N

nahr structure consists of a '2 m square stone-lined pit Canal or river. 13.14 m deep connected to the Nile by three tunnels. In the centre of the square pit is a tall octagonal column divided into cubits each of which namazgah is subdivided into twenty-four smaller units. A Turkish and Persian term for an open-air prayer staircase runs down the four sides so that the place often used by the army. Sometimes these are central column could be read. The floor· at the quite elaborately built with a minbar and a standing bottom was made of cedar beams. Approximately mihrab. halfway up there are four pointed relieving arches, one on each side of the pit. The arches are of a naqqarkhana two-centred type used in Gothic architecture in Mughal term for a drum house or place for an Europe during the fourteenth century. The curves orchestra during ceremonies. of the arches are emphasized by two bands of moulding whilst above there are foliated kufic inscriptions which contain Quranic passages refer­ Natanz, shrine of Abd al-Samad ring to crops and harvests. Sufi funerary complex at Natanz in western Iran. Further reading: Natanz is located on the edge of the Dasht-i Kavir K. A. C. Creswell. A Short Account of Early Muslim desert 60 km south-east of Kashan. This is a large Architecture, revised and enlarged edn. J. W. Allan, funerary complex which has grown up organically Aldershot 1989,383-5. around the tomb of Abd al-Samad, a follower of the famous Sufi saint Abu Said who died in 1049. nine-domed mosque The central feature of the site is the octagonal This is a type of mosque roofed by nine domes of equal tomb around which is built a four-iwan congrega­ size. tional mosque dated to 1309. Internally the tomb is a cruciform chamber which is converted to an Although the distribution of this building type is octagon at roof level. The roof is a blue-tiled very wide (it is found as far apart as East Africa, octagonal pyramid dome outside and internally Bangladesh, Central Asia and North Africa) it comprises a tall muqarnas vault. Another important does not occur in great numbers in anyone area. structure at the site is the khanqa or dervish hostel The earliest extant examples date from the ninth built in 1317 which is located to the south-west of century CE, whilst there are few buildings of this the tomb. Only the portal of this structure survives type later than the sixteenth century. with a large muqarnas semi-dome. Most nine-domed mosques are fairly small (usu­ ally 10-15 m square) though substantially built. It Nilometer is common for these buildings to be open on two, three or even four sides but it is rare for them to Device located on Roda island, Egypt for measuring the have a sahn or minaret. Sometimes the central rise of the Nile during the period of inundation. row of domes is raised to emphasize the mihrab This structure was built in 861-2 CE during the axis. reign of Caliph al-Mutawakil. The purpose of the There are two theories about the origin of this device is to measure the level of the flood to work type of mosque. The older theory originated by out the amount of tax due to the government (a Creswell asserts that the mosque is derived from higher flood level indicates· a higher yield). The the earliest forms of Islamic funerary monuments,

209 nine-domed mosque

4m

Nine-domed mosque, Kilwa (after Garlake) such as the Qubbat aI-Suiaybiyya at Samarra, which has been suggested that the type derives from were domed and had open sides. More recently it honorific buildings such as Khirbet al-Mafjar.

210 Nishapur

Whilst the origin of the design may be disputed it Islamic city. The remains were found mostly within is clear that many of the mosques were associated three mounds known as T epe Madrasseh, Sabz with tombs or burials so that it is reasonable to Pushan and Qanat T epe. There is no evidence of suggest that they should be regarded as memorial occupation at any of the sites before the eighth mosques. Important examples can be found at century indicating that the Sassanian city may Kilwa, Fustat, and Toledo. have been elsewhere. The main materials of con­ Further reading: struction were mud brick (khist) and trodden earth or pise (chineh) and baked brick. Wood was used as K. A. C. Creswell, Muslim Architecture of Egypt I, Oxford 1952,11-13. a strengthening material in walls as well as for R. Ettinghausen, From Byzantium to Sassanian Iran and the columns. Many of the walls were covered with Islamic World, London 1972, 57-8. stucco and painted plaster panels (frescoes). The G. R. H. King, The nine bay domed mosque in Islam', remains of several mosques were found on the site Madrider Mitteilungen 30: 1989. all with rectangular recessed mihrabs. At T epe Madrasseh remains of a prayer-hall iwan were Nishapur found together with the base of a minaret. The Famous medieval city located in the Khurassan region minaret had an octagonal shaft and was built of of eastern Iran. yellow fired bricks with decorated with shallow vertical slots. Elsewhere on the site columns built Nishapur was founded in Sassanian times as 'New of baked brick were also decorated with slots. At Shapur' and rose to prominence in early Islamic Qanat T epe remains of a mosque were found close times as capital of the T ahirid dynasty in the ninth to the remains of a bath house. The bath house century. The city was at the height of its prosperity had hypocaust heating, a plunge pool and a nine­ and importance under the Samanid dynasty in the sided octagonal basin in the centre. The "most tenth century. In 1037 the city was captured by remarkable feature of the bath house was the the Seljuks and remained a part of that empire frescoes which included representations of human until 1153 when it was sacked by the Ghuzz. figures. At Sabz Pushan remains of small houses Despite the sacking and several earthquakes the were found which included centrally placed sunken city continued to function until 1221 when it was fireplaces made from earthenware jars set into the sacked by the Mongols. A modem city of the ground. Among the most important finds at the same name has grown up near the site based site wele the remains of eleven muqamas panels around an eighteenth-century shrine. excavated from a cellar. These were prefabricated Although no standing architecture remains at plaster panels which would have been attached to the site, excavation has revealed extensive architec­ the zone of transition in the roof of the cellar and tural remains together with a large number of finds are some of the earliest evidence for the use of making this one of the best examples of a medieval muqamas.

211 o

ocak maritime trade based on the monsoons of the Turkish word for a chimney hood, also used to Indian Ocean. In addition, fishing and dates have designate a unit of Ottoman troops of ]anissaries. remained important components of Oman's The typical Ottoman ocak consists of a tall conical economy even after the discovery of oil. hood set against the inside wall of a building. The earliest settled communities in Oman have Some of the best examples can be found in the been dated to 3000 BCE and by 2000 BCE copper kitchens in the T opkapisarai. was being exported to Mesopotamia. In the fourth century BCE Oman was occupied by the Persians who See also: Ottomans remained in control of the country until the advent of Islam in 630 CEo Under Islam Oman's trading Oman network flourished and included East Africa, India and the Far East. During this period various coastal The sultanate of Oman is located in the south-east towns grew up, the most important of which were corner of the Arabian peninsula and borders on the Sohar, Qalhat and Dhofar (al-Balid). In 1503 the Indian Ocean. coastal towns were captured and occupied by the It is the third largest country in Arabia after Saudi Portuguese. As a result the towns of the interior,

Arabia and Yemen and comprises five I distinct the most important of which were Nizwa and geographical regions, the Musandam peninsula, Bahia, grew in power and influence. By 1650 the the Batinah coastal strip, the Hajjar mountains, the Portuguese had been expelled by the Ya)ariba Naj desert and Dhofar. The Musandam peninsula leader, Sultan bin Sayf, who rebuilt the fort at is separate from the rest of the country and com­ Nizwa. Internal conflids allowed a Persian invasion prises a rocky headland adjacent to the straits of in 1743 but this was brought to an end by Ahmad Hormuz. The Batinah coastal strip is located be­ ibn Sa)id governor of Sohar who was elected tween the sea and the mountains in the northern imam in 1743. He was the founder of the Al Bu part of the country and varies between 20 and Sa)id dynasty which continues to rule Oman today. 25 km wide, this is the most densely populated In 1730 Oman had acquired the island of Zanzi­ region of Oman. The Hajjar mountains are a very bar and by the 1830S Sultan Sa)id ibn Sultan had built distinctive feature; running in a belt parallel to the a new capital in Zanzibar. From 1856 Oman and coast in the northern part of the country, they are Zanzibar were ruled by two branches of the same the source of most of Oman's water. The Naj family. desert, comprising several areas including the For various reasons Oman was not modernized Wahiba sands, separates the northern mountains until the 1970s, which has meant that traditional from those of the south and its population is architecture has survived here better than in most of mostly nomadic. Dhofar is a mountainous region the other Gulf states. The main building materials in the south of the country with a tropical climate employed in Oman are mud brick, baked brick, and is the only part of Arabia to experience a stone, mangrove poles, palm trees and lime (used summer monsoon. for mortar and plaster). The particular combination Until the discovery of oil Oman's economy of materials employed depends on the region and was based upon a number of natural resources, the type of building. most important of which were copper from the Baked brick is used fairly infrequently in Oman mountains in the north and frankincense from and is confined mostly to the port of Sohar. Baked Dhofar. Also Oman's position on the Indian Ocean bricks were first used in the early Islamic city and meant that it was able to establish a long-distance were also used in houses of the nineteenth century

212 Oman although it is not certain if bricks were still made Stone-built houses are common on the coast or in nineteenth-century Oman or imported from else­ in the mountains. One of the simplest forms is a where. Occasionally baked bricks are found incorpo­ type of coral house found in the Batinah. These rated into buildings outside Sohar such as the are built out of rough lumps of coral rag which are arches of the Great Mosque in BahIa or in the plastered over with mud; the roofs are usually columns of the mosque of the Samad quarter in made of palm fronds; locally these are called kerin. Nizwa. Mud brick on the other hand is more In Salalah and the Dhofar coast houses are made common and is frequently used in the oasis towns out of roughly squared limestone blocks which are of the interior. It is usually used in conjunction laid in courses and interspersed with wooden tie­ with mud mortar and plaster sometimes mixed beams. Usually, however, stone buildings in Oman with lime. Mangrove poles imported from East are made out of rough-hewn stones laid in succes­ Africa are frequently used for roofing in the houses sive bands approximately half a metre high and of the coast. Palm trunks are also used for roofing covered with a plaster surface, producing walls there and for inland parts of the country. Palm with layers of overlapping plaster coats. fronds and trunks are also used for less permanent Mosques are mostly built out of stone or mud structures on the coast. Several types of stone are brick with flat roofs. Minarets are rare in Oman used for building in Oman; amongst the more before the nineteenth century. A fairly common common types are coral blocks on the north coast, feature in Omani mosques is the combination of coastal limestone in Dhofar and roughly hewn mihrab and minbar, where the minbar is entered blocks of igneous rock in the mountains. Lime for through an opening in the mihrab (this feature is use in mortars is either made from burning lime­ also found in other parts of the Indian Ocean stone or coral blocks. littoral such as East Africa and Yemen). In the The architecture of Oman can be divided into north of Oman mosque roofs are usually supported several types based on the type of building, the by arches resting on cylindrical columns, in Dhofar materials used and the location. The main groups the columns are usually octagonal. Built shrines do are houses, mosques, forts and mansions. not occur in the Ibadi region of the north but are Until recently the most common form of architec­ fairly common in the predominantly Sunni region ture on the coast was the palm-frond house which of Dhofar where they usually have pointed domes. may take several forms from a single-room tempo­ Fortified buildings are one of the most noticeable rary dwelling used for the date harvest to a large features of Omani architecture. Most settlements, enclosure incorporating winter and summer rooms. however small, have some form of fortified struc­ The basic unit of construction is a rectangular ture. There are two main types of fortified building room measuring approximately 3 by 5.5 m. The in Oman, the sur or fortified enclosure and the walls are made from stems (zur) tied together to citadel. A sur is a fortified enclosure which is used form a panel whilst the main form of support are on a temporary basis during raids or other distur­ palm trunks placed externally. The winter houses bances, consequently the design of such enclosures have flat roofs whereas the summer houses have is fairly simple and consists of a roughly square pitched roofs and are called Khaymah (tent). Often enclosure which mayor may not have a tower. houses made of other materials have palm-frond On the other hand the citadels or forts of the main roofs or verandas. towns are fairly sophisticated structures designed Mud-brick houses are found throughout Oman, for use with artillery. The most famous forts in although they are most common in oasis towns. Oman are at Nizwa, Ibra, Izki, Mudhairib and al­ They are usually built with very shallow founda­ Rustaq. These buildings were influenced by the tions or directly on to the ground, and the first Portuguese forts of the sixteenth and seventeenth metre or so is often built out of irregular stones to centuries, although they also included local develop­ serve as a base for the mud-brick superstructure. ments such as the use of two diagonally opposed Simple mud-brick houses have pitched palm-frond towers linked by thick curtain walls. (barristi) roofs whilst the larger houses have flat One of the consequences of Oman's vast trading earth roofs supported by palm trunks or mangrove links was the growth of a wealthy mercantile class poles. Some of the larger mud-brick houses are who were able to build mansions. Some of these three storeys high. are located within coastal cities such as Sur or

213 Ottomans (Turkish: Osman Ii)

E. Enrico, 'Introduction to Omani architecture of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries', 6(2): 291-306, 1983. E. Galdieri, 'Amasterpiece of Omani 17th-century architecture. The palace of Imam Bilarab Sultan al­ Yaariba at Jabrin', 1: 167-79, 1975. M. Kerveran, C. LeCouer-Grandmaison, M. Soubeyran and A. Vialatte de Pemille, 'Suhari houses', 6(2): 307- 16, 1983.

Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli) Major Islamic dynasty based in Turkey which at its height controlled a vast area including all of modern Turkey, the Balkans and much of the Middle East and North Africa. The origins of the Ottoman dynasty can be traced back as far as their thirteenth-century founder Othman (Osman). Othman was a leader of a branch of the Qay"igh clan which was part of the Turkic Oghuz tribe originally from Central Asia. The Oghuz was amongst those Turkic groups who had fled west with the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century and now threatened the ailing Byzantine Empire. Originally the Ottomans had been based around the southern city of Konya but later moved north-west to the area of Bursa later known in Turkish as the Hiidavendigar (royal) Traditional mosque, Banu Bu Ali, Oman region. The position of the Ottomans on the border with Byzantine territory meant that they Muscat, whilst others are rural dwellings set in constantly attracted fresh Turkic warriors (ghazis) their own grounds such as Bayt Na'man on the willing to fight the Christians. The constant warfare Batinah plain. Common features found in mansions and arrival of new soldiers meant that the emerging and in more important houses include elaborately Ottoman state developed a strong military organi­ carved doorways, pre-cast stucco mouldings zation and tradition which enabled it gradually to around doorways and recesses, and painted take over rival Turkish states in the vicinity. In wooden ceilings. Such buildings often have a pri­ 1357 a new phase in Ottoman expansion was vate prayer room, a light well (shamsiya) and achieved by crossing the Dardanelles into Europe ventilation slits above the windows. and fighting the divided Balkan Christians. By Further reading: 1366 the Balkan provinces had become so impor­ The most useful works on the architecture and tant to the Ottoman state that the capital was archaeology of Oman can be found in the Journal of moved from Bursa to Edirne. Another result of the Oman Studies, including those listed below. move into Europe was that instead of relying on P. and G. Bonnenfant and Salim ibn Hamad ibn Sulaiman the Turkic warriors the army was now formed by al-Hathri, 'Architecture and social history at Mudayrib', Christians who had been captured as children and 3: 107-35, 1977. P. M. Costa, 'The study of the city of Zafar (al-Balid)', 5: converted to Islam. The advantage of this new III-50, 1979. method was that the religious orthodoxy and --'Studies on the built environment of the Batinah', absolute allegiance of the soldiers could be ensured. 8(2): 1985. The new troops known as ]anissaries were the --'Bayt Na'man, a seventeenth-century mansion of the Batinah', 8(2): 195-210, 1985. elite force of the growing empire; at the same time P. M. Costa and S. Kite, 'The architecture of Salalah and a system of feudal land grants was adopted for the the Dhofar littoral', 7: 131-53, 1985. Ottoman cavalry. In 1394 Ottoman control of the

214 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli)

Open-air mosque, Ras al-Junayz, Oman

Balkan provinces was recognized when Bayazit Syria and Egypt into the Ottoman Empire and in was granted the title Sultan of Rum by the Abbasid 1526 Hungary was brought under Ottoman con­ caliph in Cairo. A major setback occurred in 1402 trol. For the next century and a half the Ottomans when a second Mongol invasion led by Timur were the world's foremost Islamic power and undis­ (Tamurlane) conquered much of Anatolia and de­ puted rulers of most of the eastern Mediterranean. feated the Ottoman sultan at Ankara. However, As orthodox Sunnis the Ottomans established con­ Timurid success was short lived and soon the tacts with their co-religionists the Mughals of Ottomans were able to regain control of much of India although the distance was too great for any their territory in Anatolia. The major event of the meaningful co-operation beyond sending a few fifteenth century was the capture of Constantinople Turkish ships against the Portuguese in the Indian (later known as Istanbul) and the defeat of the Ocean. Byzantine Empire by Mehmet the Conqueror in The siege of Vienna in 1683 marked the high 1453· point of their military power in Europe and their Having consolidated their position in Anatolia defeat marked the beginning of an irreversible during the fifteenth century by the beginning of decline which continued into the eighteenth cen­ the sixteenth century the Ottomans were able to tury. Nevertheless, Turkey remained a major power launch a major offensive in Europe and the Middle during the nineteenth century despite the loss of East. In 1517 the defeat of the Mamluks brought large amounts of territory to local leaders in Europe

215 Ottomans (Turkish: Osman Ii)

Bibi Miriyam, domed thirteenth-century mausoleum, Qalhat, Oman

and the Middle East. Turkey's disast ~ous participa­ tion is important as it calls for a distinction between tion in the First World War led to the loss of its buildings in the imperial style and locally derived remaining Arab provinces and a European attempt buildings - thus an imperial mosque in Damascus to take control of Anatolia. European expansionism (e.g. the Tekkiye) may differ from a local mosque in tum prompted a reaction in Turkey which led in the Syrian style. Even in the case of imperial to the rise of the Young Turks and the abolition of Ottoman buildings concessions were made to local the Ottoman sultanate in 1922. taste; thus the Sinan Pasha Cami in Cairo is Otto­ For over 500 years the Ottomans ruled an area man in plan but has distinct Egyptian features like now occupied by more than fifteen modem states the use of muqarnas above the windows, the short so that Ottoman buildings now represent a size­ minaret and the use of ablaq masonry. Sometimes able proportion of the historic architecture of the local styles affected the imperial style - thus the region. The Ottoman presence in these areas was tall domes of Syria and Egypt influenced the marked by the erection of imperial structures such 'baroque' buildings of seventeenth-century Istanbul. as fortresses, mosques and khans which preserve a The heartland of the Ottoman Empire was west­ remarkable degree of uniformity despite the large ern Anatolia and Thrace and it was in this area distances involved. However this picture must be that the imperial style developed out of Byzantine modified by two observations, first that direct and Seljuk architectural traditions. The Byzantine Ottoman control over some areas was limited to tradition is characterized by domes, baked brick relatively short periods and second that Ottoman and tiles, the Seljuk by iwans, carved stonework architecture was subject to local influences. The and the use of spolia. The main building materials first observation may be illustrated by the case of used in Ottoman architecture were baked bricks Iraq where constant warfare with the Saffavids and tiles, cut limestone, marble and wood, whilst meant that Ottoman control fluctuated throughout glazed tiles and glass (coloured and plain) were the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used for decoration. and was only firmly established in the nineteenth The use of baked brick in Ottoman architecture century. The consequence of this is that Iraq con­ was inherited directly from Byzantine practice tains few distinctively Ottoman buildings from which in turn was copied from earlier Roman before the nineteenth century. The second observa- work. Brick is used on a much greater scale in

216 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli) early Ottoman buildings than those of the later both as columns and for decoration. During the period possibly in imitation of contemporary Byz­ sixteenth century there were large numbers of antine practice which used bricks until the begin­ disused Byzantine churches which were used as ning of the fourteenth century when they were no quarries for marble columns thus the Ottoman longer available. The usual brick form was a flat buildings of this period tend to use more columns square of varying dimensions, the Ottomans had a than earlier or later periods. The hardest form of much wider range of brick sizes than the Byzan­ marble available was porphyry, which is twice as tines whose bricks were of a standard size although hard as granite, although this was only used rarely better in quality. The standard Byzantine construc­ as it tended to crack. New marble seems only to tion technique, copied in early Ottoman buildings, have been available from the quarries at Marmara was rubble and brick construction where the size although there was enough ancient marble avail­ of bricks determined the thickness of the walls. able to fulfil most needs. Sometimes, however, Often layers of brick alternate with layers of cut there seems to have been an acute shortage of stone thus the Had Ozbek Cami at Iznik is built of marble; thus the tomb of Suleyman was built triple layers of brick alternating with layers of using fake red and green marble. Fake marble was individual cut stone blocks separated by single often used for voussoirs of arches where the vertically laid bricks. The ratio of layers of brick to weight of real marble would cause structural prob­ layers of stone does not seem to have been stand­ lems. Fake marble voussoirs were usually made of ard for every building and in some cases the brick and covered with plaster which was then thickness of layers varies in the same building. In painted. general, however, three layers of brick to one of Wood was essential in the construction of Otto­ stone was fairly usual during most periods. The man buildings and was used for the centring of standardized size of bricks and their lightness com­ vaults and domes, for tie-beams and as scaffolding. pared with stone also made them ideal material for In addition wood was used for projecting galleries the construction of domes, barrel vaults and arches. and also for pitched wooden roofs, although these When stone replaced brick and stone as the main were less common than brick domes in monumen­ facing material, bricks continued to be used for tal buildings. In domestic architecture, however, arches, domes and vaults. In early Ottoman build­ wood was the predominant material and most of ings tiles were used to cover the outside of the the houses of Istanbul were built entirely out of dome although from the sixteenth century onwards wood. lead was increasingly used. One of the most distinctive features of imperial The walls of Ottoman buildings were built with Ottoman architecture is its use of polychrome a rubble stone core enclosed by a facing of stone glazed tiles as wall decoration. Glazed tiles were or brick and stone. In some of the earlier buildings used by the Ottomans as early as thirteenth cen­ rubble stone was used on the exterior of buildings tury at the Ye~il Cami at Iznik although it was not either contained within layers of brick or plastered until the fifteenth century that the first of the over. Later on the use of cut limestone became famous Iznik tiles were produced. During the six­ more usual, first in conjunction with brick and later teenth century Iznik tiles replaced marble as the on its own. Immediately after the conquest of main form of decoration in mosques thus in the Constantinople there seems to have been a rever­ Ivaz Efendi Cami in Istanbul tilework columns are sion to brick and stone due to a shortage of cut placed either side of the mihrab instead of the limestone. However, from the beginning of the usual marble columns. sixteenth century onwards most important build­ The windows of mosques were often decorated ings were faced in cut stone, although subsidiary with stained glass set into thick plasterwork frames. structures continued to use brick and stone. The Coloured glass made with a high proportion of quality of masonry in Ottoman buildings is extra­ lead was mostly imported from Europe and clipped ordinary due to its precision and smoothness which to the sizes required. Although coloured glass gave buildings a monumentality not easily was used more often, the architect Sinan pre­ achieved with brick and stone. ferred to use clear glass and altered the struc­ In addition to limestone Ottoman buildings used tural arrangement of buildings to introduce large quantities of antique and Byzantine marble the maximum amount of light into the interior.

