dome's bottom edges meet the room's upper horizontal edges. And 4 triangular shapes wedges are placed in the corners. Blocker look to it. Also Iranian is the squinch arch filled with muqarnas and the decoration of the spandrels of the squinches; but the superb stone piers and brick vaults are in the pure classical tradition of late antiquity and of Iranian. An architectural device used as a transition from a square to a polygonal or circular base for a dome. It may be composed of lintels, corbels, or arches. Example: Imam Dur 1085 cylindrical tombs, plain exterior, baked brick introduces a very interesting dome on Squinches muqarnas dome: like a kaleidoscope muqarnas dome is one of the first of its kind in Iraq, very plaining on the outside, but inside it has an incredible image looks like interlocking planes, bolts of color

Basin

______ by Ibn al-Zayn, Egypt or Syria, mid-13th Century Basin by Ibn al-Zayn (so-called Baptistere de St Louis; Louvre) Egypt or Syria, mid-13th C. brass Inlaid with silver and gold, the basin's wide central opening, 1) the central band (exterior) shows the procession of Mamluk religious leaders, officials, and solders and horsemen in roundels (facing in opposite directions): 2) Friezes of animals on hunting scene on top and bottom and coats-of-arms frame this exterior band and decorate the basin's interior as well. 3) the artist name is inscribed at the top (Mamluk emirs, or officials, among them a mace-bearer (jumaqdâr), ax-bearer (tabardân), and bow-bearer (bunduqdâr).) It was probably commissioned by a wealthy Islamic patron to serve as a banqueting piece or, alternately, as a vessel for ceremonial hand washing. Ultimately, however, it ended up in France, where it was used from at least the seventeenth century in the baptisms of children born to the French royal family. A master piece of Islamic art The interior flowery, we see the zoomorphic tendrils 4) detail with fleur de lys (interior of rim) various coats-of-arms on the basin were later worked over with fleur-de-lis, a motif that might have appealed to both the basin's original Islamic and later European owners. 3) Friezes of animals and coats-of-arms frame this exterior band and decorate the basin's interior as well. depict two hunting scenes, then two battle scenes, with 4 roundels separating them. Two roundels have monarchy on a throne and other bear the arms of France. Two ruler holding goblets in roundels. Hunts and battles. Around rim we see unicorns, elephants, leopards, camels, and an antelope. Four figures in roundels on horseback. 4 to 5 figures on sides of roundels looking towards the royal figure. Focal point on ideal power and royalty. There is a fleur de lis is the symbol of French royal and was associated with the mamluk sultan

pendentive

______: A spherical triangle which acts as a transition between a circular dome and a square base on which the dome is set. spherical triangular become the arches themselves (becomes a transition and acts as the go between the dome and the base (square at the bottom which the piers make). Transitioning the weight through the the triangular space and using the columns they can support the dome effectively. Uses geometry to make curving and supporting arches (arches is what holds up the dome). Earliest example of Pendentives is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul This is a major area for decorations. They turn the structural elements into areas of decoration and adornment. Early Mausoleum were experimenting with domes and we see freedom in how they experiment. a curved triangle of vaulting formed by the intersection of a dome with its supporting arches.

Machicolations

______: Holes in the parapets used for dropping all kinds of things, such as boiling oil, hot water, stones etc.

adhan

______: Islamic call to prayer is the Islamic call to worship, recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day.

