Chapter 10 Islamic World
Chapter 10 Islamic Art and Architecture Map of The Islamic World
blog.empas.com/jdyi8589/read.html?a=31029778 Chronology of Early Islam
• Muhammad Born in Mecca ca. 570 • Muhammad’s First Revelation 610 • Muhammad’s Flight to Medina ( Hijra) 622 • Muhammad Dies in Medina 632 Five Pillars of Islam
• Faith There is no God but God; Muhammad is his messenger
• Prayer Salat –obligatory prayers said five times daily
• Charity Zakat –“purification” or “growth”
• Fasting during month of Ramadan
• Pilgrimage Hajj –trip to Mecca once in a lifetime some go yearly during Ramadan Islam
• Islam: Submission to God – Allah is the one and only God • Believers in Islam are called Muslims • Chief building for Muslim worship is a Mosque • 2nd most popular religion in the world today Stylistic Characteristics
– Calligraphy – ornamental writing and sacred words – Arabesques – Abstract geometric shapes – Animal figures – No representation of humans in sacred art – Monumental architecture - horseshoe arches Key Ideas • The chief building for Muslim worship is the mosque, which directs the worshipper’s attention to Mecca through a niche called a mihrab. • Calligraphy is the most prized art form, and appears on most Islamic works of art. • Both figural and non figural works incorporate calligraphy with arabesques and tessellations (decoration using polygonal shapes with no gaps). • Islamic textiles are particularly treasured as great works of woven art. Vocabulary • Arabesque: a flowing, intricate, and symmetrical pattern deriving from floral motifs • Calligraphy: decorative or beautiful handwriting • Koran: the Islamic sacred text, dictated to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel • Mecca: the birthplace of Muhammad and the city all Muslims turn to in prayer • Mihrab: a central niche in a mosque, which indicates the direction to Mecca • Minaret : a tall, slender column used to call people to prayer • Minbar : a pulpit from which sermons are given • Mosque : a Muslim house of worship •First great Islamic building •Domed wooden octagon - It is a domed central-plan structure descended from the Pantheon in Rome and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, but it more closely resembles the octagonal San Vital in Ravenna. •Columns from Roman monuments •Not a temple or Mosque but a shrine to the triumph of Islam •Celebrates a new religion coming to the city – tribute to the triumph of Islam •Holy site: sacred to Christians and Jew •Adam’s burial, •Sacrifice of Isaac, •Muhammad ascend to heaven • Jewish Temple of Solomon destroyed in 70 C.E. 10-2: Dome of the Rock , Jerusalem, Cue Card Israel, 687-692 Dome of the Rock Mosque Exterior
Dome of the Rock
calligraphy Dome of the Rock Mosque Interior Calligraphy
How does the Dome of the Rock Mosque compare to San Vitale and Santa Costanza? Domed Octagons like San Vitale Santa Costanza Minarets (a tall, slender column used to call people to prayer): earliest in the Islamic world. •Caliph al -Walid purchased a Byzantine church dedicated to John the Baptist (formerly a Roman temple of Jupiter) to build the imposing new mosque •Owes much to Roman and Early Christian architecture to the builders incorporated stone blocks, columns, and capitals salvaged from earlier structures on the land acquired by al-Walid Cue Card Great Mosque, Damascus, Syria , 706-715, Al-Walid purchased a Byzantine church to build this mosque •Pier arcades reminiscent of Roman aqueducts frame the courtyard. •The minarets the earliest in the Islamic world-are modification of the preexisting Roman square towers. •The Damascus mosque synthesizes elements received Glass mosaics from other cultures into a novel architectural unity, which includes the distinctive Islamic elements of mihrab, mihrab dome, minbar, and minaret. •Like the architectural design, the mosaics owe much to Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine art. Some evidence indicates they were work of Byzantine mosaicists. Architecture • Know & recognize these 3 characteristic arches/niches from Islamic architecture Muqarnas are unique to Islam Often stacked and used in multiples, very intricate and dazzling to the eye Sometimes vault domes, or used as part of a mihrab Koran
• Calligraphers are the most respected artist and are the highest form of art in the Islamic world • Words on the walls of buildings Close up of a Mosque Wall
• calligraphy , repeating "God the great the merciful.“ • tesselation of interlocking lines. • geometric pattern of 8-pointed and 16- pointed stars. Mihrab, Madrasa Imami
•Union of calligraphy and arabesque •Geometric and abstract floral motifs •3D turned into 2D Frieze of the Umayyad Palace, Mshatta, Jordan, ca. 740 – 750, limestone, 16 ft. 7 in. high
•From a place in Jordan •Richly carved stone walls, 16-feet high •Triangle pattern, rosettes placed in each triangle •Birds, vines, and animals on secular side of palace; mosque side has no animal patterns •Walls - 16 ½ feet tall, meant to keep out bandits and give privacy to the occupants Cue Card
Aerial view of the Great Mosque Qayrawan, Tunisia ca. 836-875 Great Mosque Quyrawan, Tunisia • Horizontal Axis Plan • Hypostyle prayer hall • Mihrab dome determines direction • Larger central aisle • Central courtyard with arcades • Diffusion of Greco Roman and Early Christian • Political and Religious Function What is this similar to?