217 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli)

Sixteenth-century Ottoman fortress at Ras al-'Ayn, Israel! Palestine

Ottoman architecture can be divided into three Iznik which is dated to 1333, two years after the major periods which roughly correspond to histori­ capture of the city from the Byzantines. Like the cal developments. The early period between the mosque at Sogiit the Had Ozbek Cami is a small thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century was the period cube covered with an almost hemispherical dome before the capture of Constantinople in 1453 and (radius 4 m) resting on a zone of Turkish triangles. characterized by the transition from a small princi­ The original portico was on the west side (Le. at pality to a sultanate. The second period from the right angles to the qibla) and consisted of three bays capture of Constantinople (Istanbul) to the mid­ resting on two marble columns. Two of the bays sixteenth century is regarded as the classical were covered by barrel vaults, whilst that above the Ottoman period and saw the most brilliant develop­ entrance was covered with a cross vault; the north ments in arts and technology to match the spectacu­ and south sides of the portico were walled in as lar Ottoman victories in Europe, North Africa and protection against the wind. Other early Ottoman the Middle East. The third period from the end of mosques include the Alaettin Cami at Bursa and the the sixteenth century to the twentieth century is Orhan Ghazi Cami at Bilecik. The Aleattin Cami known for political and economic decline, matched was built in 1335 after the Ottoman capture of in architecture by weaker forms on a smaller scale Bursa and is of a similar form and size to the Haci and the increasing influence of Europe. Ozbek Cami except that the portico and entrance is on the north side in line with the mihrab. The Orhan Ghazi also has a similar plan but here the size of the Early Period prayer hall is increased by four large (approximately Possibly the oldest Ottoman building is the Etru­ 9 by 2.5 m) arched recesses which make it twice as grul Mescit in Sogiit 40 km south-east of Iznik large as the Haci Ozbek Cami whose dome is which dates from the first years of the fourteenth approximately the same size. The walls are pierced century. The mosque has been significantly altered with windows and the mihrab is flanked by two by the addition of a minaret and tall arched win­ large windows in an arrangement which became dows although its essential form of a tall cube standard in later Ottoman mosques. The Orhan capped by a dome remains unchanged. More au­ Ghazi Mosque also has a detached minaret which thentic and better dated is the Haci Ozbek Cami at may be the oldest surviving Ottoman minaret.

218 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli)

The next major development in Ottoman and the madrassa represents orthodox Sunni Islam mosque architecture is the Ye~il Cami at Iznik which would generally have been opposed to built in the late fourteenth century (1378-92). mystical sects. This combination suggests a royal This is one of the first buildings for which the attempt to incorporate reconciled mystical and ortho­ name of the architect is known (Haci bin Musa). dox forces in the service of the Ottoman state. The portico consists of three long bays set side by The zawiya on the ground floor has the same side with a high fluted dome in the central bay. basic T -plan as Orhan's mosque with a central The portico is open on three sides with the en­ domed courtyard leading off to iwans; however, in trance in the middle of the north side formed by a this building the iwans are vaults instead of domes stone door frame. The portico leads into the main and the mihrab projects out of the south wall of part of the mosque which contains a rectangular the southern iwan. The walls of the central court­ vestibule and a prayer hall. The vestibule is an yard and the prayer hall are raised up above the arcade of three bays resting on two thick columns upper floor thus forming a two-storey courtyard. and opening into the main prayer hall. The central The upper floor is reached by twin staircases either bay of the arcade is covered by a fluted dome and side of the main entrance which lead upwards to is flanked by two flat-topped cross vaults. The a five-bay portico directly above that on the prayer hall is the usual square domed unit although ground floor. Five entrances lead off the portico its diameter is slightly larger (11 m) and the vesti­ into the body of the madras sa which also has a bule on the north side appears to increase its floor four-iwan plan around a central courtyard. The area. The Seljuk-style brick minaret is set on the centre of the courtyard is occupied by the prayer north-west side of the mosque, a position which hall and courtyard from the ground floor and so is became traditional in Ottoman mosques. reduced to a vaulted walkway with windows open­ The capture of Bursa in 1325 led to its growth ing on to the courtyard below. To the north of the as the Ottoman capital city with mosques, khans, upper courtyard between the staircases is a vaulted public baths and madrassas. A result of this centraliz­ iwan which is the main entrance to the upper ing process was the development of new, more floor. Either side of the courtyard are six vaulted specialized, architectural forms. The most remark­ cells whilst at the south end there is a domed able changes occurred in mosque architecture with room directly above the mihrab on the ground Orhan's royal mosque which is an adaptation of floor. The same T -plan is used for the mosque of the Ottoman square domed unit to a Seljuk ma­ Murat's successor Beyazit, built between 1391 and drassa plan. The building consists of a central 1395. Modifications in this mosque include the domed courtyard opening on to three domed cham­ positioning of the lateral iwans along the side of bers one either side on the east and west and a the prayer hall, or in other words the prayer hall is larger one on the south side. The building is brought into the body of the mosque instead of entered via a five-bay portico and a small vestibule. projecting beyond it. This bUilding is also noted The plan is ultimately derived from .the Iranian for its portico which is regarded as the first monu­ four-iwan plan although the northern iwan has mental Ottoman portico because of its height and been reduced to a shallow vestibule. The side the use of wide stilted arches to create an elevated rooms were used as teaching areas as the building and open space separate from the mosque inside. was also a zawiya, or convent, and the main room The Ye~il Cami built in 1412 has essentially the to the south is the prayer hall. The courtyard same plan although the portico was not dome is higher than that of the prayer hall and completed. originally had an occulus or hole at the apex to let In addition to the royal mosque Beyazit also in light and air. This plan was later used by built the first great Ottoman congregational Orhan's successor Murat for the famous Hiidavendi­ mosque or Ulu Cami at Bursa. The building was gar Mosque which he built just outside Bursa at begun in 1396 and completed four years later in Cekirge. This extraordinary two-storey building 1400. Before this period congregational mosques combines two functions, a zawiya on the ground had usually been re-used Byzantine churches. The floor and a madras sa on top. The combination Ulu Cami represents a different design concept seems particularly surprising when it is realized from either the square domed unit or the Bursa T­ that the zawiya represents a mystical form of Islam plan mosques and is more closely related to the

219 Ottomans (Turkish: Osman Ii) ancient mosques of Syria, Egypt and Iraq. The Vlu open on to a series of small cells arranged around Cami consists of a large rectangular enclosure five a cruciform covered courtyard. bays wide by four bays deep (63 by 50 m) and roofed by twenty domes resting on twelve massive Classical Period central piers. The mihrab is centrally placed and is on the same axis as the main doorway. In the The second period of Ottoman architecture, often second bay in front of the mihrab is the courtyard referred to as the 'Classical' period, has its origins represented by an open dome above a sunken in the Dc;: Serefeli Cami in Edime built by Murat II pool. The mosque has two minarets, one on the and completed in 1447 six years before the con­ north-east and one on the north-west comer of the quest of Constantinople. The Dc;: Serefeli Mosque mosque; the north-east minaret was added later by had its origins in the fourteenth-century Ulu Cami Mehmet I, some time after 1413. Mehmet also of Manisa which was visited by Murat II sometime built a smaller version of the Bursa Ulu Cami before 1437. The Ulu Cami of Manisa differs from at Edirne known as the Eski (old) Cami which others of the time in having a large central dome consists of nine domes. in front of the mihrab covering a space equivalent The climax of the first period of Ottoman archi­ to nine bays. The Manisa Ulu Cami is also unusual tecture was the Ye~il Cami at Bursa which was because the central courtyard is separated from the part of a complex built for Mehmet I~ The complex main body of the mosque and is not covered by a consists of a mosque, madrassa, bath house dome as in the Bursa tradition. Both of these (hammam), an imaret, or kitchen, and the turba features were found in the Dc;: Serefeli Mosque built (tomb) of Mehmet. Earlier sultans had built com­ over seventy years later. However, the dome of plexes such as that of Beyazit or Orhan, but this is the Edime mosque is much larger and measures the best preserved example of its type. The ma­ over 24 m in diameter, more than double that of its drassa has a standard form consisting of cells on Manisa prototype. Also in the Edirne mosque, the three sides and a domed prayer hall on the south size of the central courtyard is increased so that it side. The kitchen and bath house are both rectangu­ resembles those of Syria and Egypt rather than the lar domed structures whilst the turba is an octagonal internal courtyards of the Bursa tradition. However, domed building located high up above the rest of the arcade on the south side of the courtyard the complex. The mosque is of the familiar Bursa adjacent to the sanctuary of the mosque is raised T -plan design and closely resembles that of. the up in the manner of earlier Ottoman porticoes (e.g. Beyazitcomplex. The chief differences are the use Beyazit Cami in Bursa). The exterior of the building of brilliant green tiles to decorate the interior and is distinguished by four minarets placed outside royal boxes or loggias which overlook the internal each comer of the courtyard. The two north mina­ domed courtyard. rets have one balcony (~eref) each whilst the The development of mosques and religious build­ south-east minaret has two balconies and the mas­ ings is paralleled in secular architecture by the sive north-west minaret (from which the mosque evolution of classical Ottoman forms from the gets its name) has three balconies each with its Seljuk period. The clearest examples of this are own spiral staircase. bridges, which in the early period are graceful The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 ex­ structures with a high central arch flanked by two posed Ottoman architects to a whole new range of lower arches, whereas those of the later period are buildings, the most important of which is the more heavily built in the Roman style, with a Hagia Sophia (Aya Sophia) which was immediately succession of evenly spaced arches resting on mas­ converted into a mosque by the addition of a sive piers. Several bath houses survive from this wooden minaret to one of the comer turrets. The period particularly in Bursa which contains simple new concepts introduced by the Dc;: Serefeli were structures like the ~ekige Hammam and complex not immediately incorporated into Ottoman build­ double-domed structures like the Bey Hammam. ings, and the first mosques were either converted The plan of these bath houses develops from a churches or single-domed units in the traditional single-domed area leading off to two or three style. The first major complex to include these smaller domed or vaulted chambers to a building features was the Mehmet Fatih Cami built for consisting of one or two large domed areas which Murat II between 1463 and 1470. Unfortunately

220 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli) the complex suffered an earthquake in 1766 and on the exposed north comer. The rest of the the main part of the mosque collapsed so that the complex includes the elements found in earlier present building is an eighteenth-century replica structures, although here the buildings are specifi­ built on the same foundations. The most notable cally directed towards medical facilities, thus there feature of the Fatih Cami was its 26 m dome is a hospital, asylum and medical college as well as which for the next hundred years was the largest the usual kitchen, bath house and bakery. The dome in the empire with the exception of the main hospital building is hexagonal and consists of Hagia Sophia dome of 32 m. The internal arrange­ series of iwans opening on to a central hexagonal ment of the Fatih Cami consisted of a large central hall covered by a dome. Another complex built by dome combined with a semi-dome of similar diam­ Beyazit at Amasya also contains a building which eter flanked on two sides by three smaller domes departs from the traditional square form of Otto­ and a half dome. This huge area (approximately 40 man architecture. This is the Kapiaga Madrassa by 58 m) is entirely open except for two massive which is an octagonal building built around a piers either side of the semi-dome and two smaller central arcaded courtyard. piers either side of the main dome. Outside the Although Beyazit's complex at Edirne is the mosque is the original rectangular courtyard built largest monument to his reign, probably the finest to the same design as the O~ $erefeli Cami court­ is his mosque in Istanbul begun in 1491. The yard although here there are only two minarets building has a cruciform plan consisting of the placed against the north wall of the mosque. In square domed sanctuary, a square courtyard of addition to the mosque itself the Fatih Cami is equal size and two small rectangular wings project­ remarkable for the ordered geometry of the vast ing out of the sides. Like the Edirne mosque these complex which surrounds it. The complex is lo­ wings were officially tabhanes although unlike cated on an artificially levelled terrace with the Edirne they are not separated from the main area western part of the complex raised up on a vaulted of the mosque by walls suggesting resting rooms substructure. To the west and east of the mosque rather than hostels. The architectural achievement are eight orthodox madrassas, four on the west of this mosque is the incorporation of a second and four on the east side. The design of the semi-dome so that the large central dome (in this madrassas is uniform and consists of nineteen cells case only 17 m diameter) is balanced by a semi­ arranged around three sides of a rectangular ar­ dome either side, one above the door and the caded courtyard with a domed teaching room other above the mihrab. Either side of this central (dershane) on the fourth side. The complex also domed area are rows of four domes balancing the includes a hospital and a hostel for travellers space of the central area. Like other imperial and dervishes built on a similar plan to the mosques before it with the exception of the madrassas. O~ $erefeli Mosque, this building has two minarets The next major imperial complex was built by placed at the northern comers of the covered area. Beyazit II at Edirne in 1484. This complex is the The next major mosque to be erected in Istanbul major monument to Beyazit's reign and signifi­ was the Selim I Cami completed in 1522 during cantly is not in Istanbul, which was dominated by the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent. The build­ Mehmet's complex, but at Edirne the former capi­ ing comprised a single-domed space flanked by tal. The mosque at the centre of the complex tabhanes and opening on to a rectangular arcaded combined the new concepts of courtyard and large courtyard. The main dome has a diameter of 24.5 m domes with older ideas of the single-domed unit and was the largest Ottoman dome of the time. and the incorporation of tabhanes (hostels for However, the design of the building with its single dervishes). The central area of the mosque is a dome covering a square area recalled earlier Otto­ single square unit covered with a dome of 20 m man mosques and represented no significant archi­ diameter. Flanking this central area but separate tectural advance. The real advance came with from it are two square nine-domed tabhanes (one Sinan, whose designs ensured him a place as the on either side). Although separate from the central foremost of Ottoman architects. area the tabhanes are definitely part of the mosque Sinan's first major project was the mosque of as they are both incorporated into the south side $ehzade built for Suleyman the Magnificent in of the courtyard and each has a minaret attached memory of his son $ehzade who died at the

221 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli)

age of 22. The mosque was begun in 1543 and completed five years later. The main feature of the design was the quatrefoil arrangement of domes based on the use of a single central dome flanked by four semi-domes, one on each side. The idea was not entirely new and had been used before in the Fatih Pasha Cami at Diyarbakir and Piri Pasha Mosque at Haskoy. Sinan's achievement was to translate this plan into a large scale and reduce to a minimum the obstruction of piers to create an open space horizontally and vertically. The domes rest on four huge central piers and sixteen wall piers and four major corner piers which also func­ tioned as buttresses for the outward thrust of the domes. The size and proportions of the domed area are matched by those of the courtyard, a symmetry which is improved by the absence of the tabhane rooms of the Beyazit and Selim Kapiaga Madrassa, Amasya, Turkey (sixteenth century) mosques. Sinan's next major work was the mosque of Several other of Sinan's buildings stand out Suleyman the Magnificent begun in 1550 and including the Riistem Pasha Cami noted for its known as the Siileymaniye. This building and its profusion of Iznik tilework, the Mirimah Pasha associated complex was Sin an' s largest commission Cami and the Zal Mahmut Pasha complex. How­ and took seven years to build. Like the Fatih ever, undoubtedly Sinan's greatest achievement is complex the Siileymaniye is located on a large the Selimiye Cami in Edirne built between 1569 artificially levelled terrace and has foundations and 1575. This building, with a dome of equal which reach 12 m into the ground. At the centre dimensions to that of Hagia Sophia, is regarded as the complex consists of the mosque in the middle the supreme achievement of Ottoman architec­ with a courtyard to the north and a tomb garden ture. The brilliance of the building relies on the to the south all enclosed within a wall defining the enormous size of the dome which is emphasized mosque precincts (cf. ziyada). Outside this enclo­ by the use of giant squinches or exhedra instead of sure are the usual buildings of an imperial complex the semi-domes used earlier at the SUleymaniye or including a hospital, medical college, hospice, ad­ the Sehzade Mosque. In the earlier buildings the vanced religious college, primary school, soup semi-domes tended to break up the interior space kitchen and bath house. In the north-east corner of whereas the giant squinches emphasize the circular the complex there is a small garden containing the space. The central dome and its supporting domes tomb of Sinan who was buried there thirty years rest on eight huge circular piers which are de­ after the completion of this complex. The mosque tached from the exterior walls and appear as free­ at the centre of the complex was covered by a standing columns although they are actually tied large central dome (26 m diameter) contained to huge external piers of buttresses. The mihrab within two semi-domes instead of the four used at space is emphasized by placing it in an apse-like $ehazade's complex. Either side of the central dome half-dome which projects out of the mosque be­ are a series smaller domes alternating in size from tween the two southern piers. Like the O~ Serefeli 5 to 10 m in diameter. The same principal of four Cami the Selimiye is equipped with four minarets, massive central piers and several external piers is two on the north side of the dome and two at the used here as in the Sehzade Mosque although north end of the courtyard. Although Sinan contin­ here the arrangement of the outer piers is more ued for another thirteen years after the completion complex - on the south (qibla) side they are on the of the Selimiye, his most important work had outside as buttresses whilst on the north side already been done. abutting the courtyard they are inside the mosque In contrast to the advances of religious architec­ to enable a neat join with the courtyard portico. ture, secular buildings of the period are fairly

222 Ottomans (Turkish: Osmanli) conservative and tend to stick to established forms. first years of the seventeenth century Ottoman Where there is development this is often influenced architecture continued to use the forms and style by mosque architecture; thus the Haseki Hurrem developed by Sinan during the Classical period. Hammam in Istanbul designed by Sinan owes much Thus the Yeni Valide complex built by Sinan's of its grandeur to its tall domes inspired by contem­ successor Davut is a copy of the Sehzade Mosque porary mosques. Civil engineering, including with a few alterations to the size and shape of the bridges and forts, is characterized by solid construc­ courtyard. The most famous building in this late tion and austere design reminiscent of Roman classical style is the Sultan Ahmet Cami in Istanbul architecture. This can be seen in Rumeli Hisar, the also known as the Blue Mosque begun in 1609 fortress built by Mehmet II to control the Bosphorus and completed in 1617. The most distinctive before the conquest of Constantinople. The building feature of this building is the use of six minarets consists of a huge enclosure (approximately 220 by instead of the previous maximum of four. It is 100 m) formed by three huge towers (two semi­ roofed with the quatrefoil design used in the circular and one polygonal) linked by a tall crenel­ Sehzade Cami with four huge cylindrical fluted lated wall strengthened by interval towers or bas­ piers supporting the 23.5 m dome (considerably tions. The interior was filled with a mosque and a smaller than the Selimiye). The plan has several large number of wooden buildings which have now weaknesses, the most notable of which is the way disappeared. The bastions and towers represent a the mihrab is placed in the middle of a flat wall variety of different shapes and designs which sug­ without any architectural emphasis. Also the por­ gest that the fortress was built by a number of tico is not raised to the level of the central domed individuals working to a broad general design area thus making the mosque and courtyard seem rather than a detailed architect's plan. Bridges on like two independent units rather than a gradual the other hand tended to be built to a standard plan development of mass. which was applied to a variety of situations. The From the end of the sixteenth century slavish most famous bridge of the period is that of Biiyiik­ copying of the Classical style was gradually re­ ~ekmice to the west of Istanbul; built by Sinan in placed; characteristic features of the new style are 1566, it consists of a series of four humped bridges flamboyant decoration, increased use of windows resting on three artificial islands. At the west end of and curves, and growing European influences. The the bridge there is a rectangular caravanserai cov­ most famous example is the Nuruosmaniye Cami ered with a wooden gabled roof. Other important in Istanbul completed in 1755. The plan of this caravanserais of the period include the Sokollu building is still based on the square covered by a Mehmed Pasha Caravanserai at Liileburgaz and the dome but the strict geometry of the Classical Selim II complex at Payas in eastern Anatolia both period is modified, thus there are small projecting built by Sinan. One area where secular architecture wings either end of the qibla wall and the mihrab was innovative and influential was in the imperial is located in a curved apse in a manner similar to palace or T opkapisarai. This building was estab­ that of the Selimiye in Edirne although here the lished as the centre of imperial power soon after apse is curved. The recessed porches, which in Mehmed II entered Istanbul and remained the earlier mosques would have been filled with muqar­ centre until the collapse of Ottoman power in the nas mouldings, are here filled with carved acanthus twentieth century. Several parts of the fifteenth­ leaves. The most striking feature of the building is century palace remain, the most important of which the courtyard which is built in a curved D-shape is the Cinili Kiosk built in 1473. This pavilion, based with the straight side forming the portico of the on a four-iw.an plan, was designed by a Persian mosque. The courtyard is also unusual because the architect and decorated with blue glazed bricks in domes above the two north entrances are pierced Timurid style. The building influenced much of the with a series of arched windows which add to the subsequent domestic architecture of Istanbul, in light coming from the trefoil arched windows at particular some of the Bosphorus mansions. the sides. The absence of a central fountain and the positioning of the mosque on an irregular­ shaped terrace add to the surprise of this bUilding. Later Period Other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mosques, In the last years of the sixteenth century and the however, retained the strict square geometry which