mihrab

______: a semicircular wall niche that is set into the qibla wall of a mosque prayer niche set in the qibla wall indicates the direction of Mecca Can be a niche or a room in the qilba Centralizing, to make the center more special and make it more interesting part of the wall (the qilba). Make the wall pretty and off set the wall to make it distinguishing. Some Sultans commission the mosque to have their tomb set behind the qilba to be close this scared place/area. Becomes a way to sanctifying the most holy place in the mosque Syria and Egypt provide the first examples of two features which, in different ways and to different degrees, were to play an important part in the history of the mosque. The first is the maqsura, a special enclosure reserved for the prince in the centre of the qibla wall of the sanctuary. Its origin and date of appearance are still uncertain, but it must have involved protection from assassination and separation of the caliph from his subjects-at It appeared only in the larger mosques and the earliest to have survived, in Qayrawan, is of the tenth century. The second feature, of equally obscure origin, became a Permanent feature of the Islamic landscape: the minaret (from Arabic manara). Its eventual function seems clear: from it the muezzin called the faithful to prayer at appointed times. In later times, wherever Islam went, the minaret followed, almost everywhere taking the shape of a tall tower above the mosque and the city or village, with the obvious secondary function of making visible to all the presence of Muslims in any one community." No such construction existed in the Prophet's time, when Muhammad's muezzin Would call to prayer from the roof of a house, nor are they Ascertained in the early mosques of the newly created cities of Iraq. Probably there, as in many simple mosques for centuries to come, a small staircase was built to facilitate access to the roof. There is much discussion of the first appearance of the tall tower so characteristic of any Islamic landscape. Most literary sources, usually much later than the events they describe, indicate Syria or Egypt as the land of origin for the minaret. A recent study has established that the first minarets/towers were erected at the four corners of the mosque of Madina between 707 and 709. Their function and symbolic meaning were for the exclusive perception of Muslims. The minaret, then, spread slowly to other regions, very rarely before the ninth century, as in the mosques of Samarra to be discussed further on, and almost always adapted to local circumstances. Throughout its history the minaret maintained the double-edged meaning of a message of presence and visibility for Muslims and non-Muslims alike and as a sign of honouring something holy for Muslims, Minaret, appeared wherever Muslims went, almost always drawing on local models for their forms. In Syria the square tower often used for hermits' cells gave rise to the characteristic square minaret which spread west to North Africa and Spain, and east to Iraq and Iran. Elsewhere other forms were created. Nevertheless, the emphasis given to minarets in faraway lands, as well as the inscriptions found on them, demonstrate that for many centuries — indeed — like the minarets of contemporary mosques built all over the non-Muslim world — they served also as a spectacular symbol of the presence of Islam.

triconch

______: having apses on three sides of a square central mass many Syrian churches are built on a triconch plan.

masjid, masjid jami', qiblia

_______ (place of sujud/prayer) When Islam first started it doesn't dictate a building, prayer is necessary but doesn't need a mosque Doesn't need to be a formal building. Often have place in home to pray 5 times a day and meet the qualifications (wash hands and feet and pray towards Mecca) (Rocks show area, carpet, shoes off). Over time a collective places is created. This is a masjid jami. _______ _______ (collective or community mosque for Friday assembly & prayer) Al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem, entrance to prayer hall Establishing Direction in the Mosque: The _____ -wall faces mecca (a point of reference) which Muslisms pray towards Development of the Mosque: Early Form & Elements. The Courtyard house of the Prophet in Madina, mid. 7th C. House-mosque of the Prophet in Medina: Place for gathering the community Address (khutba) by the community leader (the Prophet or his successors). Established ca. 622. Requirements: Shade Orientation: first to Jerusalem then to Mecca (qibla) Type: open courtyard with covered area (develops into hypostyle-courtyard type) Elements: Visible location for the Prophet = raised seat = minbar in front & center Call to assembly & prayer = human voice = raised location (develops minaret) Courtyard-hypostyle mosque type covered area = meeting & prayer hall always 'oriented' to Mecca = qibla hall