• Malwiya minaret of the Great Mosque, Samarra, Iraq, 848-852 165’ • Snail shell spiral ramp increases in slope from bottom to top • Similar to Ziggurat? • 2005 top portion blown up by Arab extremists Americans used it as an observatory Cue Card Entrance to the Great Mosque, Córdoba, Spain, 8th to 10th centuries
•Double-arched columns, brilliantly articulated in alternating bands of color •A light and airy interior •Horseshoe-shaped arches •Hypostyle mosque: no central focus, no congregational worship •Original wooden ceiling replaced by vaulting •Complex dome over mihrab with elaborate squinches •Columns are spolia from Ancient Roman structures Prayer Hall Great Mosque, Cordoba
•Double tiered arches carried a wooden roof •Light and airy
Maqsura - a screened area in front of the mihrab reserved for the ruler Cue Card Court of Lions, Alahambra Palace, Granada, Spain, 1354-1391 Cue Card
•Palace of the Nasrid sultans of Southern Spain •Abstract patterns, abstraction of forms •Highly sophisticated and refined interior •Interwoven abstract ornamentation and Arabic calligraphy cover the stucco walls •5,000 muqarnas refract the light •The structure of this dome on an octagonal drum is difficult to discern because of the intricately carved stucco maqarnas. The prismatic forms reflct sunlight, creating the effect of a starry sky •Light, airy interiors •16 windows at top of hall, light dissolves into a honeycomb of stalactites that dangle from the ceiling
Muqarnas dome, hall of the Two Sisters Alahambra Palace, Granada, Spain, 1354-1391 Madrasa-mosque-mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt
•Largest Muslim city at the time: Cairo •Madrasa -place of study to learn Islamic law •4 colleges, mosque, mausoleum, orphanage, hospital, and shops •Incorporates religious, educational, and charitable functions •Large central courtyard Mosque of Selim II, Edirne, Turkey 1568-1575
•Architect: Sinan •Climax of Ottoman Architecture •Monument central space with Harmonious proportions
Cue Card Mosque of Selim II
•Extremely thin soaring minarets •Abundant window space makes fro a brilliantly lit interior •Decorative display of mosaic and tile work •Inspired by Hagia Sophia, but a centrally planned building •Octagonal interior, with 8 pillars resting on a square set of walls •Open airy interior contrast with conventional mosques that have partitioned interiors •Part of a complex including hospital, school, library Maqsud of Kashan carpet for a funerary mosque of Shaykh Safi al-Din, Ardabi, Iran, 1540 Wool and silk
Cue Card Sultan Muhammad, Court of Gayumars folio 20 verso of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp from Tabriz , Iran, ca. 1525-1535, Ink, watercolor, and gold on paper 1’1” X 9”
Cue Card Compare & Contrast Compare and contrast the Compare and contrast Christian church of Old the Dome of the Rock St. Peters, with Hagia Mosque with San Sophia, and the Great Vitale and Santa Mosque of Damascus, in Costanza, in terms of terms of structure, structure, function function (plan), beauty (plan), beauty (decoration), and (decoration), and importance of site. importance of site.
Question: How do the structures relate to power and dominance? How do the individual parts of the buildings relate to the worship of faith and how are various elements diffused from other cultures? What was this building before al- Walid bought it and built this Great Mosque? Discuss at least three elements that are influenced by Roman and Early Christian architecture? Discussion Questions
• What is the role of art and architecture in the Islamic world? • What do you think are the most impressive visual qualities of Islamic art? • What are some of the unique feature of Islamic mosques and mausoleums?