223 Oualata (also known as Walata, Iwalatan and Birou) was now prescribed by the religious orthodoxy as Increased European interest in Ottoman and the necessary form for a mosque. Thus the Laleli Seljuk architecture also stimulated an interest in Cami and complex built ten years later in 1783 has revivalist architecture. One of the earliest examples a conventional plan, although this is modified by of revivalism in Turkish architecture is the palace making the prayer hall rectangular instead of of Ishak Pasha at Dogubayazit in eastern Anatolia square, by cutting off the two side aisles either completed in 1784. This imposing building, set side of the main dome and making them into against the backdrop of Mount Ararat, recalls the external arcades. The apse form of the mihrab area Seljuk architecture of eastern Anatolia with carved used in the Nuruosmaniye is retained although animals and huge monumental doorways. However, here it has a square form similar to the Selimiye in this building is exceptional and it is not until the Edirne instead of the curved form of the Nuruos­ late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that maniye. The Laleli is also noticeable for its use of revivalism becomes established as a style in Otto­ Ionic capitals instead of the muqarnas capitals pre­ man art. Notable examples are the Vakif Han built ferred in the Classical period. by Kemalettin in 1914 and the Istanbul main post Several methods were used to break away from office built in 1909. Both these buildings inccrpo­ the enforced geometry of the square domed unit; rate medieval and early Ottoman features in build­ one method was to give an undulating curved form ings made using modem methods and materials. to the outer edges of domes. This was a technique See also: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Bursa, which was first used on the wooden roofs of sebils Byzantine architecture, Cairo, Cyprus, (fountains) and kiosks such as that on the tomb of Edirne, Greece, Iraq, Istanbul, Iznik, Mehmet II rebuilt in 1784. The use of this tech­ Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Sinan, Syria, nique on mosque domes can be seen on the Beyler­ Turkey bey Cami of 1778 and in an extravagant form at Further reading: the Iliyas Bey Cami built in 1812. Similar techniques o. Aslanapa, Turkish Art and Architecture, London 1971. were used for windows and arches which had Y. Bingo!, Der Ishak Pascha Palast in Dogubayazit am Berg undulating curves hung as drapery in the European Ararat, Berlin 1982. manner. Outside the strict boundaries of orthodoxy M. Cezar, Typical Commercial Buildings of the Ottoman there was more room for experimentation, thus Classical Period and the Ottoman Construction System, Istanbul 1983. the Kii~iik Efendi complex in Istanbul was built for A. Gabriel, Les Monuments turcs d'anatolie, 2 vols., Paris dervishes and has a radical plan. The building, 1931-4. completed in 1825, consists of an oval structure --Chateaux turcs du Bosphore, Paris 1943. which combines a mosque and dervish dance hall. -- Une Capitale turque, Brousse, Paris 1958. The nineteenth century saw the emergence of G. Goodwin, A History of Ottoman Architecture, London 1971. new building forms and types influenced by --Ottoman Turkey, London 1977. Europe. The most successful of these new forms A. Kuran, The Mosque in Early Ottoman Architecture, was the clock tower which by the beginning of the Chicago 1968. First World War had been established in Ottoman J. M. Rogers and R. M. Ward, Suleyman the Magnificent, cities throughout the empire. The earliest example London 1988. 1. Utkular, Canakkale Bogazinda Fatih Keleleri, Istanbul was a three-storey wooden tower outside the 1954. Nusretiye Cami in Istanbul, other early examples are at Yozgat and Adana. The extent of European influence can be seen in the decision to move the Oualata (also known as Walata, royal residence from the T opkapisarai in old Istan­ Iwalatan and Birou) bul to the newly fashionable banks of the Bospho­ rus. The new residence known as .the Dolmabah~e Important trading city in south-west Mauritania. Palace was built in 1853 in the European Classical The collapse of the empire of Ghana in 1224 led style with a colonnaded fa~ade looking out over refugees from Awdaghast to found a new city in the water. The palace stretches out along the side the small village of Birou. The new city was called of the Bosphorus in a series of blocks or wings, the Oualata and contained immigrants from several most famous of which is the throne room measur­ ethnic groups including Berbers, Islamized Soninke ing 44 by 46 m. and Massufa nomads. The Berbers were the reli-

224 Oualata (also known as Walata, Iwalatan and Birou) gious leaders as well as the merchants whilst the and the inside. This technique is unique to Oualata Soninke provided craftsmen and the Massufa and distinguishes it from other Berber towns of nomads acted as caravan leaders and guides. The Mauritania suggesting the influence of non-Berber rise of the empire of Mali and the subsequent shift architecture from further south. This idea is of political power to the south strengthened the strengthened by the fact that the mud rendering is position of Oualata as a regional centre and as a carried out by the women of the society. The most terminus for trans-Saharan caravans. The main remarkable feature of the earthen rendering is the partner for this desert trade was the city of Siji­ application of striking white-painted deSigns massa from which goods would be traded to Fez around the doorways, windows and niches of the and Tlemcen in Morocco. courtyard. It is noticeable that the designs are During the fourteenth century Mansa Musa restricted to the interior of the courtyards and are started his famous pilgrimage from Oualata and on not visible from the outside, consisting of ara­ his return brought with him the famous architect besque medallions and chain motifs executed in and poet al-Saheli who built an audience hall there. thick but precise white lines. The most elaborate In 1352 the city was visited by Ibn Battuta who decoration is reserved for the doorway of the stayed there for seven weeks. He described the senior wife's room where a number of different city as a cosmopolitan trading and intellectual motifs are used to produce a highly ornate design. centre under the administration of the empire of The doorways are made of wooden planks with Mali. In the sixteenth century a new component wooden locks and are decorated with Moroccan was added to the city's ethnic composition with brass medallions. Either side of the doorway are the arrival of the Arabic Beni Hassan tribe. The elaborately carved wooden pillars, or asnads, which lasting result of this was the adoption of Hassaniya, are used as calabash supports. The pillars are set a mixed Arabic Berber language which became the into an earthen base made in the shape of a small main language of commerce in the city. The other stepped pyramid but at the top divide into three main language of Oualata is the Soninke language branches. Similar pillars are found in Berber tents of Azer. and their presence in these houses are reminders of The buildings of Oualata are made of stone a nomadic past. Inside, the rooms are fairly bare with roofs made of split-palm beams and palm-frond except for a large canopied platform bed hung matting overlaid with earth. The houses consist of with tapestries and mats. a central courtyard entered through an inner and See also: Agades, Timbuktu, West Africa outer vestibule. There are often two storeys in the houses with the upper floor reached by an external Further reading: staircase in the courtyard. All the rooms lead G. J. Duchemin, 'A propos des decorations murales des directly off from the courtyard which is the centre habitations de Oualata (Mauretanie)', Bulletin IFAN 12(4): 1095-110, 1950. of activity and contains beds for the servants. The O. Du Puigaudeau, 'Contribution a I'etude du symbolisme stone walls of the houses are covered with a thick dans Ie decor mural et I'artisanat de Walat', Bulletin layer of mud plaster (banco) on both the outside IFAN 19(1-2): 137-83, 1957.

225 p

Pakistan until 873 when the province broke away from the Predominantly Muslim country in the north-west caliphate. The province was now divided into corner of the Indian subcontinent. several independent city states the most important of which were Multan and Mansurah. During the Pakistan is located in a strategic position with tenth century Sind developed as an important Afghanistan and Iran to the west, India to the east, centre of Ismaili and Khariji thought which was the Sinkiang region of China to the north and the brought to an abrupt end by the invasions of Indian Ocean to the south. Running down the Mahmud of Ghazni between 1004 and 1008. centre of the country from the Chinese border to Several years later the province of Punjab, then the Indian Ocean is the Indus river which unites under Hindu control, was captured by Mahmud the diverse regions and cultures through which it who established a fort and mint at Lahore. For the passes. In the north and west the country is domi­ next 150 years much of the present area of Pakistan nated by the highest mountains in the world and was under Ghaznavid control, until the invasions includes parts of Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and of Mahmud of Ghur at the end of the twelfth the Karakoram mountain ranges. Officially the century. Mahmud's deputy Qutb aI-Din Aybak country is divided into five regions, the 'Northern soon took over and ruled the Punjab from his Areas, the North-West Frontier, the Punjab, Balu­ Indian capital of Delhi. For the following 300 chistan and Sind. Each region has its own languages years with a few exceptions Pakistan was under and cultures reflecting a complex historical develop­ the control of the various dynasties ruling from ment. Most of the population lives in the Indus Delhi the most significant of which was the Tugh­ valley which comprises the states of Punjab and luqs. In the sixteenth century the Punjab was Sind. The valley is home to one of the world's incorporated into the Mughal Empire and Lahore oldest civilizations based on the cities of Mohenjo­ became one of the three main cities of the empire. daro and Harrapa which flourished more than 4,000 For a period of about fifty years in the early nine­ years ago. During the fourth century BCE the teenth century the Punjab was under the control northern part of the country was conquered by of the Sikhs although by the end of the century it Alexander the Great who established a Macedo­ was firmly incorporated into British India. In 1947 nian garrison at T axilla. The Greeks were soon the Muslim parts of India comprising the modern defeated by the Mauryans who later introduced states of Pakistan and Bangladesh were made inde­ Buddhism as the state religion. For the next 400 pendent as one country despite the great distances years or more the region was the centre of a separating them. In 1970 the country separated Graeco-Indian Buddhist culture illustrated by the into two independent states, Pakistan and great stupas of Taxilla. During the fifth century CE Bangladesh. there was a period of Hindu revival under the The range of building materials and techniques Gupta dynasty, remains of which can be seen in used in Pakistan reflects both the variety of its Hindu and Jain stone shrines. natural environment and its long cultural history. The first Muslims in Pakistan were probably The scarcity of suitable building stone in the Indus Arab seafarers taking part in the extensive Indian valley has meant that mud or clay has always been Ocean trade network. However, the first Muslim the main building material. Mud may be used in conquest of the area was by Mohammad ibn al­ several forms: as mud brick, baked brick or pise. Qasim who captured the region of Sind in 711. Mud brick was first used in the cities of Harrapa For the next one and a half centuries Sind was and Mohenjodaro over 4,000 years ago and con­ ruled by Umayyad and later Abbasid governors tinues to be used in many of the villages of the

226 Pakistan

Punjab today. Baked brick is used for more perma­ early date of the building given by an inscription nent structures such as wells, important houses or dated to 727. mosques whilst pise is used for structures which Medieval architecture in Pakistan is best repre­ need to be built cheaply and quickly. On the coast sented by the funerary and religious buildings of of Sind mud is used as a thick plaster over a Multan and Uchch in the Punjab. There are few wooden frame to produce wattle-and-daub construc­ remains from the Ghaznavid period apart from the tions. In the mountains of the North-West Frontier twelfth-century tomb of Khaliq Walid or Khalid the typical form of construction consists of rubble Walid near Multan. The tomb consists of a rec­ stone walls set in mud mortar and covered over tangular baked-brick enclosure containing a square with a mud-plaster finish. These buildings are cov­ domed chamber. The outer enclosure wall is ered with flat roofs made of timber branches over­ strengthened with semi-circular buttress towers and laid with matting and then covered with earth. includes a rectangular projection marking the posi­ The only region where timber is plentiful is in the tion of the mihrab in the west wall. Inside, the northern region of the Swat valley where there are mihrab consists of a rectangular recess covered dense pine forests. The architecture of this region with an arched hood and framed by bands of is similar to its Indian neighbour, Kashmir with inscriptions cut into the brickwork. In the centre of finely carved wooden mosques covered by the recess is a blind niche set between pilasters pagoda-style roofs. and crowned with a trefoil arch. The design of this Archaeological work in Sind has revealed the mausoleum represents the first stage in the evolu­ remains of several early Islamic sites, the most tion of the medieval tombs of Multan which culmi­ significant of which is Bhambore, thought to be nated in the tomb of Shah Rukn-i Alam built the ancient city of Debal. The city was divided during the reign of Ghiyas ai-Din Tughluq. In the into two parts and enclosed with a defensive wall latter tomb the outer walls no longer form an fortified with semi-circular buttress towers. Prob­ enclosure but are wrapped around the central oc­ ably the most important discovery is the congrega­ tagonal tomb. Externally the walls slope inward tional mosque with a large central courtyard and and are strengthened at the comers by tapering no mihrab. The absence of a mihrab confirms the domed turrets providing a counter thrust to the weight of the dome. The distinctive sloping walls and comer turrets of this tomb were later repeated in the T ughluqid architecture of Delhi. Another architectural tradition is represented by the flat-roofed tombs and mosques of Uchch a small city to the south of Multan. A typical Uchch mosque consists of a rectangular hall with wooden ------.. pillars supporting beams resting on carved brack­ ets. The areas between the beams are covered with wooden boards which are usually painted in yellow or white against a bright orange or red ground. The walls of the buildings are usually made of It-==n m I baked brick covered in decorative cut plaster. Most buildings of this type are entered via a projecting wooden porch also supported on wooden columns. Prominent buildings of this type are the tombs of I I • I I' II.~=~• I I I II I Jalal Din Surkh Bukhari, Abu Hanifa and Rajan Qattal. ----I-----.------I --- I --- . . During the sixteenth century most of the area of modem Pakistan was brought under Mughal rule. In general imperial Mughal architecture was restricted to Lahore, whilst the rest of the country Plan of tomb of Khalid Walid at Kabriwala, Pakistan (after developed its own regional style. One exception Mumtaz) to this general rule is the fort at Attock in the

227 Pakistan

North-West Province built by Akbar as a defence Lahore include the tomb of Jahangir, the Shahdara against invasion from the west. The fort is built on complex and the Shalamar Bagh. a hillside between the Indus and Kabul rivers and In addition to the imperial Mughal complexes, consists of a huge enclosure wall fortified by Lahore also contains some of the finest examples projecting machicolations and large round bastions. of the regional Mughal style which is a mixture of Other buildings at Attock include the garden and Mughal forms with local and Persian modifications. palace of Akbar which are small structures hidden Characteristic features of this style are the use of amongst the hills. Certainly the most developed brightly coloured tile mosaics, thick octagonal mina­ expression of Mughal architecture in Pakistan is rets, wide flattened domes and 'arches. Probably the fort at Lahore built by Akbar in 1556 on the the finest example of tile mosaic (kashi) is the banks of the river Ravi. The plan of the Lahore Picture Wall in the fort at Lahore which includes fort resembles those of Agra and Delhi with its both animal and human figures. Probably more riverside position and its arrangement of gardens representative of the local style is the tilework of and pavilions. The fort is entered via a main the Wazir Khan Mosque, where all surfaces are cov­ gateway leading into a large rectangular courtyard ered with floral and geometric designs in coloured with the imperial reception hall (diwan-i amm) in the tiles. This mosque also has the earliest examples of centre of the wall opposite the entrance. Behind the thick octagonal minarets which later became the reception hall is the private area pf the palace characteristic features of Lahore architecture. divided into courtyards and gardens overlooking Outside Lahore, Mughal-period architecture may the river. Apart from the fort the most important be divided into a number of local styles, the most imperial building in the city is the Badshahi significant of which is that of Sind. The architecture Mosque built by Aurangzeb in 1674. The mosque of Sind was heavily influenced by the neighbouring has the same general plan as that of the Jami state of Gujarat in India which consists of heavily Masjid in Delhi although the Badshahi Mosque is carved trabeate stone buildings. Some of the finest much larger. Other imperial Mughal buildings in examples can be found in the Makli cemetery in

o

Seventeenth-century Mosque of Wazir Khan, Lahore, Pakistan (after Mumtaz)

228 Palestine lower Sind, where exuberantly carved tombs are present the land is divided between the state covered by corbelled domed canopies resting on of Israel and the occupied territories of Gaza square carved monolithic columns. Sind is also and the West Bank. Israel is a new state created noted for its geometric tile mosaics which may in 1948 with a largely immigrant population, have been the inspiration for the more naturalistic whose architedure is alien to the region. How­ tilework of Lahore. Some of the best examples of ever the people of Gaza and the West Bank tilework can be seen in the monuments of Hydera­ are mostly the indigenous inhabitants of the bad and ThaHa in upper Sind. Other charaderistic country, whose architedure has developed within features of architedure in this region are the use of the landscape for at least the last two thousand multiple blind niches on outer walls and elaborately years. shaped crenellations. During the period of British Palestine was one of the first areas to be con­ rule the architedure of Pakistan was represented quered by the Arab armies of Islam in 637 and by an eclectic mixture of European, Hindu and from that point onwards has remained one of the Mughal styles. Immediately after Independence, main centres of Islamic culture. For some time Pakistani architedure developed under the influ­ during the seventh century Muslims were expeded ence of Modernism which saw its culmination in to pray towards Jerusalem rather than Mecca, thus the establishment of a new capital at Islamabad in establishing Jerusalem's position as one of the 1960. Although the design of Islamabad was based holiest sites of Islam. However, throughout the on religious and national criteria it did not include Umayyad period the culture of the area remained provision for a national mosque. This situation predominantly Byzantine and there was only was redified in 1970 when work began on the gradual change to a new Islamic culture. With the Shah Faisal Masjid which is a huge strudure cov­ Abbasid revolution in 750 Palestine was no longer ered with a roof in the form of a truncated pyramid near the centre of the empire and consequently flanked by four tall pointed minarets. was exposed to a number of competing forces including the Tulunids and Ikhshids. In the tenth See also: Banbhore, India, Lahore, mihrab, century Palestine came under the control of the Mughals Fatimids who ruled the area from their newly Further reading: founded capital at Cairo. During the following A. H. Dani, Thatta-Islamic Architecture. Islamabad 1982. century the country was fought over by Byzantines J. Kalter, The Arts and Crafts of the Swat Valley: Living and the Fatimids, but it was eventually conquered Traditions in the Hindu Kush. London 1991. A. N. Khan. Uchch History and Architecture. Islamabad by the European Crusaders at the end of the 1983. eleventh century. For the next two hundred years, F. A. Khan. Architecture and Art Treasures in Pakistan. parts of Palestine were ruled by a series of Crusader Karachi. kings. The Crusaders were gradually expelled K. K. Mumtaz. Architecture in Pakistan, London 1985. through a series of wars conduded first by the A. B. Rajput, Architecture in Pakistan. Karachi 1963. N.1. Siddiqui, Thatta. Karachi 1963. Ayyubids under Nur aI-Din and Salah aI-Din, and later by the Mamluks under Baybars and his succes­ Palestine sors. Cultural, spiritual and commercial life flour­ ished under the Mamluks until the late fifteenth Small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean century when internal problems and external pres­ comprising an area of 26,650 square km. sures allowed the conquest of the area by the Ottoman Turks in 1516. For the next four hundred Physically it is divided into four main regions; a years Palestine was part of the Ottoman province low-lying coastal strip along the Mediterranean, a of Damascus. However, during this period various central hilly or mountainous area running north to local governors were able to achieve semi-inde­ south through the centre of the country, the Jordan pendent status. During the eighteenth century Rift Valley containing the Sea of Galilee and the Dhahir al >Umar ruled a large area of northern Dead Sea, and the Negev desert which covers Palestine and amassed a great deal of wealth from most of the southern part of the country. the cotton trade. Dhahir was succeeded by Ahmad Until 1918, when it was conquered by Britain, al-Jazzar Pasha the governor of Sidon who re­ the country was part of the OHoman Empire. At established the city of Acre as one of the major

229 Palestine ports of the Mediterranean. During the nineteenth mud-brick architecture still surviving are in Jericho, century the country was subjected to increasing where a wide variety of buildings, including European influence with colonies established in mosques and cinemas, are built out of this material. Haifa and Jerusalem. The British defeat of the Ottomans in 1918 led to the establishment of the Early Islamic Period British Mandate which ruled the country until 1948. In 1948 Palestine was divided between Undoubtedly the most famous building in Palestine Jordan, Israel and Egypt; in 1968 Israel occupied is the Dome of the Rock built by the caliph Abd the entire country. aI-Malik in 691. The significance of this building The main building materials in Palestine are extends beyond its immediate architectural design stone and unbaked mud brick. Wood and baked to its symbolic function of demonstrating the pres­ brick are hardly ever used. Three main types of ence of Islam and its status as a major religion in stone are used, depending on the region of the Jerusalem, horne to both Christianity and Judaism. country. Along the Mediterranean coast kurkar, a Together with the Aqsa Mosque and the Royal silicous limestone, is used for building. This has Palace to the south of the Haram, Jerusalem's place the property that it can easily be cut from the as a religious and cultural centre of Islam was outcrops near the seashore, although it also weath­ established. ers easily and is difficult to dress to. a fine finish. However, the capital of Palestine during the Both the cities of Acre and Jaffa are built of this Umayyad and Abbasid periods was not Jerusalem material. In the northern part of the Jordan Rift but Ramla. Like Basra, Kufa and Wasit, Ramla was Valley and around the Sea of Galilee, basalt blocks one of the new towns established in the first years are used in construction. Basalt is extremely hard of the Arab conquests. Today little survives of the and is consequently difficult to cut or carve, al­ early Islamic city with the exception of two large though once shaped it does not weather I much. As underground cisterns, one below the congrega­ a consequence basalt is often used in combination tional mosque (JamP al-Abiyad) and one outside with limestone which is used for architectural de­ the city to the west. Generally, however, the major tails. The cities of Tiberias and Beisan (Bet Shean) cities of the Byzantine period continued to be the have the best examples of basalt architecture. The major settlements; thus archaeology has demon­ best-quality building stone comes from the central strated the continued occupation of Lydda, Beisan, hilly region. In this area various types of limestone Tiberias Gaza, Caesarea and Acre into the can be found. Limestone is fairly easy to cut and Umayyad and Abbasid periods. As much of the does not erode as much as kurkar stone. Limestone population remained Christian, churches continued cut and dressed to a fine finish is known as ashlar to be built during the period. masonry and is used in some of the finest buildings Outside the cities and in the Negev a number of in the country. Limestone occurs in a variety of new settlements were built in the early Islamic colours from white to honey yellow and pink; period. Some of these were agricultural centres, some of the best examples can be found in Jeru­ whilst others were palaces and mansions for the salem, Hebron and Ramla. In addition various new elite. The best known of these is the Umayyad types of marble are obtained from the hills around palace of Khirbet al-Mafjar near Jericho in the Jerusalem, whilst Dolomite (hard limestone with Jordan valley (known locally as Hisham's palace magnesium) is used in areas of Galilee. although it has now been reliably attributed to Until recently a large number of buildings were Walid 11). This building was modelled on a Roman made out of mud brick and pise particularly in the bath house and was lavishly decorated with mosa­ Jordan valley and the coastal plain where building ics and stucco. The stucco includes representations stone was not so readily available as in the hills. of semi-naked women and is unique in Islamic art. Mud brick has the advantages of being cheap, A similar but smaller structure was built at the easy to work with good thermal insulating proper­ south end of Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) in ties. Unfortunately mud brick also requires a high an area of hot springs. The original building was a degree of maintenance and it has mostly been Roman fort although this was substantially rebuilt replaced with reinforced concrete which has some during the Umayyad period to resemble a palace, of the same plastiC qualities. The best examples of with mosaics etc.