Samarra, Jawsaq al-khaqani

_______ 836-883, al-Mu'tasim 836 (Samarra Stucco Types) Samarra 836-883 50 km Founder: al-Mu'tasim 836 found city of Samarra 50 kilometers long a long a stream sprawls out along the river holds courts and administration adopts a bit of a grid plan samarra mosque (spiral minaret) Built mostly of bricks Remains of parks, schools, and places of civic interest () ______ __-_____ 836 plan built by caliph al-Mu'tasim it is large scale palace complex fountains all over the palace, courtyards, water channel, garden plan The area between the main entrance and the river there was a large expanse of land probably occupied by gardens Palace is steeped (layers) which improved visibility from different vantages on different layers Bab al-amma (entrance gate) accessed by large ramp or stairs that stretched up to main gate baked brick triple arch facade composed of three iwans (fairly monumental) The central iwan is bigger than the 2 side iwan 2 side iwans connected to/ lead to different places, lead to were cavalry central iwan lead to entrance of audience hall, into halls where caliph accessed his private chambers and haram Remains show there was piped water, there were washing rooms and latrines, sophisticated plumbing and irrigation Center of empire and court life we have eclectic declaration Evidence of painting (mainly fresco) and ornamentation of walls Sophisticated decorative program different from Umayyads Wall at Samarra- stucco decoration 1) caliph with staff, standing caliph without sword, it is tightly confined space due to architecture 2) asymmetrical, pouring wine, very stylized, more movement in the dancing women why these images? it shows they are comfortable in partying and celebrating luxury and documenting it Paint a picture of celebrating life of luxury Doing in distinctly Arab way, the figures look different from Umayyad desert palace (naked ladies), religion figures- stylization of hair is Arab rendering world of luxury and pleasure: Princely images (the purists of wealth- hunting, dancing, party scenes) Like Medieval Europe and Renaissance: Pursuit of prince as someone who can embody love, hunting, etc. 3 types of Samarra stucco decoration Samarra made of brick and used stucco to animate and make it a decorative city Type A Type B Type C Thought of them as chronicle evolution, but today don't think that. Unsure in how they relate to each other (type a first and c last). We do see growing trend towards abstraction, standardization in how decoration is made. Type A vs Type B both hand carved Type A: mimics the circle pattern the middle as emphasize, we see roots in natural world, more filled with detail than B Type B : natural world is referenced by not showed, implied texture, patterns, we know there could be something in nature that could exist but you have distilled it such that is isn't that anymore just creation of a pattern would have been pattern Patterns: repetition, contrast Khirbat al-Majar plaster carving vs Samarra stucco type A geometric flower Khirbat al-Majar: more natural and more classical influence (more organic in how it conceptualizes vegetation, but they are similar), think of roman capital with the leaves (Mediterranean influence) type A: self contained (confined in geometric shapes) Type C vs Type B Type B: more individual, mishmash of many concept together Type C: made using a mould (its cheaper and make fast (ideal for growing city)), easy disguise on a brick building, more simple and abstract, like wall paper, constraint in only using a few lines and shapes to make a pattern (dissolved details), abstract and uniform Type C bleeds into other visual arts Found carved wood in Egypt and Iraq that bares the traits of the patterns. Moved from walls to interior furnishings and decoration Type C (Carved Wood & rock crystal) from Iraq & Egypt Why they were making these patterns evolve and where did it come from?