230 Palestine

In the Negev large numbers of early Islamic Whilst the Crusader castles controlled the land sites have been found, which indicate a growth in physically, the spiritual possession of the holy land the settlement of the area. This parallels the in­ was marked by the construction of hundreds of creased building activity in the deserts of Jordan, churches. In Jerusalem alone there were sixty, some Iraq and Saudi Arabia and may be linked to a shift of which were built on the ruins of Byzantine in emphasis towards Arabia in the early Islamic churches. The churches were distinguished with period. fine carved capitals and sculptures. Increasing political tension and fragmentation in With the Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem in the later Abbasid and Fatimid periods meant that 1187 the Crusader presence was reduced to the few major monuments can be dated to this period. area around Acre, which for the next hundred Significantly two large monuments in Palestine years (until it too fell in 1191) was the centre of which can be dated to this period (tenth and the Crusader kingdoms, and was enriched with eleventh centuries) are fortified structures built to some of the finest Crusader architecture in the guard against an impending Byzantine invasion. Middle East. One of these buildings, Kefar Lam is built on the The Crusades influenced the architecture of Pales­ north coast south of Haifa and the other, Mina al­ tine in two ways: directly through the copying of QaPa (now known as Ashdod Yam) is located on techniques and the re-use of buildings, and indi­ the southern coast near Ashdod. Both are built of rectly through the development of the counter­ thin slabs of kurkar stone (laid in a manner resem­ Crusade. The direct influence is seen in the adapta­ bling brick construction) forming large rectangular tion of certain techniques for Islamic buildings enclosures with solid corner towers and semi-circu­ such as cushion-shaped voussoirs and folded cross lar buttresses. The fort at Ashdod was fairly luxuri­ vaults, all of which can be found in the Mamluk ous and includes a line of marble columns in the buildings of Jerusalem. One of the best examples centre re-used from the classical site of Ashdod. of this influence can be seen in the minaret of Outside the fort at Ashdod there are the remains the Great Mosque of Ramla, which resembles a of a domed building which has been interpreted as Crusader church tower. The indirect influence can a bath house. The domes are supported on shell­ be seen in the development of a propaganda ex­ like squinches (characteristic of the Fatimid period) pressed through monumental inscriptions and with pierced holes for light. carved devices. One of the most famous examples of the latter, of the lion of Baybars catching a Crusader Period mouse, is depicted on the Lion Gate in Jerusalem (this can also be seen at Jisr Jindas between The Crusader conquest of Palestine had a profound Ramla and Lydda). influence on the appearance of the country. In Jeru­ salem the Aqsa Mosque was converted into a Mamluk Era palace by Baldwin I and the Dome of the Rock was converted into an Augustinian church. In the Mamluk rule in Palestine produced some of the countryside numerous castles, tower houses and best examples of medieval architecture in the churches testify to the Crusader presence. The Middle East, with a proliferation of religious build­ castles guarding prominent positions are perhaps ings including mosques, madrassas, khanqas and the best-known architectural legacy of the Cru­ commemorative mausoleums. Jerusalem in particu­ sades. The most famous in Palestine are Monfort lar was provided with a large number of religious and Belvoir, although there are numerous smaller buildings as befitted Islam's holiest shrine after fortresses throughout the area. Typically a Cru­ Mecca and Medina. Mamluk architecture in Jeru­ sader castle consisted of a square or rectangular salem was characterized by the use of joggled tower surrounded by thick enclosing walls. The voussoirs, ablaq masonry, muqarnas mouldings and enclosure walls would follow the shape of the land coloured marble inlays. In Ramla, the Great unlike the regular shapes of the earlier Islamic Mosque was rebuilt and the Crusader church was forts. Many of the features found in Crusader converted into a mosque. fortification were later re-used in Arab castles such One of the more beautiful Mamluk buildings of as Ajlun (QaPat Rabad) and Nimrud. Palestine is the tomb of Abu Hoeira near Yabne

231 Persia

(modern Yavne). This consists of a triple-domed ing on the region in which they were located. portico and a central area covered by a large dome There are few or no remains of the mud-brick set on squinches. The decoration is restrained and houses of the coastal plain although the stone restricted to the areas around the doorway and houses of the villages have survived well until mihrab which are decorated with inlaid marble and recent times. The predominant form of roofing for inscriptions. stone houses was the dome made by filling a room A characteristic feature of the Mamluk period with earth, covering this with a reed mat and was the revitalization of the road systems which then building the dome over the top. During the were provided with khans, mosques and bridges. eighteenth century domes were often decorated Examples of Mamluk khans include Khan al-Tujjar, with carved plaster usually in the form of swirls, Khan al-Minya, Jaljuliyya, Ramla and Lydda. Prob­ rosettes and semi-circles. In Galilee, buildings ably the most impressive of these is Khan Yunis were roofed by using transverse stone arches to at Ghaza built out of ablaq masonry with a mosque support short beams over which a roof could be and minaret included in its design. Several Mamluk laid. bridges survive in Palestine, the most impressive Outside Jerusalem Ottoman control was estab­ of which is Jisr Jindas, decorated with an inscription lished through a series of forts garrisoned by flanked by two lions (other bridges include Jisr Janissaries (imperial Ottoman troops). These for­ Banat Yaqub and a bridge at Beisan).c) tresses were large square or rectangular structures with square corner towers; surviving examples can be seen at Ras al-Ain near Tel Aviv, Khan al­ Ottoman Conquest Tujjar near Kefar Kanna and QaPat Burak south of The Ottoman conquest of Palestine in 1516 intro­ Jerusalem. duced new architectural concepts, although these See also: Abbasids, al-Aqsa Mosque, Dome were only gradually adopted and never became of the Rock, Fatimids, Jersalem, Khirbet al­ universal. The most obvious symbol of the Otto­ Mafjar, Khirbet al-Minya, Mamluks, man conquest was the redevelopment of Jerusalem; Ottomans, Ramla, Umayyads this included rebuilding the walls, tiling the Dome of the Rock and renovating the city's water supply. Further reading: The city of Acre! rebuilt in the eighteenth cen­ s. Amiry and V. Tamari, Palestinian Village Architecture, tury, is the best example of a complete Ottoman London 1990. T. Canaan, Mohammedan Saints and Santuaries in Palestine, city in Palestine. It has several khans, at least two Jerusalem 1927. bath houses, three main suqs, at least ten mosques -- The Palestinian Arab House, Jerusalem 1933. and a citadel. The wealth of the city was expressed L. Mayer, Some Principal Muslim Religious Buildings in in the mosque of al-Jazzar Pasha and the large bath Israel, Jerusalem 1950. complex known as Hammam al-Basha. The mosque was modelled on those of Istanbul with a large central dome and a pencil-like minaret. The baths Persia were extensively decorated with Armenian tiles See Iran. and inlaid marble floors. The houses of Acre were two, three- or even four-storeyed structures with painted wooden ceilings. Philippines Important cities during the Ottoman period in­ cluded Hebron, Nablus, Ramla, Jaffa, Safed, Tiberias Country composed of a group of islands on the east and Acre (from the eighteenth century onwards). side of the South China Sea between Taiwan, Indonesia Most of the cities were surrounded by walls, the and Malaysia. best surviving example of which are the walls of The country consists of two main islands, Mind­ Tiberias rebuilt by Dhahir al )Umar. The walls of anao in the south and Luzon in the north and Acre date mostly from the late eighteenth century more than twenty smaller islands. The south-west­ and are of Italian design. ern islands have a large Muslim population whereas The houses of Ottoman Palestine varied depend- the northern ones are predominantly Roman Catho-

232 Philippines

lic. Filipino Muslims share much in common with the T araka Mosque in Lanao del Sur which is a their Indonesian and Malaysian neighbours who square structure with a three-tier tin roof and first introduced Islam to the Philippines. The first painted abstract designs on the walls. Another areas to be converted to Islam were the islands of early mosque is the Ranggar in Karigongan which the Sulu archipelago between the fourteenth and consists of _a simple square room with bamboo fifteenth centuries. By the mid-sixteenth century walls and a pyramid roof. A later development is Muslim missionaries from Borneo were working represented by the insertion of an onion-shaped on the island of Luzon. However, earlier in 1522 dome on an octagonal drum in the centre of the the islands were discovered by the Spanish who roof also found in one of the Lake Lanao mosques. established their first permanent settlement in 1565 This design reaches its climax in one of the Lanao and in 1571 founded the capital of Manila. There mosques where there is a central onion dome was some conflict with the newly established flanked by four pagoda-like minarets. It is generally Muslim sultanates of Luzon but the Spanish won assumed that the use of domes reflects Indian with their superior firepower. Nevertheless, the influence via Malaysia and Indonesia, although it south-western part of the Philippines remained may also be through Chinese influence. After the Muslim despite constant attempts to defeat them Second World War, since Filipinos have been able by the Spanish. The Muslims of the islands were to travel to Mecca, a new Middle-Eastern mosque given the name Moros by the Spanish who associ­ style is noticeable in the Philippines. One of the ated them with the Muslims of North Africa. more notable examples is the mosque of Jolo Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nine­ town on Jolo island which consists of a large teenth centuries the Spanish tried unsuccessfully to rectangular prayer hall with a central dome conquer the Moro people. When the Philippines and four flanking minarets. Probably the most passed into American control in 1898 the Ameri­ famous mosque in the Philippines is the Quiapo cans continued the Spanish policy of trying to Mosque in Manila which has an arcaded court­ subdue the Muslims of the south-west. In 1913 the yard containing a fountain and a domed prayer Moros were finally defeated by superior American hall. arms and a peace treaty was signed. The peace Other examples of Islamic architecture in the treaty was a success as it allowed the Muslims Maranao area include royal residences and forti­ complete control over their own affairs and equal­ fications. Royal residences are known as 'torogan' ity with the Catholic Filipinos. and consist of raised platforms with tall sloping The earliest physical evidence of Islam in the roofs. Inside, a torogan consists of one room Philippines is a tombstone on the island of Jolo with the king's bed in the centre and a small which has been provisionally dated to 1310. Oral bedroom for the royal daughters. Sometimes the history recounts how Islam was brought to the daughters' room (known as a lam in) is located island of Jolo by Tuan ul Makdum (later called in a separate room above the main roof of the Sharif Aulia) who built 'a house for religious torogan. Islamic forts (kota) were used to resist worship'. Later, in 1380 he built another mosque the Spanish and later American attempts to con­ at Tubig Indangan on Simunul island south of vert the Maranao Muslims to Christianity. Kotas Jolo. This mosque, considerably altered, is now consist of earthworks reinforced with wooden known as the oldest mosque in the Philippines. stakes. A photograph of the building taken in 1923 shows a square wooden structure open on one See also: Indonesia, Java, Malaysia, Sumatra side with remains of a two-tier coconut-palm thatch Further reading: roof. The mosque was comprehensively rebuilt in A. AbbahiL The Maranao Mosque: its origins, structure the 1970S with concrete walls and a two-tier tin and community role', Danslan Quarterly 1(20):85-103, roof. 1980. Islam came to the island of Mindanao in the E. G. Giron, 'A mosque in Quiapo', in Philippine Panorama, fifteenth century and several mosques on the 1977,5-6. P. Gowing, Muslim Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon, Quezon shores of Lake Lanao may have been founded in City, Philippines 1979. this early period, although no early remains seem W. Klassen, Arcllitecfure in the Philippines, Cebu, Philippines to have survived. One of the oldest mosque~ is 1986, 125-52.

233 pise pise pishtaq A for1'J1 of mud brick where the brick is moulded in situ Iranian term for a portal projecting from the fa~ade of Ma~U . a building.

This technique is quicker than mud-brick con­ This device is most common in Anatolian and struction because larger bricks can be produced Iranian architecture although it also occurs in India. which could not be transported under normal In its most characteristic form this consists of a circumstances. Because pise allows high-speed high arch set within a rectangular frame, which (and therefore cheaper) construction it was often may be decorated with bands of calligraphy, glazed used for large-scale works such as enclosures or tilework, geometric and vegetal designs. city walls.

234 Q

qa>a capital of the province of Ifriqiyya (roughly equivalent A reception hall in Cairene houses. to modern Tunisia) during the early Islamic period. Qairawan was founded in 670 by 'Uqba ibn Nafi, qabr the Arab general in command of the Muslim con­ A grave. It may also refer to the structure erected quest of North Africa. The principal monument in above the grave. the city is the Great Mosque also known as the mosque of Sidi 'Uqba after the general who founded qabrstan it. The first mosque on the site was begun immedi­ ately after the Arab conquest and consisted of a An Iranian term for a cemetery, equivalent to square enclosure containing a courtyard and prayer maqbara. hall or sanctuary. This first building was made of mud brick and had to be restored in 695. There Qairawan was another major reconstruction in 724-43 when City in north-west Tunisia which functioned as the a minaret was added. The present minaret was

Great Mosque, Qairawan, Tunisia, © Creswell Archive; Ashmolean Museum

235 Qairawan added by the Aghlabids in 836. It is a giant three­ Further reading: tier structure built of baked bricks on a base of re­ L. W. Boothe, 'The Great Mosque of Qirouan', Oriental used ashlar blocks. At present the minaret stands Art New Series 16:321-36, 1970. on the north wall of the courtyard but in the ninth L. Golvin, 'Quelques refiexions sur la Grande Mosquee de Kairouan ala periode des Aghlabides', Revue de century it would have been outside the mosque ['Occident musulmans et de la Mediterranee, 1968. courtyard in a manner similar to the contemporary Abbasid mosques of Samarra. qai'a The mosque took its present form from the major rebuilding which took place under the Agh­ Castle, fortress or citadel. labids which was completed in 862. The present mosque enclosure forms a large rectangle measur­ QaPat Banu Hammad ing 125 by 85 m. The prayer hall is one third of Eleventh-century capital of the Hammadids located in the mosque area and comprises seventeen aisles the mountains to the south of Algiers. perpendicular to the qibla wall with another aisle parallel to the wall. Aghlabid modifications in­ The city was founded in 1007 by Hammad ibn cluded the present mihrab, the dome in front of Buluggin, although it did not become capital until the mihrab and the minbar. The mihrab niche is 1015 when Hammad withdrew his allegiance from lined with perforated marble panels decorated with the Fatimids. Excavations at the site have revealed vegetal designs. Surrounding the mihrab are a the plan of the Great Mosque and three palaces. series of polychrome lustre tiles which are believed The buildings were constructed of roughly squared to have been imported from Baghdad. The dome stones laid in courses which were originally cov­ covering the area in front of the mihrab is built of ered in plaster. The Great Mosque was built in the stone and rests on a drum supported by large North African style with its aisle running perpen­ shell-shaped squinches. The dome has a gadrooned dicular to the qibla wall. Opposite the qibla wall is form which internally takes the form of thin radiat­ a square minaret 25 m high, with large blind niches ing ribs. The inside of the drum is circular and which were originally decorated with coloured decorated with a series of sixteen blind niches and glazed tiles. The remains of the palaces indicate a eight arched windows. The minbar is the oldest in high degree of wealth and probably an elaborate existence and consists of a high staircase with a ceremonial function. One of the palaces is built series of intricately carved panels on the side around a cruciform tower containing ramps which decorated with geometric and stylized vegetal de­ led to a domed pavilion on the top. Another signs. The present maqsura (screen) was added in palace was built around a rectangular pond or lake restorations of the eleventh century. Further restora­ measuring 65 by 45 m. The palaces were decorated tions were carried out in 1294 when the arches of with stucco which included early examples of the arcades were remodelled and the projecting muqarnas decoration. portal of Bab Lalla Rayhana was added. Other See also: Algeria Aghlabid monuments at Qairawan include the Further reading: Mosque of the Three Gates, and the famous po­ L. Golvin, Recherches Archeologiques ala Qal'a des Banu lygonal cisterns or artificial lakes. Outside Hammad, CNRS, Paris 1965. Qairawan three satellite cities were established A. Lezine, 'Le Minaret de la Qal'a des Banu Hammad', known as al-Abbasiya, Raqqada and Sabra al­ Bulletin d'Archeologie Algerienne 2:261-70, 1966-7. Mansuriyya. Nothing remains of Abasiyya, al­ though at Raqqada there are huge reservoirs and qanat the remains of a large palace built of baked brick. Subterranean canal system usually used to bring Other cities with Aghlabid monuments include water some distance from a river or mountains. Tunis, Susa, Sfax and Monastir. In 1052 the city Access to the qanat is by vertical shafts at regular was enclosed with a crenellated brick wall which distances. was extensively restored in the eighteenth century.

See also: Aghlabids, Monastir, Sfax, Susa, qasaba Tunis, Tunisia Central part of a town or citadel.

236 Qasr al-Hayr West (Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi) qasr and vats). The function of the building is not clear although it may have been a governor's residence. Palace or mansion. The bath house comprises a triple-aisled hall with cold plunge pools, a series of three hot rooms Qasr al-Hayr East (Qasr al~Hayr and a warm room with a heated pool. The complex ar-Sharqi) included a furnace, latrines and two service rooms. There were two separate sets of latrines and two Settlement in the Syrian desert built by the Umayyads entrances which implies there may have been some in 730 CEo sexual segregation. Qasr al-Hayr East is located 80 km east of Palmyra The outer enclosure from which the complex and 80 km south of Dayr al-Zor on the Euphrates. derives its name (Hayr) is a vast wall of irregular The Qasr represents a large complex which may be shape which stretches for more than 15 km. The divided into four main groups: the small enclosure, wall is approximately 1 m wide and is buttressed the large enclosure, the bath house and the outer internally and externally with solid semi-circular enclosure. buttresses. Four gates were discovered, each con­ The small enclosure is a square building, approxi­ tained within pairs of circular buttress towers. The mately 70 m per side, with two solid semi-circular purpose of the enclosure is debated, although it buttress towers on each side and four round towers may have been partially for water conservation, for at the corners. The entrance is on the western side agriculture and animals (domestic or wild?). through a monumental gateway flanked by two See also: Qasr al-Hayr West, Syria, half-round towers. The lintel of the gateway is Ummayads made of joggled voussoirs above which there is a Further reading: relieving arch outlined by a continous moulding O. Grabar, R. Holod, J. Knutstad and W. Trousdale, A which also runs along the front of the towers. City in the Desert: Qasr al-Hayr East, Harvard Middle Either side of the relieving arch there are shallow Eastern Monographs 22124, 1978. recessed niches with engaged side columns. At the top of the gateway is a panelled frieze, in the Qasr al-Hayr West (Qasr al-Hayr centre of which there is a projecting machi col at ion. ar-Gharbi) Inside there is a courtyard with a central pool around which there is a columned arcade or por­ Umayyad palace and settlement in the Syrian desert.· tico. On the north, east and south sides the rooms Qasr al-Hayr was built by the Umayyad caliph al­ are arranged in groups of three with a central Walid in 728. It is located in the Syrian desert room and two rooms either side. At the north- and 40 km east of Palmyra and 40 km west of Qasr south-east corners there are small rooms with la­ al-Hayr East. The complex comprises a khan, a trines set into the wall. On the west side there are palace, a bath house, mills and various hydraulic two long vaulted rooms either side of the gateway installations. which includes a mihrab in its south wall. The The khan is a square courtyard structure with pattern of the upper floor is similar to the ground two projecting wings to the east, on the side of the floor. The building probably funtioned as a khan. entrance. The foundations of the building were of The large enclosure has a similar plan to the stone but the upper parts (with the exception of the ;mall enclosure but is much larger, measuring 167 m stone doorway) were of mud brick and have not per side. This building also differs in having four survived. The southern wing on the outside is a axial entrances leading into a large central court­ small mosque with the mihrab in the centre of the yard lined with an arcade. The internal plan com­ south wall; the north wing has a water trough prises twelve structural units, eight of which (two against the wall and may have been a stable or per side) are courtyard buildings. Three of the four place for watering animals. The entrance to the corner units seem to have been open areas, whilst khan is through a large rectangular doorway above the south-east corner contains a small mosque with which is an Arabic inscription with the date of con­ a raised central aisle. One of the courtyard buildings struction 727. Internally the khan comprises a series on the east side appears to have been an industrial of rooms around a colonnaded central courtyard. building for the production of olive oil (i.e. presses The palace is one of the most luxurious examples

237 Qasr al-Hayr West (Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi)

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238 Qasr ai-Tuba then a huge rectangular enclosure containing a are made of ashlar masonry with baked brick used network of small irrigation channels. The irrigation for the barrel-vaulted roofs. There is a dam and channels are also fed by a large semi-circular ~ar­ several wells associated with the qasr but no other rage which collects water from the hill. See also: Qasr al-Hayr East, Syria, Umayyads Further reading: D. Schlumberger (ed.), Qasr el-Heir el Gharbi, Paris 1986.

Qasr ai-Tuba Unfinished Umayyad complex in south-east Jordan. Qasr ai-Tuba is a large rectangular enclosure divided into three strips; only the west wing appears to have been completed, although there are traces of mud-brick structures elsewhere in the complex. Like MshaUa the remaining parts of the building

Stone and brick construction, Qasr ai-Tuba, Jordan Slightly pointed doorway arches, Qasr al- Tuba, Jordan

Qasr al- Tuba, Jordan

239 qibla structures have been identified. The purpose of gibla the building is not clear but it may have Direction of Mecca which determines the direction of been connected with the Wadi Sirhan. caravan prayer. route. The qibla is the prime factor in the orientation of mosques and is usually marked by a mihrab (or Qatar more in India). Many early mosques were not built A peninsula on the east coast of Arabia projecting to a correct qibla orientation, as has been demon­ northwards into the Gulf strated in the excavations of the Great Mosque of Although it used to be dependent on pearl diving Wasit, where three different qibla orientations are and fishing, today the main economy of the State recorded. It is believed that idea of qibla orientation of Qatar is oil. The country is predominantly is derived from the Jewish practice of indicating desert with few natural water resources. It is ruled the direction of Jerusalem in synagogues. by the Amir of Qatar from the capital Doha. Until recently permanent architecture has been qubba confined to one or two towns and several semi­ Literally 'dome', often used to refer to a domed mauso­ permanent encampments. Archaeological excava­ leum which contains the grave of a saint or some tions at Ras Abrak has revealed the presence of important personage. several semi-permanent seasonal encampments. The earliest surviving example of· this type of One of these has been interpreted as a fish-curing structure is the Qubbat al-Sulaybiyya at Samarra complex and consisted of two roughly rectangular which is octagonal. Another early example is the rooms linked by a sheltered courtyard containing tomb of Ismail the Samanid in Balkh which is a fireplaces and a cairn. The entire complex was built square structure with a hemispherical dome. out of thin limestone slabs laid without mortar Also dated to the ninth century are large numbers although there may have been a superstructure of domed mausoleums at Aswan in southern built out of some less durable material. Egypt. From the eleventh century this type of On the northern tip of the country are the structure becomes widespread in the Islamic world remains of a small town, al-Huwailah. At present and is now one of the most common building types. the site is largely in ruins but the main features can be distinguished, including a fort surrounded by several stone houses. Around this central complex Qusayr Amra are the remains of further structures which were Umayyad bath house complex in the eastern desert of probably huts built of palm fronds and were the Jordan famous for its painted frescoes. main form of accommodation in the town. The building was probably built by the Umayyad Recent development has meant that little sur­ caliph al-Walid between 712 and 715. It comprises vives of the traditional town of Doha with the three main parts, a hall or undressing room, three exception of the Old Amiri Palace which has heated rooms and a well-house to the- north. The recently been restored and is now used as a hall is divided into four parts, the main hall, an museum. This is a large complex containing quar­ alcove and two small rooms either side. The entire ters for several families. There are three gatehouses hall (including the two side rooms) is roofed by and two public reception rooms (an inner and outer three barrel vaults resting on transverse arches. majlis). The main material for construction is coral The walls of both the main hall and the two side blocks (both in the form of lumps and thin slabs) rooms are covered in frescoes whilst the floors used in conjunction with mangrove poles in a panel-­ were covered with marble, except in the side and-frame construction. For ornamental purposes rooms where there were floor mosaics. The sub­ carved teak and mahogany from India were used. jects of the frescoes differ according to their posi­ tion; thus the main hall is decorated with hunting Further reading: scenes and semi-naked women on the soffits of the B. DeCardi, Qatar Archaeological Report: Excavations, arches. The alcove is decorated with six figures Oxford 1973. G. R. H. Wright, The Old Amiri Palace Doha, Qatar, Qatar representing the defeated enemies of Islam. The 1975. two rooms leading to the hot room are decorated

240 Qutb Minar and Mosque

Plan of bath house and well. Qusayr Amra, Jordan (after Creswell) with bathing women whilst the dome of the hot begun by Qutb ai-Din the first Islamic su1tan of room is painted with a representation of the zodiac. Delhi and is all that remains of the first Islamic city. The zodiac representation is the earli~st surviving example of a domed representation of the stars The Mosque and is of fundamental importance to the history of The present buildings are contained within a large, science. partially ruined, rectangular enclosure approxi­ The exact function of Qusayr Amra is not mately 225 by 125 m. The enclosure is a multi­ known although it seems to have been a princely period complex containing three major phases of desert retreat with formal associations (e.g. the Islamic building, the earliest of which is dated to audience hall). between 1193 and 1198. Twenty-seven Hindu and See also: hammam, Jordan, Umayyads Jain temples were demolished to make room for the first mosque, which was called 'The Might of Qutb Minar and Mosque Islam' (Quwwatu)l Islam); however, the remains of the temples were used to provide building materi­ Famous twelfth-century minaret and mosque complex als for the mosque, in particular the columns used in D.elhi, northern India. in the arcades of the courtyard. This consists of a The complex commemorates the first Islamic con­ rectangular enclosure built on an east-west axis quest of Delhi by Muhammad of Ghur in 1193. with the qibla pointing west towards Mecca. The The mosque was built in the centre of the Hindu courtyard is entered from two entrances on the fort of Rai Pithora built earlier in the twelfth north-south sides and a larger domed entrance to century by the Chauhan Rajputs. The area occupied the east. Inside, the courtyard is bordered on three by the mosque in the centre of the citadel is sides by arcades whilst on the west side is the known as Lal Kot and was built by the Tomar sanctuary separated from the courtyard by a screen. Rajputs in the eleventh century. The mosque was The screen contains five arches, of which the

241 Qutb Minar and Mosque central arch is the highest; it is framed by a decora­ work on another minaret on the same pattern as tive border which combines Quranic inscriptions the Qutb Minar which is known as the Alai Minar. with dense vegetal carving and the spandrels of the For various reasons Ala aI-Din was not able to arches are decorated with interlocking pierced complete either of these ambitious projects leaving discs. Standing in the courtyard directly in front of the stump of a minaret and in the north part of the the central arch is an iron pillar 12 m high which unfinished new courtyard. However, in 1311 he was made for the Hindu god Vishnu in the fourth was able to complete a new monumental gateway century CEo The columns supporting the arcades are to the complex known as, the Alai Darwaza which made of finely carved red sandstone and consist of linked the west wall of Iltumish's complex with the alternate square and round sections carved with completed west wall of his new courtyard. The various Hindu motifs, such as the bell and chain, as gateway consists of a large square domed chamber well as some figural sculpture. Because the columns with a tall pointed arch in the north and south were not sufficiently tall for the mosque they were sides. The gateway is faced in red sandstone inlaid placed one on top of the other to double the with bands of white marble and is completely height. The arcades and sanctuary are covered covered in carved designs and epigraphic bands. with a trabeate roof where the columns support The south fa<;ade of the chamber consists of a tall flat beams resting on brackets. The) area immedi­ pointed arch in the centre, flanked on each side by ately in front of the mihrab was covered by a large a window covered with a pierced stone screen dome although this has now disappeared. The first (jalis) and a blind arch of similar design. Above the stage of the Qutb Minar can also be attributed to two arches either side of the main arch are two flat this initial phase of construction. rectangular panels each divided in two and contain­ The second stage of the mosque wa~ carried out ing a small square blind niche. The arches of the in the early thirteenth century by Iltumish, who fa<;ade are decorated with spiky projecting tassels extended the mosque laterally and completed the whilst the jambs of the arches are made up of work of his father on the Qutb Minar. The lateral engaged columns similar to those used to support extension of the mosque was carried out by extend­ the arcades. ing the screen north and south and adding an East of the Alai Darwaza is a small square outer enclosure, or courtyard, which included the domed tomb built by the Turkestani Imam Zamin. Qutb Minar in the south-east comer. The arcades This is the latest building at the site dating to of the extension were built in the same way as the 1538. inner enclosure and used columns which were specially carved to resemble the two-tier Hindu The Minar temple columns used in the first mosque. Iltumish was also responsible for commissioning his own Although subsequently copied in various ways, the tomb, which was begun the year before his death. Qutb Minar is a unique building which announces The tomb is located outside the mosque to the the arrival of Islam in India. The minar comprises a west and consists of a square chamber covered tall tapering cylindrical tower standing on a circular with a dome, now collapsed. The interior is extrava­ base with five storeys which together reach a gantly decorated with carvings in red sandstone height of 72.5 m. Each of the storeys is reached by which included Hindu motifs intertwined with pas­ an internal spiral staircase which leads to the balco­ sages of Quranic calligraphy. In the centre of the nies which are supported on muqarnas corbels. building is Iltumish's tomb whilst to the west are The most characteristic feature of the building is three mihrab niches. the corrugated angular and rounded fluting on the The third major phase of the mosque complex shaft which forms the basis for many later imita­ was carried out by Ala aI-Din Khaliji, the four­ tions. The first part of the tower was built by teenth sultan of Delhi, between 1296 and 1316. Qutb aI-Din who died in 1210 leaving only one Like his predecessor Ala aI-Din decided to increase storey completed. This is the thickest part of the the area of the original mosque by extending the tower with a base diameter of 14 m tapering to length of the screen to the north thus enclosing an 9 m at the first balcony. This part of the minaret is area more than double the size of the previous built with alternating sharp-angled and rounded extension. At the same time Ala aI-Din also began fluting (twelve of each type) which are decorated

242 Qutb Minar and Mosque with bands of inscriptions. Between 1211 and square flutes and a tapering cylindrical shaft with 1236 the tower was completed by Iltumish with sharp-angled flutes. An earlier example of the three more storeys, each with a different pattern of influence of the Qutb Minar can be found in the fluting. The second storey added by Iltumish has paired minarets on top of the early thirteenth-cen­ rounded flutes, the third storey has angular flutes tury gateway of Araha-i-Din Mosque at Ajmer. and the fourth storey was plain. During the four­ However, the most complete copy is the Hashtsal teenth century the top of the building was dam­ Minar near Palam built for Shar Jahan and com­ aged by lightning and in 1369 Firuz Shah repaired pleted in 1634. The top of the building has been the damage to the top and added an extra storey. damaged, as have the two collar-like balconies of The diameter at the fifth storey is only 2.7 m which only the projecting supports remain, so that making a reduction from an area of 44 square its present height is 17 m. Like its ancient model metres at the base to 8.5 m at the top. the Hashtsal Minaret is decorated with alternating The design of the Qutb Minar and in particular round and angled flutes although there is no at­ the fluting have clear antecedents and parallels in tempt to recreate the muqarnas mouldings which Afghan architecture; thus the first storey built by support the balconies of the Qutb Minar. There is Qutb aI-Din may be compared to the twelHh­ no mosque associated with the tower and it seems century tower at Khwaja Siyah Push in Sis tan likely that this was a hunting monument con­ which has eight semi-circular flutes alternating with sciously recalling the victory connotations of the eight shallow-angled flutes. Similarly the round Qutb Minar. flutes of the second storey may be compared with See also: Delhi, India, minaret those of the early twelfth-century Jar Kurgan tower Further reading: in Uzbekistan. The effect of the tower on later Indian architec­ T. W. Arnold and K. Fischer, 'Kutb Minar', Encyclopedia of Islam, 1954. ture is significant, influencing not only towers but A. B. M. Hussain, The Manara in Indo-Muslim Architecture, the decoration of columns and domes. The earliest Dacca 1970. known direct copy is the Alai Minar in the same E. Koch, The copies of the Qutb Minar', Iran 29: 95-108, complex which was begun by Ala aI-Din Khaliji in 1991. J. A. Page, An Historical Memoir on the Qutb, Dellli the early fourteenth century; it had twice the base (originally published in Memoirs of tile Archaeological area of the Qutb Minar and was projected to be Survey of India 22.1926), reprinted New Delhi, Delhi twice the height. Although it was never completed, 1970. the base can still be seen and is circular, with

243 R

Rabat by the Marinids in the thirteenth century and Capital of Morocco located on the Atlantic coast. stands opposite a madras sa built in the same period. The Kasba des Ouadias forms an enclosure within The city of Rabat is located at the mouth of the the city which contains houses and a twelfth-cen­ Bou Regreg river. Rabat stands on the south side tury mosque. To the south of the city is the of the river and the twin city of Sale occupies the fortified necropolis of Challa built by the Marinids north bank. Although there was probably a Roman in the fourteenth century. settlement on the site, the present city of Rabat See also: Almohads, Morocco was founded in the twelfth century, ,by the Almo­ had ruler Sultan Abd al-Mumin as a depot and Ramla launching point for the Almohad conquest of Spain. The city still retains parts of its twelfth-century Capital of Palestine in the eqrly Islamic period. walls including two monumental Almohad gate­ Ramla is located in the southern coastal plain of ways. The fa~ade of the gateways consists of a Palestine roughly equidistant between Gaza and central entrance with a slightly pointed horseshoe arch with spandrels decorated with bold interlace designs. Both gateways form bent entrances, the Udayya gate has a passage which runs along the side of the wall before opening into the town, whilst the Bab Ruwah has a complicated zig-zag pattern with blind passages. The most famous monument in Rabat is the mosque of Hassan begun in 1196 after the Almo­ had victory over Alfonso VIII at Alarcos in Spain. The mosque would have been one of the largest in the Islamic world but construction ceased after the death of Ya>qub aI-Mansur in 1199. The plan of the mosque can still be discerned and consists of a huge rectangle 140 by 185 m with three courtyards and a huge minaret in the middle of the north side opposite the qibla wall. The unfin­ ished minaret is 40 m high, but if completed it would have reached a height of over 70 m. The tower is built in the characteristic Almohad style with a square central core around which a ramp rises to reach the top. Within the central core are a series of vaulted rooms, one on each storey, each with a different form of vault. The exterior of the tower is decorated with windows set within blind niches with multi-foil and cusped arches, the upper part of the tower is covered with a network of o Srn, interlaced arches. The current main mosque of the city was built Tower of White Mosque, Ramla, Israel/Palestine

244 Red Fort (Lal Qila)

Jerusalem. The city was founded in 712 by the The outer walls of the mosque are made of mud Umayyad caliph Sulayman as an alternative to brick supported by solid semi-circular buttress nearby Lydda which had a predominantly Christian towers. The prayer hall consisted of three arcades population. supported on cylindrical piers, whilst the other Little remains from the early Islamic period, three sides were lined with double arcades. The although the White Mosque to the north-east of building was decorated with stucco, traces of which the modern town preserves the shape of the survive. Umayyad mosque, whilst the cistern known as The famous Baghdad gate which stands at the Birket at-> Anaziya was built during the reign of the south-east corner of the city is now thought to Abbasid caliph Harun aI-Rashid. The city suffered date to the twelfth century. It is a baked-brick from a series of earthquakes and the Crusader construction with a main gateway set below a row occupation of the twelfth century so that by the of two-tier blind niches separated by engaged Mamluk period (1250S) it was at least a quarter of columns. The gateway itself and the upper tier of its former size. Although the White Mosque was arches are of a four-centrepoint design which rebuilt by Sultan Baybars, this area of the town makes its first appearance in the late ninth century never recovered. Instead, the south-east part of the at Samarra. city became the centre of the town with the See also: Abbasids, Baghdad, Samarra, Syria Crusader church of St John functioning as the Great Mosque. This has remained the town centre Further reading: to the present day and contains a number of J.-c. Heusch and M. Meinecke, 'Grabungen im interesting Mamluk and Ottoman buildings. abbasidischen Palastareal von ar-Raqqa/ar-Rafiqa', Damaszener Mitteilungen 2: 85-105, 1985. See also: Mamluks, Palestine M. ai-Khalaf. 'Die abbasidische Stadtmauer von ar-Raqqal ar Rafiqa', Damaszener Milteihmgen 2: 122-31; 1985. Further reading: J. Warren, The date of the Baghdad Gate at Raqqa', Art M. Ben-Dov and M. Rosen Ayalon, 'Rami a', in New and Archaeology Research Papers XIII: 22-3, 1978. Encyclopaedia of &cavations in the Holy Land, Jerusalem 1993. A. D. Petersen, 'A preliminary report on a survey of rauza historic buildings in Ramla', Levant 25: 1995, 75-101. Persian term for mausoleum.

Raqqa Red Fort (Lal Qila) Prominent Abbasid and medieval city located on the Mughal palace in Delhi built by the Mughal emperor Euphrates river in Syria. Shah Jahan between 1638 and 1648. Raqqa was founded by Alexander the Great and The building derives its name from the use of red was known as Leontopolis in the Byzantine period. sandstone as the main building material. The palace In 639 the town was captured by the Arabs and forms the core of Shah Jahan's new city of Shahja­ renamed Raqqa. In 772 the Abbasid caliph al­ hanabad. The fort is located next to the Jumna river Mansur founded a new city, west of the old one, and surrounded on all four sides by a high crenel­ which he enclosed with a wall similar to that of Bagh­ lated wall which on the landward side is enclosed dad, with an inner and an outer wall and a moat or within a moat. The two main entrances to the ditch. The remains of the walls can still be seen and palace are the Lahore and Delhi gates both of which form a rounded enclosure with a straight wall on were enlarged by Jahan's successor Aurangzeb. the south side. The inner wall still survives to a The internal layout of the palace is symmetri­ height of 10 m in places and is studded with half­ cal and was probably based on that of the Agra round towers at regular intervals. There is a gap of fort. The Lahore gate was the main form of public 20 m between this and the outer wall of which little access and leads into a large square with the survives. In the middle of the enclosure are the imperial audience hall on the opposite side. The remains of the Great Mosque which was built in 772. private apartments were made up of a series of This is a huge rectangular enclosure measuring 90 pavilions and gardens arranged in a rigid geometry. by 110 m, with a large central courtyard contain­ The decoration of the palace is of outstanding ing a minaret of later date (twelfth century). quality and refinement and with the Alhambra is

245 riad one of the finest examples of Islamic palatial archi­ Ribat-i Sharaf tecture. Decorat!ve techniques include painting, Royal Seljuk caravanserai on the road between gilding, pietra dura (stone inlay) gilding and white Nishapur and Merv. marble carved in shallow relief.

See also: Agra, Delhi, India, Lahore, Mughals, This building v,:as founded in 1114 as a royal Taj Mahal caravanserai and expan~ed in 1156 when it was used as a semi-permanent residence for Sultan riad Sanjar and his wife who were held under house arrest by the Oghuz Turks. The first part of the North African term for a walled garden. structure is a square enclosure built around a central courtyard with a central iwan in each side leading ribat to a domed room. The extension is half the size Fortified enclosure for religious warriors, common in and is built on to the front of the original structure. North Africa in the early Islamic period. The building was decorated with elaborate stucco work and a monumental entrance pishtaq flanked A typical ribat is located near the coast and partially with twin blind niches. functions as a look-out post. Usually ribats are square or rectangular courtyard structures, two riwaq storeys high, with storage rooms and stables on the ground floor and sleeping accomodation and a Arcade or portico open on at least one side. mosque on the upper floor. Later ribats seem to have lost their military function. Important examples are at Sfax, Monastir and Sousse in Tunisia. See also: Tunisia

246 s

sabil forbidding walls. This is also seen on utilitarian See sebil. structures such as the famous Pol-i-Khaju bridge built in 1.650. This bridge, which links Isfahan to the southern palace, is 1.1.0 m long and has two Saffavid tiers of arcades which provide shelter from the summer heat. Another characteristic of the architec­ Dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled Iran during the ture is the use of lighter materials such as wood, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. stucco, paint and tiles, and an increasing emphasis Although the founder of the dynasty was pro­ on gardens. However, this may appear to be a bably a Sunni, the Saffavids later became Shica development simply because earlier structures of and adopted this as a state religion. Little remains this type have not survived. of the early architecture of the Saffavids who Outside Isfahan buildings such as caravanserais established capitals first at T abriz and later at are generally larger and plainer than their pre­ Qazvin. The little that does survive indicates decessors indicating the growth of commercial that they continued the architectural forms es­ traffic. tablished by their predecessors the Timurids. See also: Iran, Isfahan Thus the Saffavids continued to use the complex vaulting forms, with networks of arches, squinches and pendentives, developed under the Timurids. sahn An early example of a Saffavid building is the Courtyard of a mosque. tomb of Harun-i Vilayat which although Timurid in form has an emphasis on exterior tile decora­ Samarkand tion. This was a feature which was developed in later Saffavid architecture where the architec­ Timurid capital located in the Central Asian state of tural form seems to be subordinated to the tile Uzbekistan. patterns. Samarkand is located on the banks of the The most productive period of Saffavid architec­ Zeravshan river approximately 200 km east of ture began in 1.598 with Shah Tahmasp's decision Bukhara. Next to the present city are the ruins of to redesign Isfahan as an imperial capital. The Afrasiyab which was the site of the city from 500 centre of the new developments was the Maidan­ BCE until the Mongol destruction of 1.220 CEo In i-Shah which is a rectangular square or park around the eighth century the city was sacked by the which was built the palace, the principal mosques Arab general Qutaiba bin Muslim. After the Arab and the principal bazar of the city. The main conquest a new city was built to the south-west characteristics of this architecture was the layout with Afrasiyab remaining as an industrial quarter and planning with the mosques built at a deliberate specializing in the production of paper for which it angle to the maidan to show off both their monu­ was famous. Excavations have revealed work­ mental portals (pishtaq iwans) and their glazed shops for pottery and glass in addition to a large domes. Similarly the main gate of the palace, the mosque which was burnt during the Mongol in­ Ali Qapu, was made into a pavilion overlooking vasion. the Maidan-i-Shah from which the shah's palace Samarkand once again rose to international could be seen. The emphasis on accessibility is also prominence in 1.369 when it was captured by the demonstrated in the tomb complexes, where the Mongol emperor Timur and chosen as his capital. outside faces are pierced with arches instead of Timur enclosed the city with a wall 7 km long and

247 Samarkand established his citadel and palace in the western part of the city. There are few monuments which survive from the reign of Timur partly because he was more concerned with conquest than architec­ ture and partly because he was more interested in a more ephemeral type of architecture represented by gardens, pavilions and tents. Contemporary accounts describe a series of magnificent gardens with three-storey pavilions made of wood and decorated with porcelain and marble. One of the most splendid examples of this type of architecture must have been the tented encampment erected to celebrate the wedding of Timur's grandsons. It comprised 20,000 tents arranged into streets in a meadow on the banks of the Zeravshan river. The most magnificent tent was that of Timur which was 100 m square with a central) dome supported on twelve giant tent poles above which was a square wooden turret. Two major monuments have survived from Timur's reign, however; these are the Bibi Khanum Mosque and the mausoleum of Gur~i Amir. The Bibi Khanum Mosque is a massive building begun in 1399, after Timur's conquest of India. It forms a rectangle 160 by 200 m built around a huge central Mausoleum of Gur-i Amir, Samarkand, Uzbekistan courtyard, entered via a monumental portal iwan flanked by twin towers. Either side of the central courtyard there were shallow iwans leading into Other funerary monuments erected by Timur prayer halls roofed with fluted domes covered in were part of a mausoleum complex known as the blue glazed tiles. The main prayer hall/sanctuary Shah i-Zinda. The complex was built around the with its massive tiled dome is hidden behind a shrine of Quthman ibn Abbas whose tomb stood huge pishtaq iwan 40 m high and flanked with at the end of a narrow lane approached by a set of twin towers more than 50 m high. Unfortunately thirty-six stone steps. The shrine of Quthman is the speed of construction together with the mas­ approached through a series of anterooms decor­ sive size of the mosque combined to make it ated with stucco and covered with a roof resting unstable and it started to disintegrate as soon as it on carved wooden columns. Either side of the lane was built. The other major monument surviving leading to the shrine there are a total of sixteen from Timur's time is the mausoleum of Gur-i Amir tombs representing the development of tomb archi­ built by Timur for his grandson Muhamad Sultan tecture. The royal tombs are of two types: a between 1403 and 1404. This tomb eventually square type with a main fa~ade and polygonal housed Timur himself after his death on campaign type with two or more entrances. The oldest in 1405. The tomb is built on an octagonal plan tomb, that of Timur's niece, Shad i Mulk, is of the and is crowned with a bulbous dome resting on a first type with a large screen which hides the muqarnas band set on an octagonal drum. The ribbed dome behind. The screen is contained within interior of the tomb is square with deeply recessed two engaged columns and frames a large recessed arches set into the middle of each side. The dome portal decorated with muqarnas mouldings and is supported on a network of eight intersecting glazed tiles inset within carved mouldings. The arches supported by corner squinches. On the tomb of Shihrin Bika Aka was built some ten years floor of the tomb are the cenotaphs of Timur's later and also has a screen fa~ade although this is descendants, the tomb of Timur is marked by a decorated with tile mosaic, a new technique im­ huge green jade slab. ported from Persia. This tomb also has a more