Khirbat al-Mafjar

_______ __-_______, Walid II, Jericho, ca. 746 Umayyads, Al-Walid II Khirbat al-Mafjar Main Hall--> pool, pillar bases, and floor mosaics well preserved 8th century one of the largest, best preserved bath mosaic floor from antiquity geometric patterns, blues, reds, and yellows been described as a carpet of mosaics It is not entirely finished (there was an earthquake in 8th century and the caliph was assassinated) Is direct descendant of the roman bath (roman bath seemed to be the height of civilization, so rulers wanted to align themselves) Khirbat al-Mafjar Small piwan (throne room/ official reception room) One of the best perserved mosaics Al-Walid II had special backroom with curtain around it (private audience chamber, diwan room) Would have had dome over it In lower part with geometric base line mosaic On raise surface on floor in niche Only mosque with figures (on the floor, representation) Apple tree, gazelles (2 on left chewing on tree), and on right is gazelles being attacked by lion Meaning: The lion is al-Walid II Fruit is luxury item It has been interpretation is based on al-Walid's poetry He was in love with a woman named Salmd and looked at his poetry about her. The lion on right side is an auspiciously side. "We caught and would have killed an antelope That ran auspiciously to the right. (something about the side) But then it gently turned its eyes and looked - The very image of your look! We let it go. Were it not for our love For you, it surely would have died. Now, little antelope, you're free and safe. So off you go, Happy among the other antelopes." "Salmd my love, an antelope I love For the dark eyes and spotless neck and throat. " "We may have hunted her gazelles one day Her gazelles hunted our hearts forever." "For Salma is my little garden and my bliss. and elsewhere: Salma, you were a paradise, and its fruits In all their kinds near ripe for harvesting." With this poetry: he states she is his paradise, in her presence she feels pleasure and joy, she is the gazelles, hope for sexual conquest not death Political authority: lion as symbol of kingship and the gazelles as feminine animal (divide the gender between gazelles as creature that can be conquered by the more dominate animal), the people who came to the palace is represented in the complicity of the other gazelles (women will come there and the caliphate will be a predator) The best-known Umayyad palatial monuments are a group built with one exception as places of living, rest, or pleasure for Umayyad lords. Khirbat al-Mafjar, the best studied one; can be used as a basis for discussion. It consists of three separate parts - 1) a castle proper, 2) a mosque, 3) and a bath - linked by a long porticoed courtyard with a most spectacular fountain. With variations, these elements are found in most palaces. Themes and motifs: Khirbat al-Mafjar the greatest variety of themes of different origins and in different moods, but none relics on one source only: all express a catholicity consonant with the size of the empire. Khirbat al-Mafjar bathhouse interior found plaster statues and sculpture details lots of naked women they were bare breast, elaborate headdresses, jewelry on arms, twisted rope skirt, not completely naturalized Who they were? not anyone specific, tropes of women as dancing women who entertained, male entertainment to wealthy They would set a tone, placed in niches around the bathhouse Suppose to cultivate a vision of luxury, of fun and pleasure sasanian influence in terms of the jewelry and hairstyles Evoke of sense of pleasure Caliph guards the space, dominate Khirbat al-Mafjar bathhouse Bath house entrance and sculpture half dome making interesting ceiling, fairly open with lots of columns holding up roof. A good amount of visual objects: "standing caliph" sculpture, found on the ground near the entrance It was placed in entrance portal It is welcoming figure and speaks to authority Power inscribed: he has long skirt, holding sword, and is standing on lions Lions is a Pre-Islamic traditions as symbol of kings and power (lion, king of beast sort of biblical connotation), a lot of pomp and circumstance he was not really the caliph (irony) not super naturalistic, made of stucco and was brightly colored Khirbat al-Mafjar (Jericho 746) mihrab is carved out in foot print of the building entire area had wall around it It is one of the most impressive examples of the qasr built. It is very preserved. It was built by Caliph al-Walid II (grandson of al-malik and son of al-walid I) was not a committed as his father and grandfather in making the Umayyad empire strong. Liked to party and liked to write poetry, loved to drink and women. He was assassinated (only ruled for one year). It is hard reflect upon on it was a reflection of Islamic culture or the playboy person Al-Walid II was. He preferred to live in the desert than in Damascus because he could do what he wanted and people weren't watching. We have a lot of his poetry. Palace, bathhouse, pavilion, mosque Palace: replicated the castrum plan (square, bastions, courtyard in center) Open area enclosed by a gate and pavilion. Had a space for mosque.