248 Samarra advanced dome design which has a slightly bul­ Samarra bous form resting on a sixteen-sided drum. Abbasid capital in central Iraq. The centre of the city was the Registan, al­ though no buildings of Timur's period survive in Samarra is now recognized as the largest archaeo­ this square, considered the finest in Central Asia. logical site in the world and stretches for over The oldest building in the Registan is the madras sa 40 km along the banks of the Tigris. Although of Ulugh Beg built between 1417 and 1420. The there were settlements in the area of Samarra madrassa has the typical Timurid form with a huge before the Abbasid period, it was not established entrance iwan (pishtaq) set into an entrance fac;ade as capital until 836 CE when the Abbasid caliph al­ flanked with twin minarets. The entire surface of Mu'tassim decided to set up a new city following the fac;ade and minarets is decorated with blue, clashes between his troops and the local population turquoise and yellow tile mosaic against a back­ of Baghdad. The city remained capital for fifty-six ground of yellow Ibuff baked brick. One of the years and was home to eight caliphs, until 892 notable features of the decoration is the use of when the capital was moved back to Baghdad. giant calligraphic patterns in complex geometric The predominant building material in Samarra arrangements. The interior of the madrassa con­ was mud brick and pise with baked brick reserved sisted of a courtyard surrounded by two storeys of for more important structures (Le. the Great cells and teaching rooms designed to accommodate Mosque and the Bab al-Amma). Houses and pal­ 100 students. Ulugh Beg's love of learning is aces were decorated with carved and moulded further demonstrated by his observatory which stucco panels, and Samarra provides the earliest was a three-storey tiled structure nearly 50 m in examples of bevelled stucco decoration. Some of diameter cut into the hillside. In the middle of the the palaces were also decorated with wall paintings building was a deep slit 40 m long which contained and glass mosaic although none of this remains in a sextant with an arc of 63 m. With this instrument situ. Ulugh Beg was able to produce the first precise The modern town of Samarra is located approxi­ map of the stars and planets. mately in the centre of the Abbasid city. Immedi­ Opposite the Ulugh Beg Madrassa in the ately to the north-west of the city, on the west Registan is the Shirdar Madrassa which has the bank of the Tigris, is the Jausaq al-Khaqani which same general form even though it was built 200 for most of the time was the caliph's palace and years later in the seventeenth century. On the was always his official residence. It was built by third side of the square is the Tilakar Mosque and one of al-Mu'tasim's Turkish generals and reflects Madrassa also built in the seventeenth century. features of Central Asian influence such as wall This building has the largest fac;ade, which is over paintings with Bactrian camels. The palace is a vast 120 m long with a massive entrance iwan (pishtaq) complex, including a mosque, a polo ground and a flanked on either side by two storeys of open horse-racing track. On the west side of the palace, arches facing on to the square and domed cylindri­ facing the river, there is a monumental gateway or cal corner turrets. Inside, the mosque is decorated portal known as the Bab al-Amma, or public gate. with multiple layers of gold painted on to a blue This structure was probably an official entrance background. and a place for public audiences. Directly to the See also: Bukhara, Timurids, Uzbekistan east of the palace is the Great Mosque of Samarra with its spiral minaret (the Malwiyya). Measuring Further reading: over 240 by 160 m this is one of the largest J. Lawton and F. Venturi, Samarkand and Bukllara, London mosques in the world. It is built entirely of baked 1991. brick although marble columns on brick piles origi­ A. L. Mongait, Archaeology in the U.S.S.R., trans. M. W. Thomson, Pelican, London 1961. nally supported the roof. The outer wall of the N. B. Nemtseva, The origins and architectural mosque is supported by four corner towers and development of the Shah i Zinda', trans. with additions twenty semi-circular bastions resting on square by J. M. Rogers and A. Yasin, Iran 15: 51-74, 1977. bases. The curtain wall is entirely plain except for R. Pinder-Wilson, Timurid architecture', in Cambridge a frieze which runs between the bastions, each History of Iran 6, 1993. D. N. Wilber, The Timurid court: life in gardens and section consisting of six bevelled squares with tents', Iran 27: 127-134, 1979. shallow concave discs in the centre. The Malwiyya,

249 Samarra

Qubbat al-Sulaybiyya, Samarra, Iraq

Great Mosque above and smaller mosque in foreground, Samarra, Iraq or spiral minaret, is 52 m high and may have been had a palace, garrisons and a congregational influenced by earlier Mesopotamian ziggurats. mosque known as the Abu Dulaf. The Abu Dulaf In the north of Samarra are the remains of an Mosque is a smaller version of the Great Mosque extension to the city built by Caliph al-Mutawakkil and has a spiral minaret 19 m high. On the west in an attempt to found a new city. This new area bank of the Tigris is the Ashiq Palace, one of the

250 last buildings made before the capital was relocated mately 0.5 cm wide) formed by the faces of the in Baghdad. The palace is built on a vaulted stones leaning outwards. This is a masonry tech­ substructure or terrace so that it can overlook the nique characteristic of pre-Islamic Yerneni architec­ Tigris. The building forms a high rectangle with ture. In the centre of the mosque there is a square the outer walls decorated by a series of blind courtyard surrounded by arcades, four on the south niches. One of the distinctive features of the palace side, three on the east and west sides and five on is the use of the four-centrepoint arch for the first the north (qibla) side. The arcades have a flat time in Islamic architecture. wooden roof supported by arches resting either on South of the modem town of Samarra are a columns or on circular stone piers. In the centre of number of major structures, including the palaces the courtyard is a square box-shaped structure of al-Istabulat, al-Balkuwara and Musharrahat. In covered with a dome known as Sinan Pashas addition, there is a huge octagonal enclosure, each Qubbah. Although it was built in the early seven­ side of which is half a kilometre long, known as teenth century, its form and position suggest it the octagon of Qadisiyya. This probably represents may have earlier antecedents. There are two mina­ the remains of an unfinished city started by Harun rets, one in the south-east comer of the courtyard aI-Rashid in the eighth century. and the other at the east side of the mosque next See also: Abbasids, Baghdad, Iraq to the outer wall. They both seem to date from the thirteenth century but may have been restored Further reading: later. The mosque has four mihrabs, three subsidi­ A. Northedge, 'Planning Samarra', Iraq 47: 109-28, 1985. ary ones at its south end and a main mihrab to the --The Palace of Istabulat', Archeologie islamique 4: 1993. left of centre in the north wall. The area above the A. Northedge and R. Falkner, The 1986 survey season at mihrab is roofed by five corbelled wooden domes, Samarra', Iraq 49: 143-74, 1987. a central dome and four smaller side domes. In the A. Northedge, T. J. Wilkinson and R. Falkner, 'Survey centre of each dome is a block of alabaster which and excavations at Samarra 1989', Iraq 52: 121-48. would have functioned as a skylight. Other early mosques in San)a include the labba­ San'a nah Musalla, the Tawus Mosque, the mosque of Capital city of Yemen. al-lala and the Jarni al-Tawashi. The Jabbanah Mus­ alIa is an open-air prayer area which is said to The city is located on a high plateau 2,200 m date from the time of Muhammad, although it has above sea level. Above the city is Jabal Nuqum been extended in later times. The other early which acts as a collecting point for clouds and mosques are rectangular box-like structures with consequently precipitation. San)a seems to have hypostyle roofs and recall pre-Islamic Yerneni risen to prominence in the third century CE although temples. Mosques of the twelfth century and later an earlier settlement probably existed on the site. are influenced by the architecture of Egypt and San)a has thirty-four historic mosques, the oldest Syria. This influence can be seen in the use of of which is the Great Mosque which is said to arches and domes, which are rare features in the have been founded on the orders of Muhammad traditional architecture of Yemen. After the Otto­ during his lifetime. This early mosque was ex­ man occupation of the sixteenth century, mosques tended northwards during the Umayyad period on were built with large central domes and domed the orders of Caliph al-Walid. Subsequent restora­ arcades. tions were carried out in the twelfth, thirteenth The domestic architecture of San)a is represented and sixteenth centuries, although the basic form of by tall tower houses built of stone and decorated the building appears to have remained the same. In with white plasterwork around the windows and its present form the mosque consists of a large coloured glass in the reception rooms (mafraj) at rectangle measuring 66 by 78 m with six gateways, the top of the house. one at the south, four on the east and west sides and one in the north wall next to the mihrab. The See also: Yemen external walls are built of large blocks of squared basalt with a central core of rubble. The courses of Further reading: the wall are marked by narrow ridges (approxi- R. B. Serjeant and R. Lewcock (eds.), San'a. An Arabian

251 Saqaqa

symbolized by the great arched iwan (T aq i Khus­ rau) at Ctesiphon which, like the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, provided an example for Islamic architects. The influence of the Sassanians on Is­ lamic architecture can even be seen in Syria Pales­ tine in the Umayyad period thus the mosaics of the Dome of the Rock are decorated with Sassanian symbols of royalty. More tangible evidence is found at Qasr Kharana which is purely Sassanian in design although it appears to date from the Islamic period. Other examples of Sassanian influ­ ence are the stepped merlons found at Umayyad palaces such as Khirbet al-Minya or the stucco work of Khirbet al-Mafjar. The architecture of Iraq at this period is a continuation of Sassanian practice with baked brick and roughly coursed stone set in thick mortar as the main building materials. Buildings such as Khan

Islamic City, World of Islam Festival Trust, London Saudi Arabia 1983. One of the largest countries in the Middle East occupy­ ing the greater part of the Arabian peninsula. saqaqa To the north the country is bordered by the states Water tank for ritual ablutions. of Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait, whilst to the south are Yemen and Oman. On the west side is the Red Sea and on the east the coast of the Arabian Gulf, sardivan with the Gulf states of Bahrain, Qatar and the Fountain in the centre of a mosque courtyard. United Arab Emirates. The country is divided into three provinces: Western Province comprising the Sassanians Hijaz and the Tihama, Central Province comprising Najd and the Empty Quarter, and Eastern Province Iranian dynasty which ruled from 226 CE to the Arab comprising the oasis of al-Hassa and the towns of conquest in 651. the Arabian Gulf. The Sassanians controlled the eastern half of what Before Islam the principal settlements were the became the Umayyad and Abbasid empires. Unlike trading cities of the Hijaz which included Yathrib their Byzantine rivals, the Sassanians were com­ (Medina), Medain Saleh and Mecca. The establish­ pletely destroyed by the Arab invasions. Neverthe­ ment of Islam guaranteed Mecca's position as both less, Sassanian traditions continued to have great a trading city and centre of the Muslim world. For importance, particularly during the Abbasid period a period of approximately 300 years after the in the eighth and ninth centuries. This influence is death of Muhammad Arabia enjoyed an unprec-

252 Saudi Arabia edented economic growth and settlements like al­ rough courses without mortar. True arches are rare Rabadah grew from small settlements into major in traditional stone architedure and the usual towns. During this time Arabia had the largest means of covering an opening are with a lintel or area of settlement until modem times. During the corbelled arch. Sometimes the outer surfaces are Middle Ages (1000-15°0) the lack of central auth­ plastered with mud plaster or lime plaster where it ority meant that Arabia was again a marginal area, is available. In the mountains of )Asir layers of only enlivened by pilgrim routes and secondary projeding flat stones are set into the walls to trade routes. With the growth of the Ottoman defled rainfall away from their coating of mud Empire in the sixteenth century Arabia became plaster. strategically important both for religious reasons On the east and west coasts coral forms the (Mecca and Medina) and strategic reasons (grow­ principal building material. This may either be ing European presence in the Indian Ocean). The fossil or reef coral depending on preference and increasing involvement of the Turks in the area availability. Coral walls are usually coated with a provoked a reaction both within Arabia and from hard white lime plaster, which is sometimes carved outside. The readion from within Arabia led to into elaborate stucco patterns. the creation of the first Saudi state by Muhammad Wood is an essential component of traditional ibn Saud and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The architedure despite its natural scarcity in the arid state began in Najd in the 1740S and gradually desert environment. The date palm is the main expanded so that by the beginning of the nine­ source of wood in much of the country and is used teenth century successful attacks had been mounted for roofing and lintels. Tamarisk wood is also used against Kerbala in Iraq and Mecca in the Hijaz. but is more scarce and difficult to find in suitable The growing power of the Saudis was viewed lengths. On the coasts imported mangrove wood with alarm by the Ottomans, who launched a is used for roofs and strengthening in walls. campaign which led to the execution of the Saudi ruler. During the nineteenth century the Saudis Hijaz gradually reasserted themselves spreading over large areas of Arabia. With the defeat of the Turks Historically the cities of the Hijaz have been the in the First World War the Saudis were able to main cultural centres of Arabia, but recently Riyadh make great gains and in the 1920S were able to has grown in significance. The principal towns of take control of the Hijaz. Oil wealth has added the Hijaz are Mecca, Medina and Jeddah, in addi­ to the strength of the kingdom which is now one tion there are a number of smaller towns such as of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East. Tabuk and al-)Ula. As religious cities Mecca and A variety of materials are employed in the Medina are responsible for bringing a large number traditional architedure of Saudi Arabia, these may of pilgrims to the area and have a cosmopolitan be divided into three groups, stone, wood and population. However, Jeddah as the port of Mecca mud. Mud is the commonest building material and has grown to be the main city of the Hijaz and may either be used as mud brick, pise or as mud until recently has been the main commercial centre plaster for stone walls. Mud brick is the principal of Saudi Arabia. The architedure of the Hijaz is construction material in central Arabia as well as in particularly subjed to outside influences, thus settle­ the oasis towns of the eastern and western prov­ ments of aVUla, Tabuk and al-Wajh developed as inces. In northern Najd mud brick has recently a result of the pilgrim routes. The medieval khan replaced stone as the principal material of construc­ of Qasr Zurayb near al-Wajh is a clear example of tion; the reasons for this are not known, although this external influence. mud brick may be more versatile. Stone is predominantly used in the mountainous Tihama and >Asir regions of the Hijaz and )Asir province and for­ merly in the northern Najd. Dressed stonework The Tihama is located in the south-west comer of and ashlar masonry are uncommon in most of Saudi Arabia and comprises two distind regions, Saudi Arabia with the exception of the older cities the hot humid coastal plain and the high mountains of the Hijaz. The usual method of stone construc­ of )Asir. The architedure of the coastal plain is of tion in most of the country is stone slabs la"id in two types, town houses and rural houses. The

253 town houses are built of coral and are usually See also: Ka)ba, Mecca, Medina rectangular single-storey buildings with a court­ yard. Rural houses are made of wood and thatch Further reading: and are related to the architecture of nearby East G. R. D. King, Traditional architecture in Najd, Saudi Africa. The architecture of the mountains is built Arabia', Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar for Arabian of stone and is related to the mountain architecture Studies, London 1976, 90-100. of Yemen. --'Islamic architecture in Eastern Arabia', Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar for Arabian Studies, London 1977, 15-28. --Historical Mosques of Saudi Arabia, London and New Najd York 1986. --'Building methods and materials in western Saudi The Najd is a plateau in the centre of Arabia south Arabia', Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, of the Nafud desert. The principal areas of occupa­ vol. 19 1989. tion are clustered around the Jabal Tuwayq and T. Prochazka, The architecture of the Saudi Arabian include Riyadh, the present capital of the country south west', Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar for Arabian Studies, London 1976, 120-33. as well as Ha)il, the nineteenth-century capital. North of the Nafud desert is the oasis town of Dumat al-Jandal which has a ~osque attributed to Sawma)a the second caliph, )Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-44). Minaret.

AI-Hassa sebil Turkish term for a drinking fountain. Also used to The great oasis of aI-Has sa stands about 60 km refer to a small kiosk with attendant who dispenses from the coast of the Arabian Gulf. The architec­ water, or sherbet, from behind a grille. ture of the area is predominantly stone and mud, although its position near the coast means that it is open to outside influences, the most obvious of Selimiye which is the white plaster decoration used to Ottoman mosque at Edirne in European Turkey con­ create stucco panels and decorative arches. During sidered to be the culmination of Ottoman the sixteenth century the oasis was occupied by architecture. the Ottoman Turks in an attempt to curb Saffavid The mosque forms the centre of a complex which or Portuguese ambitions in the area, and Ottoman includes a madrassa (college), a Quran reading influence may still be seen in Hufuf, the principal room and a huge covered market, the proceeds of town of the oasis. The mosque of Ibrahim has a which paid for the upkeep of the mosque. This large central dome resting on four large squinches complex, built by the famous architect Sin an, is and a domed portico similar to classical Ottoman generally considered to be his greatest work. The mosques. Nevertheless, the mosque is not Ottoman mosque consists of two rectangular areas of equal in details such as the muqarnas hood of the mihrab size placed side by side; the northern area is the or the use of polylobed arches. courtyard and portico and the southern area com­ prises the prayer hall of the mosque covered by a huge dome, 32 m in diameter. The dome is the The Gulf Coast same size as that of the Hagia Sophia, thus achiev­ The Gulf coast includes the towns of al-Jubayl, al­ ing the Ottoman ambition of building a mosque of Qatif and the modem city of Dhahran. As on the equal size and brilliance to the Ottoman master­ west coast coral is the traditional building material piece. Instead of using half-domes of the same although it is used in a different form. One of the radius placed at the sides of the central dome as notable features of this architecture is the use was usual in earlier mosques, Sinan used smaller of thin coral panels held between piers. Also the comer domes which function as giant squinches. buildings of this region are distinguished by The dome rests on an octagon formed by eight their use of decorative arches and ornamental massive cylindrical fluted piers which project plasterwork. through the roof to act as stabilizing turrets for

254 Seljuks the fenestrated drum. The significance of the design the defeat of the Qarakhanids in Central Asia in is that it breaks away from the square domed area the late eleventh century. The unified Seljuk state which had remained the dominant principal in did not last much beyond the beginning of the Ottoman mosque architecture. twelfth century, partly owing to its pattern of Like the Siileymaniye and the Dc;: $erefeli inheritance and partly because the areas covered Mosque, the Selimiye has four minarets, but here were too diverse. they are placed at each corner of the mosque During the twelfth century the empire broke up rather than at the corners of the courtyard as had into a number of independent principalities which happened previously. At 68 m these are the tallest can be classified into three main groups: a western Ottoman minarets and with their central position­ group comprising Anatolia, a central group cover­ ing emphasize the pyramid-like mass of the dome. ing Syria and Iraq, and an eastern group including The mosque is built mainly of yellow sandstone Iran and and Central Asia. although red sandstone is also used for voussoirs Seljuk architecture is characterized by the rapid in arches and for outlining architectural details. transmission of ideas and forms. During this period The interior of the building is provided with tradi­ many of the characteristic forms of Islamic architec­ tional mosque furniture, the most impressive of ture become common everywhere, thus madrassas, which is the tall marble minbar. The sides of the memorial tombs and khans were built from Central minbar are decorated with a carved geometric Asia to western Anatolia. Iwans became one of the interlace pattern based on a twelve-pointed star principal architectural units and were used both for and circle. Directly below the dome is the square religious and secular buildings. In Iran and the eas­ muezzin's gallery resting on an arcade of wide­ tern areas decorative brickwork and elaborate stucco lobed arches, and below this is a small marble ornamentation are common, whilst in Anatolia these fountain emphasizing the central axis of the dome. decorative themes were translated into stone. The mihrab is contained within a square, apse-like The homeland of Seljuk architecture was Iran, area and covered by a small semi-dome which where the first permanent Seljuk structures were emphasizes its position. The royal prayer room is built. Unfortunately the Mongol invasions de­ located on an upper gallery in the north-west stroyed most of these buildings and only a few corner of the mosque as was traditional in Ottoman remain. In 1063 Isfahan was established as capital architecture. The royal area is heavily decorated of the Great Seljuk Empire under Alp Arslan and with Iznik tile panels and stained-glass windows, parts of the Great Mosque date to this period. The whilst the south window forms the mihrab niche. most significant alteration carried out in the early See also: Edirne, Ottomans, Sinan, twelfth century was the conversion of the building SUleymaniye into a four-iwan plan mosque. Another mosque­ type introduced at this time was the kiosk mosque, Seljuks consisting of a domed space with three open sides and wall containing a mihrab on the qibla side. Turkish dynasty which ruled much of Anatolia, Syria, The architecture of this period was also character­ Iraq, Iran and Central Asia during the eleventh ized by memorial tombs which were usually octago­ century. nal structures with domed roofs. The most impres­ The Seljuks were a division of the Kiniq clan of sive example of tomb architecture is the mauso­ Oghuz Turks who originated in the steppes north leum of Sultan Sanjar at Merv, a massive building of the Aral Sea. Originally they were hired as measuring 27 m square with a huge double dome soldiers to take part in the internal feuding of resting on squinches and muqamas pendentives. Khurassan and eastern Iran. In 1038 the leader In Syria and Iraq the surviving monuments are Tughril Beg gained control of all Khurassan and represented by madrassas and tombs. The ma­ had himself proclaimed sultan at Nishapur. As drassas such as the Mustansiriya in Baghdad or Sunni Muslims the Seljuks wanted to restore ortho­ the Muristan in Damascus were built to a four-iwan doxy to the central Islamic lands and in 1055 plan, while the tombs were characterized by conical Tughril defeated the Sh