Mshatta

_______, Walid II, 744, Jordan Umayyad palace of Walid II Mshatta, Ca. 744 Jordan Mshatta overall plan & view; reconstruction of audience hall Umayyad It is believed it was an additional desert palace of Walid II It is more formal than Khirbat al-Mafjar Square plan with three-qaurter bastions, monumental entrance spaces, open courtyard at center, it is made in three different units The center unit is the main audience hall/ lead to audience hall mosque is near small courtyard at front (bastion: three-quarter circular structure on each side Grand entrance Serve as grand and austere location you come upon in the desert 2 presences for the palace: 1) Roman forts: Roman defensive architecture which was built around a square. Thinking about the fort as model. 2) Roman villa Rustica: Roman country villa is combined with the roman fort The decoration was made with stucco (it is a local, organic materials to decorate the palace) Palace plan: square, courtyard, multiple rooms they would function was court (administration business took place and meetings) it had rooms, storage, stables, worship space, cooking, audience halls/throne rooms) Built with limestone and brick Used architecture to represent itself with authority Middle Third section: central access which is divided into thirds. Creates a Tri-couch throne room. It was centered through triple arch entrance and the room has niches in the wall. It has a dome on top and smaller ones on the niches. There would have been hallways connecting rooms on either side. Why its interesting? Connects architecture projects from before like ancient Rome like basilica formation that have triple arch ways and triple vaulted spaced. Mshatta: Triple arched triumphal arcade Stone carving of outer walls: moved from Jordon to Germany in early part of 20th century Suggest people from all over worked on them (Iran, egypt, etc) because of the mythical creatures on it Wall: 3 meters height, 2 and half in width Negative space, geometry fill v.s negative space, relief is higher, floral (geometric rosette/stylized flowers) -wall from mosque mihrab (outer wall) Panel: relief hand carving with lots of vegetal, filled space with a lot of detail, griffins (Iranian/Egyptian influence), vase with vines coming out of it (like Dome of Rock) -found in other parts of the palace Why different types of decoration? geometric vs the heavily floral -who is the people who worked on it and the decoration they are most adept at making -to show you wealth and ability to command resources and people We see early movement towards distinguishing secular and sacred. We see spacial segregation of decoration. Closer to mosque wall the less figural the decoration got. Pronounce effort at visually distinguishing figural imagery and secular context, but no figural imagery in secular context Characteristics of Umayyad non-urban palaces all in desert 1) fortified (castrum) and place (type) of square enclosed with round towers 2) monumental portals (entrance, archway) 3) story porticoed courtyards 4) mixture of byzantine and Sasanian construction details and decorative techniques (We have the synthesis of their characteristic in terms that visual culture that they bring in Byzantium and Sassan elements, and build off the Romans (to articulate a certain form)) 5) emphasis on synthesizing themes from classical world 6) search for new imagery of the ruler How ruler present themselves and solidify power 1) a castle proper, 2) a mosque, 3) and a bath - linked by a long porticoed courtyard with a most spectacular fountain. With variations, these elements are found in most palaces. The castle always has an entrance, generally quite elaborate, and along the walls full towers often arranged in apartments (bayts) of three or five rooms. There was often a second floor with official apartments, throne rooms, and so on. Within the same framework, Mshatta, the most ambitious of all, although unfinished has a slightly aberrant interior with a large entrance complex (with mosque), a courtyard, and a throne-room complex opening on the court, all set on an axis independently from the living quarters. These differences from typical Syrian constructions and plans can be explained by the impact of Umayyad architecture in Iraq, as we know it in Kufa. The origins of the fortress-like plan, improper for defence, lie in the forts and palace-forts which started on the Roman frontier of Syria and spread to Roman imperial palace architecture elsewhere. The construction — both stone, the most common material, and brick, used in Mshatta and in some parts of other palaces — follows the traditional methods of Syria, with the addition of a few Mesopotamian and strictly Constantinopolitan features. We know less about the ceremonial rooms, since in most instances they were on the second floor over the entrance. However, the remaining examples at Mshatta and Khirbat Minya used the ubiquitous basilical hall of the Mediterranean world which at Mshatta had an appended dome area and triconch. Umayyad palaces have also preserved purely decorative fragments, mostly carved in stone or stucco and in a few instances moulded in stucco. The greatest number come from the palaces of like Khirbat al-Mafjar, but the most elaborate single unit is the facade at Mshatta with its superb 20 triangles of carved stone. The variety and complexity of this extraordinary accumulation of material is bewildering. Early attempts to explain it are unsatisfactory because the more recently discovered palaces of Qasr al-Hayr West and Khirbat al-Mafiar have provided a different context for Mshatta, and because they gave a great deal of emphasis to stylistic origins and the division of the twenty triangles into regionally related groups. A great deal of discussion has centred on the fact that almost all the panels on the left of the entrance have animals, whereas those on the right have no living beings. This led to varying conclusions about the place of origin of the artists, if not about the symbolic significance of the panels. A later study proposed that the most likely reason for the lack of living things to the right of the facade was that this was the back wall of the palace mosque, which could not be decorated in any other way. If valid, this explanation would indicate a high degree of consciousness in the cultural and religious values of representational art (8th c). Motifs and themes: At Mshatta we have mostly plants of classical origin, in a fairly natural style, with animals from west and east, and, on certain triangles, the superposition of a geometric rhythm of circles.