255 semahane

Seljuk architecture in the region are elaborate stone are of pre-Islamic Iranian origin but were rapidly portal fa<;ades carved in deep relief, small court­ incorporated into Islamic architecture. One of the yards which are sometimes covered (to cope with earliest examples is in the palace of Khirbet al­ the cold climate), and the introduction of tiles as Mafjar. architectural decoration. The first mosques built in Anatolia copied the ~eref layout of Syrian mosques thus the mosques of Diyarbakir (1091), Dunaysir (1204) and Silvan Ottoman term for the balcony on a minaret. Most (1152) have a design based in that of the Great minarets only have one balcony, although some of Mosque in Damascus. Later on the design changes, the more important mosques have minarets with so that in buildings such as the Great Mosque at up to three, the most famous example being the Harout and the Kolluk Mosque at Kayseri the 0<; Serefeli Mosque in Edirne. courtyard is reduced to a small area in the centre of a large prayer hall. Other mosques were built Seville (Arabic: Ishbiliyya) with an iwan on the qibla side of the courtyard which leads into a domed prayer hall. Another City in south-west Spain originally capital of the development of the period is the introduction of Muslim province of al-Andalus (Spain) and later one wooden mosques which may have been common of main centres of Islamic culture in Spain. in Central Asia at the time (no examples survive Before the coming of Islam, Seville was the first from there). These are large halls with flat roofs capital of the Visigoths until they moved to supported on wooden columns with muqarnas capi­ Toledo. It was captured by the Arabs in the eighth tals. The Eshrefoglu' Mosque at Beyshehir has century and remained a Muslim city until the early this form but has a separate brick dome resting on thirteenth century when it was taken by the Christ­ columns in front of the mihrab and an open bay in ian armies of Ferdinand III. Despite this change the centre recalling the courtyard of earlier mosques. Seville remained an important centre of Mudejar Like the mosques, the Seljuk madrassas of Anato­ architecture throughout the Middle Ages. lia were built around small courtyards which were During the Islamic period the city was known sometimes roofed with domes or vaults. The cen­ for silk weaving and scholarship and was the home tral court was often surrounded with arcades, with to the famous physician and philosopher A verroes. an iwan on the qibla side functioning as the prayer Unfortunately little remains of the early Islamic hall. The mausoleums were like those of Central city, although traces of the Almohad and AI­ Asia with an octagonal plan and conical roofs. moravid city remain along with fine examples of See also: Baghdad, Damascus, Iran, Iraq, Mudejar craftsmanship. Isfahan, Merv, Nishapur, Syria Parts of the first Umayyad mosque founded in 859 can be found in the church of San Salvador: These remains include arcades resting on columns semahane (now sunk deep into the ground) and the minaret Literally 'dance hall'; an Ottoman Turkish term for which may be the oldest surviving Muslim building a room used for dervishes to dance. The typical in Spain. The present cathedral of Santa Maria de Ottoman semahane was an octagonal domed room la Sede is built on the site of the Almohad Great often attached to a mosque. The most famous is Mosque built in 1172. The mosque itself no longer the Mevlana dervish centre in Konya. exists but the minaret known as La Giralda still dominates the city's main square. The tower took sera; fourteen years to build and is over 50 m high. The tower has a square base and shaft (like all minarets Turkish term for a palace. in Spain) and has ramps inside instead of staircases. The interior contains seven chambers, one on each serdab storey, each with a different type of vault. Each face of the exterior is divided into three vertical Sunken courtyard opening on to underground strips or decorative panels. Each floor has a cen­ rooms used to escape the heat of the day. Serdabs trally placed pair of windows with a single column

256 Shanga in the middle and either side of the windows are Sfax rose to prominence under the Aghlabids in paired niches of similar design. Above the windows the ninth century. The city walls, built in the late and niches is a delicate net-like diamond pattern seventh century, were renewed in the ninth and executed in elaborate brickwork. The tower bears provided with huge square and polygonal towers. a strong resemblance to the Kutubiyya minaret in The Great Mosque is similar to that of Qairawan Marakesh also built by the Almohads. and is the only mosque to have the same arrange­ Little remains of the original defences of the ment of a square minaret on the north side aligned city which contained twelve gates and 116 interval with the mihrab. towers, although the remaining parts have been See also: Aghlabids, Tunisia recently restored. The Torre del Oro, a twelve­ sided tower, represents the latest phase of Muslim Shanga fortifications. The best example of Mudejar architec­ ture in Seville is the Alcazar which was rebuilt as Islamic trading city in the Lamu archipelago off the the palace of Pedro the Cruel in the fourteenth north Kenya coast, East Africa. century. Many of the masons and carpenters were Shang a is one of the most intensively investigated hired from Granada thus explaining some of the early Islamic sites in East Africa with an occupation similarity between the lavish decoration and intri­ stretching from the mid-eighth to the fourteenth cate design of this palace and the Alhambra. The century. It is not mentioned in any major historical palace also re-used some of the columns and other sources except for a passing reference in the Pate building materials taken from Madinat al-Zahra> Chronicle, so that all information comes from exca­ after its destruction in 1010. The palace contains a vations carried out in recent years. series of courtyards or patios which are decorated The earliest phase, dated to the eighth century, with intricate carved stonework arcades and poly­ is represented by a large rectangular wooden enclo­ chrome tile dadoes. The most famous of these sure containing a well and surrounded by round­ courtyards is the Patio de las Doncellas which has houses made-of wattle and daub on timber frames. an arcade composed of multi-lobed arches resting In the second period (ninth-tenth century) a rec­ on twin columns, above which is a diaper pattern tangular wooden mosque was built in the central similar to that of the Giralda Minaret. The highlight area. Whilst roundhouses continued to be built on of the palace is the Sal6n de los Embajadores the west, on the east side the houses were now which is covered with an amazing wooden dome redangular. In the third phase (tenth-eleventh cen­ decorated with star patterns and supported on tury) the enclosure and mosque were rebuilt in intricate wooden muqarnas squinches. coral stone and a monumental stone building was See also: Alhambra, Cordoba, Mudejar, Spain ereded in the centre. At· this same time many of the houses outside were also built out of coral stone. The fourth and fifth periods, lasting from Sfax the eleventh to the end of the twelfth century, is Walled city located on the east coast of Tunisia. marked by the decline of the settlement and the

Plan of ninth-century monumental buildings, Shanga, Kenya (after Horton)

257 Shahr-i Sabz reintroduction of wooden architecture in the centre Sicily of the site. The sixth phase of occupation (early Large island south of Italy, occupied by Muslim Arabs fourteenth to fifteenth centuries) is represented by for 200 years. the reintroduction of stone buildings using a new. The first Arab conquest in Sicily was the capture technique of fossil coral instead of the previous of Mazara in 827 by the Aghlabid governors of reef coral. Many of the ruins of this period still Ifriqiyya (roughly equivalent to modem Tunisia). survive, and consist of remains of over 200 houses The conquest of the island was not complete three mosques and a large number of tombs. ' until 75 years later, although immigration began See also: coral, East Africa, Kenya, Manda immediately. In 1061 the island was captured Further reading: by the Normans and became the centre of a M. C. Horton, Shanga: An Interim Report, National flourishing Byzantine, Islamic and Norman cul­ Museums of Kenya, Nairobi 1981. ture. --'Early Muslim trading settlements on the East There are few architectural remains of the Islamic African coast: new evidence from Shanga', Antiquaries period because most buildings were rebuilt or Journal 67: 290-323, 1987. remodelled later under the Normans. Indeed, many of the most important Arab buildings were them­ Shahr-i Sabz selves converted Byzantine structures; thus the Town in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, which Timur tried cathedral of the capital at Palermo was converted to make his capital in the fourteenth century. into the Great Mosque by the Arabs and subse­ The city or town forms a rectangular enclosure quently became a Norman cathedral. There are surrounded by a wall approximately 4 km in circum­ only two entirely Muslim structures which have ference and in places up to 5 m thick. The main ruins survived. These are La Favara Castle (Arabic al­ at the site are the monumental entrance to Timur's Fawwara) and the eleventh-century baths of Cefala palace (the Ak Saray, White Palace') and the Dar al­ 30 km outside Palermo. Siyadat. Although incomplete it can be seen that the Probably the most significant traces of Islamic r entrance arch would have been more than 50 m high architecture are found in the buildings of the and 22 m wide, making it one of the largest arch­ Norman kingdom, when Arab craftsmen and de­ ways in the Islamic world. The interior of the iwan signs continued to be used. Probably the most and the towers flanking it are decorated with light striking example of this is the Cappella Palatina and dark blue-glazed· bricks forming a geometric with its painted wooden ceiling. To the south of carpet-like pattern which includes the names Allah, Palermo the Norman king built a royal park in the Muhammad, Ali and Othman in large square callig­ Islamic style, with palaces and hunting lodges. raphy. An archaeological analysis of the site has One of the best preserved palaces is the Ziza shown that the portal would have been preceded by Palace built by William II (1166--89). This rectangu­ a huge open space 70-80 m long which would have lar structure is built in the form of an Islamic emphasized the massive proportions of the building. reception hall with a central cruciform reception Inside the entrance, the palace would have com­ room flanked by smaller rooms. The building is prised a large courtyard with a central pool and audi­ decorated with muqarnas corbels, rows of blind ence hall on the same axis as the entrance. The royal niches and a fountain which runs in a narrow cemetery known as the Dar al-Siyadat contained the channel through the palace. tomb of Jahangir (with a tall domed roof) and the See also: Aghlabids tomb intended for Timur himself (this had a conical Further reading: roof on a cruciform plan). Other buildings preserved G. Mar~ais, L'architecture musulmane d'Occident: Tunisie, at the site "include the baths and the bazar. The Algerie, Maroc, Espagne et Sidle, Paris 1955. bazar comprises four main streets which converge on a central crossroads covered with a dome. Sinan (Koca Sinan; 1491-1588) shish mahal Famous Ottoman architect responsible for transforming Mughal term for a room decorated with mirror Ottoman architecture from a traditional discipline into mosaics. a conscious art form.

258 Sinan (Koca Sinan; 1491-1588)

Sinan was born a Christian in the Karaman region quality of workmanship and the harmonic of south-east Anatolia and at the age of 21 was proportions. recruited into the Janissaries (special Ottoman force Sinan's first major work is the Sehzade Cami in selected from subject Christian populations). As Istanbul built in memory of Suleyman's son and part of his training Sinan worked as a carpenter the heir to the throne who died at the age of 22. and engineer on building sites in Istanbul. As a The complex, begun in 1543 and completed five soldier Sinan fought for the emperor in Rhodes, years later, contains a madrassa, an imaret (hospice) Belgrade, Baghdad and Moldavia, rising rapidly to and a Quran school besides the mosque and the the position of Commander of the Royal Guard. tomb of Sehzade. The mosque consists of two During this period Sinan may have worked as a equal squares comprising a courtyard and domed military engineer converting churches into prayer room. The most notable feature of the mosques and building bridges. Sinan's first re­ design is the use of four semi-domes to expand corded building is the Hiisrev Pasha Cami in the interior space, for although this plan had been Aleppo built between 1536 and 1537. This com­ used earlier at Diyarbakir this was the first time it plex consists of a single-domed mosque with a had been used in an imperial mosque. The arches small rectangular courtyard and two madrassas carrying the large central dome rest on four giant located on an irregular-shaped site. The mosque's piers which rise up above roof level to act as tall dome is pierced by sixteen windows and sup­ buttresses for the drum of the dome. This design ported by buttresses. In order to compensate for later became a standard solution to the limitations the height of the dome Sinan built the portico imposed by the size of domes in Ottoman wider than the mosque adding an extra bay at mosques. Another important innovation was the each end. This solution causes problems for the development of the fa~ades at the side of the positioning of the windows and the pendentives mosque and courtyard. This was achieved by plac­ of the portico domes which clash. ing doorways at the side of the building thus In 1538 at the age of 47 Sinan was appointed as giving the it a cross-axial arrangement. This was the chief architect of Istanbul by Suleyman the important in large complexes where the north Magnificent. During the next fifty years Sinan fa~ade was not necessarily the most important and built over 300 buildings, recorded by his friend certainly not the longest side of the building. The and biographer Mustafa Sa)i. Sinan's first task tomb of $ehzade stands alone in a garden to the as chief architect was the construction of a women's south of the mosque. This tomb has the same basic hospital for Sui eyman' s Russian wife. The complex form as the Admiral Barbaros tomb although here known as the Haseki Hiirrem was built on an the austerity is replaced with intense beauty. The irregular site and consisted of a hospital, hostel, dome is composed of fluted ribs, whilst the top of mosque and medical school (Tip medrese). Al­ the octagon is marked by ornate crenellations though the building may not have been started by supported on muqarnas corbelling. The interior of Sinan and has been subsequently altered, it conveys the tomb is covered with yellow, blue and green an impression of his ability to manage a difficult Iznik tiles and light is filtered through stained-glass site and produce an impressive, functioning build­ windows. ing. This ability is more clearly expressed in the Sinan's next important commission was the tomb of the Grand Admiral Hayrettin Barbaros mosque of Suleyman's daughter Mirimah at built in 1541. This is a tall octagonal chamber oskiidar known as the Iskele Cami (Harbour covered with a dome and pierced by two sets of Mosque). This was the first of three commissions windows, an upper level and a lower level. The for Mirimah and her husband Riistem Pasha the lower-level windows are rectangular, covered Grand Vizier. The Iskele Cami is built on a raised with lintels under relieving arches, whilst those platform to protect it from the water and has a of the upper level are covered with shallow double portico instead of a courtyard because of four-pointed arches. The exterior of the building lack of space. The double portico is an idea is very plain, except for the windows and two which was also used at the Riistem Pasha plain mouldings marking the transition from wall mosques at T ekirdag and Eminonii, both in Istan­ to drum and from drum to dome. The severe bul, and later became a standard format for lesser impression created is modified by the high mosques.

259 Singapore

Sinan's largest project at this time was the Sinan lived for a further thirteen years and contin­ mosque complex of Suleyman which was to be the ued to design buildings, though is likely that many largest purpose-built mosque in Istanbul. This build­ of these were not visited by him. When he died at ing known as the Siileymaniye established Sinan's the age of 97 Sinan was interred in the tomb he reputation as the foremost of Ottoman architeds had built for himself next to the Siileymaniye. This and is the place which he chose for his own tomb. is an open canopy covered by a vault set in a The complex covers a huge area (about 330 by garden which originally contained his house. At 200 m) of sloping ground overlooking the Bospho­ the end of the garden is a small odagonal domed rus with the mosque at the centre. Charaderisti­ fountain which had earlier been the cause of a cally Sinan was able to turn the difficulties of the" dispute. Sinan's epitaph was written by his friend terrain to his advantage by building the complex Mustapha Sa)i and only mentions one of his works, on several levels. Thus the two madrassas on the the four-humped bridge at Biiyiik<;ekmice. east side of the complex are built in steps down Art historians have spent a considerable amount the hillside, whilst the mosque itself is built on a of time discussing Sinan's contribution to architec­ huge artificial platform with vaulted substrudures ture and particular his relationship to the Renais­ on the east side. The mosque itself uses many of sance. There was a considerable amount of contad the features of the $ehzade Cami such as the between Italy and the Ottoman Empire at this lateral entrances, but in place of the cruciform plan stage, as can be seen from invitations to Leonardo there is a central dome between two semi-domes. da Vinci and later Michelangelo to build a bridge The mass of the central dome is emphasized by across the Golden Horn. Despite this con tad and the four minarets, a feature only previously seen at the similarities between the work of Alberti and the 0<; $erefeli Cami in Edirne. Sinan it should be noted that their objedives were Although the Siileymaniye was probably Sinan's different. In Renaissance buildings there was a largest building complex, it was not his greatest tension between humanity and God; in those of work; this was the Selimiye Cami in Edirne begun Sinan there was a single purpose - to mirror a nearly twenty years later. The Selimiye built be­ single and infinite Divinity. tween 1569 and 1575 incorporates many of the See also: Ottomans, Selimiye, SUleymaniye features of" the Siileymaniye but abandons the system of large semi-domes at the side of the Further reading: dome in favour of giant squinches placed at the Ahmet Refik, Mimar sinan, Istanbul 1931. A. Gabriel, 'Le maitre-architede Sinan', in La Turquie corners. Also the system of four central piers is Kemaliste 16, Ankar3 1936. replaced by eight piers arranged in an odagon G. Goodwin, A History of Ottoman Architecture, London with the result that the building has an airiness 1971. and space unparalleled in Islamic or Western archi­ --sinan, London 1992. A. Giller, J. Freely and A. R. Burrelli, sinan: Architect of tedure. The main dome has the same diameter as siileyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Golden Age,. that of Hagia Sophia and thus achieves the Otto­ London 1992. man ambition of construding a building equal to A. Kuran, M. Niksarli and A. Giller, sinan: The Grand Old the highest achievement of the Byzantines. Master of Ottoman Architecture, Istanbul 1987. A. Petruccioli (ed.), Mimar sinan: The Urban Vision Whilst working on the Selimiye Sinan continu~d Oournal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research to produce a variety of smaller buildings, for Centre), Rome 1988. example the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Cami in Istan­ A. Stratton, Sin an, London 1972. bul which, like many of his other famous works, was built on a steep hillside. Again Sinan was able Singapore to exploit the site by building the courtyard out on to an artificial terrace with an entrance from City-state on southern tip of the Malay peninsular below. This technique had been used before at the with a mixed population of Malays, Chinese and Iskele Cami and the Riistem Pasha Cami, but not Indians, as well as a small Arab minority. as effedively as here, where a wide staircase leads The earliest mosques in Singapore were built of up into the middle of the courtyard facing the wood and thatch; during the nineteenth century sardivan (fountain). these were replaced with brick strudures. The After the completion of the Selimiye in 1575 most important mosque in Singapore is known as

260 Somalia the Sultan Mosque and was originally built be­ were added to the prayer hall and the single tween 1823 and 1824 with a grant of $3,000 from arcades on the other three sides were made double. the British East India Company. The original In both phases the mihrab was a simple rectangular mosque was demolished in the 1920S to make way niche set into the middle of the qibla wall. Several for the present structure built by the British firm smaller mosques were also discovered, each with a Swan and Maclaren in 1928. The building has two rectangular mihrab projecting on to the outside of large onion-shaped domes, a polygonal minaret the building. and crenellations to enliven the fa<;ade. Either side See also: Abbasids, Iran, Iraq, Samarra of the prayer hall are separate areas for women. Further reading: The oldest surviving mosque in Singapore is the Jamae Mosque, which was built on the site of an D. Whitehouse, Siraf II. The Congregational Mosque and Other Mosques from the Ninth to the Twelfth Centuries, earlier structure between 1826 and 1835. Its The British Institute for Persian Studies. main feature is the fa<;ade, which is flanked by two square towers. Each tower is divided into seven Somalia mini-storeys linked by decorative crenellations in the form of a mini-gateway. Of similar design is Somalia is located on the coast of East Africa directly the Nagore Durgha shrine built between 1828 and below the Arabian peninsula. 1830 which also has two miniature towers either The landscape of the country is predominantly side of a miniaturized entrance fa<;ade located on semi-arid bush with mountains in the north near top of the real entrance. It seems likely that these the border with Ethiopia. The coastal plain is mosque fa<;ades may derive from the Char Minar similar to that of Kenya further south, with man­ in Hyderabad, south India. A simpler design is groves and coastal reefs. represented by the Tamil al Abrar Mosque built in Islam seems to have spread to Somalia through the 1850S where the entrance is flanked by two Muslim traders who established trading stations pillars. Other early mosques include the Abdul and urban centres along the coast between the Gafoor Mosque (1850S) and the Hajjah Fatimah seventh and the twelfth centuries CEo From the Mosque (1930) both of which combine European twelfth century the coastal towns had become (British) elements with Indian design. independent Muslim sultanates fighting the Ethio­ pian Christians who controlled the interior. From See also: India, Indonesia, Malaysia the tenth century the Somalis of the interior gradu­ Further reading: ally adopted Islam and became attached to the J. Beamish and J. Ferguson, A History of Singapore coastal towns. During the nineteenth and twentieth Architecture: The Making of a City, Singapore 1985. centuries Somalia was divided between Italian, Brit­ Monuments Board of Singapore, Preservation of Singapore National Monuments, Singapore 1985. ish and French administrations before achieving independence in 1960. Siraf The Islamic architecture of Somalia is similar to that of Kenya, with coral used as the main material Major early Islamic port city located on the Iranian for permanent buildings. The principal urban side of the Arabian/Persian Gulf centre is Mogadishu which also has some of the The city contains some of the earliest examples of oldest mosques, the most famous of which is the Islamic architecture excavated in Iran. The most mosque of Fakhr ai-Din built in the thirteenth significant discovery is the congregational mosque, century. Further south are a number of ancient a huge rectangular structure with a central court­ urban settlements, the most important of which are yard set on a raised podium. There is a single Merka, Munghia, Barawa and Bur Gao. Most of entrance reached by a set of steps on the east side the mosques of Merka are eighteenth century or opposite the qibla, next to which is the square later, although the tomb of Sheikh Uthman Hassan base of a mihrab. The first phase of the mosque, may date to the thirteenth century. Munghia con­ dated to the early ninth century, has three arcades sists of a large roughly square enclosure (about parallel to the qibla wall forming the prayer hall, 200 m per side) built of earth with a facing of and a single arcade on the other three sides. In the stone. Approximately in the centre there is a second phase (dated to 850) two more arcades raised mound with the remains of a mosque on

261 Songhay

between Gao and Dendi in West Africa.

The Songhay people were the ruling population of the empire of Gao during the fifteenth and six­ teenth centuries. Some of them were Muslim before the eleventh century but some have remained pagan to the present day. Little is known of early Songhay architecture, although ancestor-worship seems to have been expressed through earthen burial mounds. Elements of this tradition seem to have been inc,?rporated in Islamic monuments where prominent people are buried within solid­ earth pyramid-like constructions, the most famous of which is the tomb of Askiya Muhammad at Gao. See also: Gao, West Africa

South Africa The Muslim community of South Africa seems to have originated from south-east Asia, mostly Malaysia. The Malays were mostly brought to Mosque of Fakhr ai-Din, Mogadishu, Somalia (after Garlake) South Africa as slaves in the eighteenth century, although some came freely as political exiles Al­ top. Although the mosque is badly damaged, it though they were allowed to remain Muslim they seems to consist of a central rectangular hall were not able to worship publicly until 1804. flanked by two side aisles. The mihrab in the Before that time prayer was carried out within centre of the north wall has a fluted semi-dome houses or in the open air. The first purpose-built and, together with the pottery found there, sug­ mosque was the Auwal Mosque in Cape Town gests a twelfth-century foundation for the site. built at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Although Barawa was probably founded at a simi­ In its earliest form the mosque lacked a minaret lar dat-e, the earliest buildings in the town date and resembled a chapel from the exterior. Inside, from the eighteenth century. One of these, a there were two courtyards, a kitchen and storage mosque, has a square minaret with elaborate carved rooms as well as a prayer hall. For planning reasons woodwork. Probably the largest early site on the the building was not oriented to face Mecca; coast is Bur Gao whose are contained within a instead the mihrab inside was built at an angle to huge enclosure similar to that of Munghia. The the rest of the building to correct this. principal standing structure on the site is a square Further reading: building covered with a low domical vault. The site also contains a number of pillar tombs similar F. R. Bradlow and M. C. Cairns, The Early Cape Muslims: A Study of their Mosques, Genealogy and Origins, Cape to those of north Kenya. Town 1978. See also: East Africa, Kenya Further reading: Spain (Arabic: al-Andalus) N. Chittick, 'An archaeological reconnaissance of the Large country in south-western Europe occupying the southern Somali coast', Azania 4: 115-30, 1969. greater part of the Iberian peninsula and known in H. C. Sanservino, 'Archaeological remains on the southern Arabic as al-Andalus. Somali coast', Azania 18: 151-64, 1983. Large parts of this country were Muslim from the arrival of the Arab armies in 711 to the fall of the Songhay amirate of Granada in 1492. Before the arrival of The people who inhabit the banks of the Niger river the first Arab armies Spain was ruled by the

262 Spain (Arabic: al-Andalus)

, .... , " , , \ , \ , , /'"' - .... , / \ --'" .... ~ I I ... ) I I

West Africa showing extent of Songhay empire in the sixteenth century

Visigoths, warrior nomads from east of Europe finally checked by Charles Martel at a battle be­ who had recently been converted to Christianity. tween Poitiers and Tours. The only area of Spain They in tum had taken over the country after the which withstood the invasion was the region of collapse of the Byzantine rule which was a direct Asturias in the Cantabrian mountains of the north­ continuation of Roman suzerainty in the country. west. Until the 750S the province was ruled by At the time of the Arab invasions the Visigothic governors sent by the Umayyad caliphs. The Ab­ kingdom was weak and their king Roderick was basid revolution had led to the killing of all mem­ not universally acknowledged. bers of the Umayyad dynasty with the exception The Arab conquest was carried out by Musa the of Abd aI-Rahman who escaped via North Africa commander of North Africa and his semilegendary to Spain where he defeated the resident governor lieutenant Tariq. Within a year Toledo, the Visig­ Yusuf in a battle near Toledo. For the next 270 othic capital, had been captured. The speed of the years the country was ruled by the Umayyad conquest alarmed the caliph who in 716 summoned descendants of Abd ai-Rahman. The most famous the commander and his general to return. Neverthe­ member of this dynasty was Abd aI-Rahman III less, the conquest continued northwards and by the who reigned for fifty years between 912 and 961. 730S had reached central France where it was It was during this reign that the title of the ruler

263 Spain (Arabic: al-Andalus)

-----.