qsar, villas, official, private, representational

_______: The earliest examples of an architecture of the powerful are provided by the Umayyad palaces of Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, Qasr al-Hayr West, Qusayr 'Amra, Mshatta, Khirbat al-Mafjar and Khirbat al-Minya are only the best known examples of what seem to have been dozens of country residences built in the large estates that were taken over by the new Arab aristocracy of the Levant. Typologically, and in many ways formally, they can be related to the country _____ of Roman Antiquity. They included living quarters, common areas, a bath, and a small mosque. Almost all of them were also provided with official halls, usually varied in their shapes. Some scholars have argued that these were for formal receptions, that they were throne rooms of official palaces. Others have felt that, even though their forms are closely related to those of throne rooms, they were more probably entertainment rooms, reflecting no doubt the semi-official character of princely pastime. The most interesting feature of the main Umayyad palaces is their wealth of decoration. Paintings. mosaics, stucco or stone ornament covered most walls, but vary enormously in quality. In most instances that have been recovered so far all sorts of _______ themes (people, animals, narrative scenes) are found alongside pure ornament. Many of these themes have not yet been deciphered and explained ; they include official scenes (enthroned princes. alien ancestors of Muslim rulers), _____ events (uniquely Arabian hunting scenes), routine symbols of pleasure and fun (hunting, women), copies of older monuments (Palmyrene sculptures at Qasr al-Hayr), and possibly even reflections of contemporary literature. This very variety of ______ motifs is partly the result of the sudden and recent impact of the rich Classical heritage. The absence of such themes in the monuments found in cities suggests that these Umayyad palaces illustrated primarily the private world of a nouveau riche Arabian aristocracy.

walls, towers, gates, citadels, stone

middle of 8th century a more formalized system of defense was established. Initially centered almost exclusively on fortified cities. It is assumed that early Muslims simply followed older prevailing types of military architecture. This continuity in planning, technique, and construction is clearly apparent in two instances about which we are somewhat better informed: Diyarbakir, the ancient Amida on the upper Euphrates, and Merv in Khurasan. Furthermore, these two cities permit us to identify some of the standard components of Islamic military architecture, as it developed over the centuries. Diyarbakir: layout of walls and their elevations were late Classical, as well is the Citadel. Gates (bearing the name of the city they were directed too) were set in the walls. Merv: massive walls and Soghdian articulated buttressing Three components of Islamic military and defensive architecture: 1) _____ and _____ 2) _____ 3) ______ These components are almost exclusively characteristics of frontier areas, rare in centre of empire 9th and 10th century central authority weakened and political power was taken over by local dynasties who fought frequently so military architecture spread to almost every urban centre (became component of Islamic cities) Walls and Towers: Cities after 10th century, hardly a town of significance existed without fortified walls, towers, and gates New ones built or old ones refurbished Pre-Islamic ones. Were massive constructions built in materials characteristic of the region. Round, square, or elongated towers served as buttressed, lodging, arsenals, and other military purposes. The defensive military walls of Islamic architecture are are hardly novel or original. Gates: two types of plans 1) straight gate: a passageway even when provided a massive door 2) bent entrance: defensive use Both have pre-Islamic history and, bent gates became more common in military architecture, both are used indiscriminately Their construction, decoration, and names 1) often dated 2) Squinches and pendentives coexisted, barrel vaults with cross vaults, simple semicircular arches with pointed or horseshoe arches: different techniques in vaulting 3) Gates are the most common construction technique and easily available materials 4) was _______ predominate area (bricks less frequent used in large-scale military monuments) 5) INNOVATIONS IN ISLAMIC VAULTING TECHNIQue: elaboration of squinches and cross vaulting were result of importance of military architecture, which strength and preventions of fires were major objectives Decoration of gate is tied to boarder symbolism of gate there does not seem to be a clear and consistent pattern to a visual symbolism of purely defensive gates in Islamic lands and each exception should be seen and explained independently. Names: 1) typographical: local characteristics of a city/suburbs or nearest major centre 2) or references to real or mythical events associated with the gate Citadels: fortified defensive unit. occupied by a king or by a feudal lord and located in an urban centre, is of course not a new development, for it is found in ancient Assyrian cities like Khorsabad, and probably from that time onwards it became the typical landmark of most Near Eastern cities another type of government building appeared in western and central provinces of the empire. As the authority of the caliphate declined and the Turkish military became the main ruling force in most of the Muslim world, old citadels were refurbished. for instance, in Jerusalem or Aleppo, and new ones were built, in Cairo and probably Damascus. Beginning in the 10th or 11th centuries, practically every town of any importance and even including many secondary cities acquired seats of power. They took the form of forbidding, fortified area and usually built astride the city's walls or tucked away in commanding corner of the city (rarely outside the city). Small city, houses, mosque, baths, and other amenities required by urban system Variation in size and importance complicated attempts to define the architecture of citadels and are often modified over centuries. Citadels were originally strictly military, serving to accommodated alien soldiery away from city's population. May be that in these areas of limited Arab presence it was particularly important to maintain the contrast between conquerors and conquered during the first centuries of Muslim rule. As the version of feudalism peculiar to Islam developed and as local dynasties were founded, some amenities of life were introduced into citadels, as well as official reception halls and other symbols of power such as fancy inscriptions on walls and gates- the sculptures of lions and snakes on Aleppo's citadel. Eventually the citadel became the palace of local rulers or of governors appointed from elsewhere. The constituent elements of citadel architecture were drawn from the wide repertoire of forms and functions created elsewhere : baths from the city, reception halls from palaces, walls and towers from defensive architecture. It is unlikely that there was a compositional order tor citadels. The originality of the Islamic citadel lies rather in the fact that so many very different kinds of monuments — the magnificent rooms of the Alhambra or the equally impressive cisterns of Aleppo — were found combined together in the same ensembles. Walls with towers, and gates and citadels serve primarily military functions and are constructions that, different though individual examples but lend themselves to some sort of generalization. Two other types of primarily military monuments 1) consists of single forts or other elaborate defence systems that were located outside major settlements and cities. The Islamic world did not develop the isolated chateau-fort so typical of Western feudalism. Various rulers erected forts at key places in the regions under their rule, simply as protection for small garrisons. These are frequently quite spectacular, but architecturally they are hardly original. 2) military architecture consists of massive walls protecting certain key paths of invasion. They seem to have been built in pre-Islamic times. These walls penetrated into myth, especially in Iran, in the form of the striking wall of iron built by Alexander the Great against the barbarians of Gog and Magog. Whether anything similar was constructed or even attempted under Muslim dynasties is not clear, but on the whole it seems unlikely. Naval Fortifications: arsenals with walls blocking sea passages, covered docks for ships, and storage spaces Ribat: uniquely Islamic, was a fortified place reserved for temporary or permanent warriors for the Faith who committed themselves to the defence of frontiers and to proselytizing. In Baghdad and early Merv there was an impressive cupola over the place of the throne, and in all likelihood this domed room was preceded by a long hall and by a court in which visitors and attendants gathered. Somewhat more precise information exists about the several large palaces of Samarra, Madinat al-Zahra' near Cordoba, and the Fatimid palaces of Cairo. All of them seem to have been sprawling conglomerates of many separate units, ranging from very functional and specific elements, such as baths and dwellings, to formal audience halls (cruciform in Samarra, basilical in Spain), gardens, and vast areas with no concretely identifiable purpose. In the 9th-century palaces of Samarra there were compositional axes in the main parts of the buildings, perhaps corresponding to a ceremonial order of progressive remoteness. Such axes do not appear in Cairo or Madinat al-Zahra', and each one of their known units should probably be considered as a self-contained, discrete monument. The implication in almost all of these palaces is that their recognition as monuments of official power lay less in their individual architectural characteristics than in their general presence as walled enclosures, separating the world of power from the world of the common man. Mongol conquest, especially in Iran and India, when new and wealthy dynasties, changes in the political and economic importance of various provinces, influences from Mongolia and China, and a conscious but somewhat romanticized awareness of a traditional Islamic past combined to revive an imperial desire for cities symbolizing and expressing power. Whole cities that visually express the power of the empire or of an individual emperor were but one aspect of an architecture of power within an urban context.