/ -ZARAGOZA

-MADRID

-TOLEDO MERIDA-

CORDOBA MAtINAl'- - JAEN AL-ZAHRA

Islamic Spain in the eighth century was changed from amir to caliph and 'Commander The Almoravids were a dynasty of fanatical of the Faithful' in order to counter the claims of the fundamentalist Berbers from North Africa. Under Fatimid caliphate. During this period the capital was their leader Yusuf, the Almoravids invaded Spain Cordoba which became one of the brightest centres and stemmed the tide of Christian conquest. From of culture in the Islamic world. Despite this high their newly established capital of Marakesh the level of sophistication, the dynasty itself was prone Almoravids now ruled a huge area from present­ to internal divisions and finally collapsed in 1031. day Senegal to Spain. For the next half century Spain was divided into In 1145 the Almoravids, weakened by disunity, at least twenty-three independent principalities, were replaced by the Almohads, another fanatical known as the Muluk al-Tawaif, each with its own Berber group who managed to challenge the Christ­ court and ruler. The size of these principalities ian advance. By 1212, however, the Almohads varied greatly, with some ruling a single city were driven from Spain by a coalition of Christian whilst others like the Aftasids in south-west Spain rulers. This left Granada as the only Muslim prov­ ruled large areas of the country. Despite political ince to survive the Christian invasions. Granada disunity the Islamic culture of Spain thrived during was ruled by the Nasirid dynasty which maintained this period. Nevertheless, the Christians of the the area as a centre of cultural and scientific excel­ north-west were able to exploit divisions amongst lence with the Alhambra at its centre. The Nasirids the Muslims to conquer extensive territories. The were finally ousted from their position in 1492 by capture of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile in the united forces of Castile and Aragon under 1085 showed the weakness of these principalities Ferdinand and Isabella. and encouraged the conquest of the Almoravids in Despite the political defeat of Islam in Spain 1090 . Muslims continued to live in the country until the

264 Spain (Arabic: al-Andalus) seventeenth century when they were all expelled. to the architedure of Christian buildings under Nevertheless, traces of Islamic presence survive in Muslim rule. In addition to its influence on Christ­ the culture and architedure of Spain. ian buildings, Islamic architedure also influenced In many ways the landscape of Spain is similar the substantial Jewish community in Spain so that to that of North Africa with its aridity, high many synagogues in Spain were built in an Islamic mountains and endless desert-like plains. Communi­ style (the best examples are in Toledo, see below). cation from one part to another is hindered by The range of buildings surviving from the Is­ precipitous valleys, high mountains and the three lamic period in Spain is quite large and includes major rivers of the Ebro, Tagus and the Duero. castles, fortifications, mosques, churches and syna­ The building materials of Islamic Spain refled gogues, palaces, bridges, hammams, mills, villages the availability of natural resources and the diver­ and towns. The most numerous remains are castles sity of cultural influences. The main materials used and fortifications which can be found throughout are wood, stone and baked brick, although mud the country and from all periods from the eighth brick was also used. Unlike many parts of the to the fifteenth century. These are often difficult to Middle East, Spain had plentiful supplies of timber date precisely and most were subsequently re-used suitable for building including both pine and oak. after the Christian reconquest. One of the best Wood was usually used for roofs which were examples of early fortification are the walls and normally gabled and covered with baked clay tiles, square baHered towers of the castle known as although occasionally wooden domes were also Banos de la Encina near Jaen in Andalusia. Here used. The pine roofs of the Great Mosque in the gate is sandwiched between two towers and C6rdoba refled the plentiful supplies of wood in proteded by machicolation and a portcullis. Later medieval Spain. Stone was used for walls either in on fortifications were proteded by bent entrances the form of ashlar masonry or in the form of where the gateway was perpendicular to the walls, coursed rubble. Often masonry was re-used from thus exposing attackers to fire from three sides. A earlier Roman or Visigothic strudures, although later development of fortifications was the albarrani fine stone carving continued. One of the most tower which was located outside the city walls but distindive features of Spanish Islamic architedure conneded to it by a bridge so that defenders were is the use of brick which, like ashlar masonry, was able to outflank their attackers. Often albarrani a dired continuation of Roman building methods. towers were built to proted buildings outside the Sometimes stone was encased in brick in the same walls without the added expense and inconven­ manner as Byzantine fortifications. ience of changing the line of the city wall; thus at Notable features of Spanish Islamic architedure Calatrava la Vieja the tower was built to proted a include horseshoe arches, paired windows with a nearby watermill. In addition to the major fortifica­ central column, construdion in brick and stone, tions hundreds of small towers and forts were built polychrome tiles, intricate carved stucco work and all over the peninsula to defend borders and coasts. overlapping arches. Several terms are used to de­ These were often small isolated towers built of scribe Islamic-type architedure in Spain each of cheap local materials such as mud brick or coursed which has a particular meaning. The best-known rubble, although sometimes they were sophisti­ term is 'Moorish' which is often used to refer to cated strudures dominating the countryside like Islamic architedure in general although it more the castle of Belmez near C6rdoba. properly should be used to describe the architec­ Most of the mosques of Spain were converted ture of the Moors or Berbers of North Africa. The into churches after the reconquest, some with very less well-known term Mudejar refers to architedure little alteration and others where the architedure carried out for Christian patrons by Muslim crafts­ was profoundly damaged as in the case of the men. Mudejar architedure uses many of the most Great Mosque of C6rdoba where a cathedral was charaderistic features of Islamic architedure includ­ built in the middle of the strudure in the sixteenth ing Arabic calligraphy and the horseshoe arch. century. Charaderistic features of Spanish mosques Many of Christian Spain's most beautiful churches are square minarets and large mihrabs which are and palaces were built by Mudejar craftsmen and sometimes like a separate room. Where decoration the tradition was carried on into the new world. A has survived intad it is usually very elaborate and related style is known as Mozarabic which refers includes carved plaster and woodwork.

265 Spain (Arabic: al-Andalus)

Thirteenth-century house at Siyasa (after Palazon)

Palaces fared better after the reconquest and substantial traces of Islamic architecture are Cor­ some of the finest examples of Islamic palaces can doba, Seville, Granada, Toledo and Zaragoza, but be found in Spain such as the Alhambra and the many other towns and cities contain traces of Generalife. The Islamic palatial tradition was contin­ Islamic buildings including Madrid and Asturias ued after the reconquest with palaces which are (starting-point of the reconquest). almost entirely Islamic in conception, like that of The area conquered by the Arabs in the eighth Pedro the Cruel in the Alcazar at Seville. Another century still contained many remains of the Roman type of Islamic building often associated with pal­ and Byzantine civilizations which proceeded the aces is the hammam. Few of these have survived Visigothic conquest, and many of the basic tech­ in Spain although fine examples can be seen at niques of construction remained the same through­ Ronda and Granada. Bridges and mills are less out the Islamic period. The contribution of the easy to distinguish as Muslim work, although Visigoths to Islamic architecture is poorly docu­ many examples survive. It is thought that some of mented although it is thought that the ubiquitous the water mills near Cordoba may be related to horseshoe arch may be derived from Visigothic the great water wheels of Syria. In addition to architecture. The distinctive features of Islamic specific buildings and monuments many towns and buildings in Spain may in part reflect its early villages retain the layout and appearance of Islamic incorporation into the Islamic caliphate and its times. Some of the more important cities with distance from the centre of the empire. The most

266 stucco notable influences from within Islam are from stone for carving. It has a long history which can North Africa and Syria. The North African influ­ be traced back as far as Parthian times, when it ence is easy to explain through its proximity and was used to cover rubble masonry. During the the successive invasions of Berber tribes under the Sassanian period stucco continued to be used to Almohads and the Almoravids, the most famous enliven surfaces on buildings made of baked brick example being the Giralda tower in Seville. Syrian or mud brick. By the sixth century stucco was architecture, however, influenced Spain through the used in the eastern Mediterranean although it was Umayyad dynasty who sought to recall their home­ mostly a characteristic of Iranian architecture. The land and assert their legitimacy through copying advent of Islam led to an unparalleled growth in Syrian buildings and hiring Syrian architects. The its use throughout the Middle East and North most striking example of this is the city of Madinat Africa. Many of the earliest Islamic monuments al-Zahra> near Cordoba which is meant to recall the employ stucco as the main form of decoration, as desert palaces of the Umayyads and in particular dadoes, ceiling decoration or sculpture. Usually the Rusafa. stucco was carved or moulded, although it was Other notable influences were Byzantine archi­ often painted as well. tecture, both through remains of Byzantine struc­ The most adventurous uses of stucco can be tures in Spain and through the friendship between found in the Umayyad palaces of Syria and Pales­ the Byzantine emperors and the Umayyad rulers, tine. At Khirbet al-Mafjar in the Jordan valley the born out of a mutual dislike of the Fatimids. lavish decoration includes painted stucco statues of See also: Alhambra, C6rdoba, C6rdoba Great semi-naked bathing girls and stucco representation Mosque, Granada, Seville, Toledo, Zaragoza of the caliph himself. However, usually stucco was Further reading: G. Goodwin, Islamic Spain, Architectural Guides for Travellers, London 1990. (This is the best available general guide in English.) M. Asin, Guadalajara Medieval, Arte y Arqueologia Arabe y Mudejar, e.S.I.e. Madrid 1984. e. Esco, J. Giraut and P. Senac, Arqueologia Islamica de la Marca Superior de al-Andalus, Huesca 1988. e. Ewart, 'Tipologia de la mezquita en Occidente de los Amayas a los Almohades', Congresso de Arqueologia Medieval Espanola, I: 180-204, Madrid 1987. E. Lambert, Art Musulman et Art Chretien dans la Feninsule Iberique, Paris ~d Toulouse 1958. B. Pav6n-MaldoaCio, Les Almenas Decorativa5 Hispano Musulmanas, Madrid 1967. F. Prieto-Moreno, Los Jardines de Granada, Madrid 1952. E. Sordo and W. Swaan, Moorish Spain: Cordoba, Seville and Granada, trans. I. Michael, London 1963. J. Zozaya, 'Islamic fortifications in Spain; some aspects', Papers in Iberian Archaeology, B.A.R. 193, Oxford 1984.

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.

stucco Decorative plasterwork used in architecture. Stucco is primarily an invention of the Iranian world where it was used in the absence of suitable Stucco in serdab of main palace at Sama"a

267 Sudan restricted to its original function of covering walls The materials of construction used in the Sudan and ceilings with carved or moulded patterns. The vary greatly depending on the region and the largest corpus of stucco work from the early Is­ people. On the Red Sea coast in the north of the lamic period has been found at the Abbasid capital country coral is the traditional material for perma­ of Samarra in Iraq. The stucco from this site has nent buildings, whereas in those parts bordering been divided into three groups or styles which on the Nile, including Khartoum, mud is princi­ may represent a chronological development. Style pally used. 'A' consists of vine leaves and vegetal forms de­ There are few Islamic buildings in Sudan which rived from the Byzantine architecture of Syria-Pal­ date from before the nineteenth century, except in estine; style 'B' is a more abstract version of this; the Red Sea port of Suakin. This city which lies to and style 'C' is entirely abstract with no recogniz­ the south of Port Sudan flourished under the Otto­ able representational forms. The first two styles mans from the sixteenth century. Now almost appear to be carved, but the third style was pro­ entirely abandoned, Suakin provides a useful indica­ duced by wooden moulds. The Samarra styles are tion of the historic urban architecture of the Red significant as they reappear later in buildings such Sea coast which has elsewhere mostly disappeared. as the Ibn Tulun Mosque where the soffits of the The houses, many of them up to three storeys high, arches are decorated with style 'B' ornament. After are built of coral slabs taken from the coastal the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate stucco contin­ foreshore. ued to be one of the main forms of decoration and In the Nile valley houses are traditionally built spread throughout the Islamic world to India, Ana­ around two or three sides of a large central court­ tolia and Spain. yard or compound. The standard method of con­ See also: Khirbet al-Mafjar, Samarra struction is horizontal courses of mud and dung mixed with small stones and later covered with a Sudan plaster of smooth mud (jalus). The most striking feature of traditional houses in the area is the The Republic of Sudan is the largest country in Africa painted decoration made of mud- and lime-based and spans the area between North Africa and sub­ pigments. Usually the outer fa~ades of the houses Saharan Africa. are decorated with particular emphasis on the doors, Like Egypt, Sudan owes its existence to the Nile, whilst inside a principal reception room is also which flows through the country from Kenya in decorated. the south to Egypt in the north. The western part See also: East Africa, Egypt, Somalia of the country forms part of the Sahara desert whilst the area east of the Nile is divided between Siileymaniye the Ethiopian Highlands and the Red Sea. Although Islam is the official religion, Muslims Ottoman mosque complex in Istanbul built for Suley­ only make up two-thirds of the population, the man the Magnificent between 1550 and 1557. rest of whom are either Christian (4 per cent) or The complex consisted of a hospital, medical have tribal religions. Historically northern Sudan school, hospice, soup kitchen, primary school, four has always been dominated by its Egyptian neigh­ madrassas (colleges), shops and coffee houses in bour to the north, nevertheless, throughout the addition to the mosque itself. The complex is built medieval period (seventh to sixteenth centuries) a on an artificial platform on top of a hill that number of Christian urban, centres such as Meroe overlooks the Bosphorus; to the east the ground and Kush have flourished. Islam became the princi­ slopes away rapidly. The mosque precinct contains pal religion of north Sudan' in the early nineteenth three main areas, the mosque itself in the centre, a century after the invasions of the Egyptian ruler courtyard to the north and a tomb garden to the Muhammad Ali. In the late nineteenth century south which contains the tomb of Suleyman and there was a revolt against Turkish Egyptian rule his wife. The mosque is covered with a large which led to the establishment of a quasi-religious central dome (25 m diameter) with two large semi­ state ruled by the Mahdi. This state lasted for domes of equal radius, one above the north en­ sixteen years until 1898 when the country was trance and one above the mihrab. The central area incorporated into the British Empire. is flanked by side aisles covered by small domes of

268 Sultan Hasan Mosque alternating size. Like that of its predecessor the attached but its size and the beauty of its prayer Sehzade Cami, the central dome rests on four hall meant that it was recognized as a congrega­ huge central piers placed in a square. The whole tional mosque as well. building is illuminated with more than a hundred The basic plan of the building consists of a windows and grilles, many of which are filled with central courtyard leading off into four large iwans. stained glass made by the celebrated Ottoman The largest iwan is the prayer hall and behind this glass-maker Ibrahim Sarho~. Outside at each corner is the domed mausoleum. As this was a madrassa of the courtyard are four minarets with balconies for the four rites of Sunni law there were four supported on muqarnas corbels. This is the first separate courtyards, one for each of the rites. Ottoman building in Istanbul to have four minarets, Around each of these courtyards were the students' although previously the 0<; Serefeli in Edirne also rooms arranged in four tiers. Many of the rooms had four. The sides of the building are enlivened were equipped with latrines and those facing the with several entrances (three on each side) ap­ street had large windows. proached by steps and two-tier arcaded galleries The arch of the main iwan, or prayer hall, is placed between the outer corner buttresses. very large and certainly the largest of its kind in The tomb garden behind the mosque contains a Cairo. An inscription runs around the three walls large cemetery which has grown up around the of the iwan in an ornate Kufic on a background of tombs of Suleyman and Roxelane. Both tombs are floral scrolls which includes Chinese lotus flowers. octagonal structures in the traditional Ottoman The mausoleum is entered through a doorway to fashion, although SuI eyman' s tomb unusually faces one side of the mihrab and consists of a domed east instead of north. Roxelane's tomb is smaller chamber 21 m square and 30 m high. The original and placed to one side of SuI eyman's tomb which dome was wooden and has not survived, although stands in the middle of the garden. The interiors of the muqarnas wooden pendentives which carried it both tombs are decorated with Iznik tiles, although remain. Roxelane's tomb is significantly less grand. Suley­ One of the most important aspects of the Sultan man's tomb is surrounded by a colonnaded veran­ Hasan complex is the treatment of the external da with a porch on the east side. This arrangement fa<;ades. Given its prominent position next to the is echoed internally where Suleyman's sarcophagus citadel and the size of the complex it was important is surrounded by a circular colonnade. that its exterior reflected this. Each of the three The arrangement of the complex outside the sides of the mausoleum which projects on the mosque precinct consists of an L-shaped arrange­ south-east side of the complex consists of a central ment of buildings on the north-west side and a medallion around which are ranged four sets of smaller group to the east. The eastern complex is windows, two above and two below. The most built on a steep hill so the madrassas are stepped famous fa~ade of the structure is that containing into the hillside. On the north-west corner of the the entrance on the north side. The entrance-way complex is the tomb of the architect Sinan. itself consists of a large recess covered with an See also: Istanbul, Ottomans, Sinan extravagant muqarnas vault which is comparable with that of the G6k Madrassa in Turkey. The Sultan Hasan Mosque doorway is set at an angle to the rest of the fa~ade so that it can be seen when approaching along the Large madrassa, mosque and tomb complex in Cairo street. The fa<;ade to the right of the doorway built by the Mamluk sultan Hasan. consists of long rectangular recesses extending This building was erected between 1356 and 1361 four storeys from the base of the bUilding to the next to the Citadel of Cairo. The cost of the top, each recess containing windows from the project was so high that it was never fully com­ students' rooms. The height of this arrangement pleted and Sultan Hasan himself was murdered and and its simplicity give this fa~ade a strangely his body hidden, so that he was never buried in modern appearance. the mausoleum. It is a huge complex, measuring Further reading: 65 by 140 m, and four storeys high, making it one D. Berhens-Abouseif, Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An of the largest mosques in Cairo. The main function Introduction, Supplements to Muqamas, 3: 122-8, Leiden of the building was as a madrassa with tomb 1989.

269 Sumatra

J. M. Rogers, 'Seljuk influence in the monuments of The houses of Sumatra are one of the most Cairo', Kunst des Orients 7: 40 ff., 1970-1. distinctive features of the island and are world famous as examples of vernacular architecture. Sumatra There are many regional house forms representing Most westerly large Indonesian island located west of different cultural traditions, many of which predate the Malay peninsula and east of Java. Islam. The basic form of a Sumatran house consists of a building, set on upright piles driven into the The first evidence for Islam in Indonesia comes ground, above which is a huge pitched roof. Wood from late thirteenth-century accounts of Marco is used for the piles and framework of the house, Polo and Chinese documents which state that the bamboo poles for the roof and the walls. Distinc­ region of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was tively Islamic house types include the houses of ruled by Muslim kingdoms. At this time the south­ Aceh, Minangkabu, Batak Mandailing and Lam­ ern part of Sumatra was ruled by the Javanese pung regions. The traditional Aceh house has a kingdom of Majpahit which came to control most fairly basic design consisting of a rectangular plat­ of the area of present-day Indonesia. Nevertheless, form resting on piles with a longitudinal gabled the Muslim states in the north of Sumatra began roof. Aceh houses are usually divided into three to spread, converting first the coastal peoples and with the central area reserved for sleeping. The only later the central area of Melayu. It was from entrance is usually in the middle of one of the long Sumatra that Islam reached the Malay peninsula sides and the gable ends are often decorated with and gradually spread into Java itself. The Portu­ geometric or other non-representational designs. guese victory over Malacca in the early sixteenth The designs are either painted or carved, some­ century meant that Aceh once again became the times as fretwork panels. The most celebrated main centre of Islam in the area. During the seven­ Sumatran house type is that of Minangkabu which teenth century Sumatra was dominated by the has the entrance set in the middle of the long side. ruler of Aceh, Iskandar Muda (1607-36) who had The roofs of the house are made up of a succession artillery, elephant and horse cavalry and a navy of pointed gables resembling the prow of a ship; capable of carrying 700 men. The rule of Iskandar the decoration is similar to that of the Aceh Muda's successor Iskandar Thani Alauddin houses but may also include inset mirror work. Mughayat Syah (1636-41) was a period of cultural The Batak Mandailing houses are similar to those renaissance with several books written about the of Minangkabu with roof ridges that sag in the life of the court. middle and point upwards at the ends. The south­ Unfortunately few early Islamic buildings sur­ ern part of Sumatra, the Lampung area, is heavily vive in Sumatra probably because they were built influenced by neighbouring Java and Malaysia, of wood and frequently replaced. The earliest and its houses are mostly of the coastal type. mosque of which records survive is the Masjid Several palaces survive on Sumatra, the oldest Agung Baiturrahman at Banda Aceh on the north­ of which is the seventeenth-century Aceh palace ern tip of Sumatra. It is likely that the present known as Dar al-Dunya. The building shares many building stands on the site of one of the earliest characteristics with the Javanese palaces, or kratons, mosques in Indonesia; however, the first records of with many references to Hindu cosmology and the building (1612) describe an Indo-Islamic struc­ little relationship to Islamic design. The Dar al­ ture designed with the help of Dutch engineers. Dunya palace has the same north-south axis and The building had three domes which were in­ three successive courtyards found in Java and, like creased to five after a fire. However, it is likely the palaces of Y ogyakarta and Surakarta, has a large that most early mosque forms were related to the formal garden. In the centre of the garden is a traditional Sumatran house design. A recent exam­ mountain-shaped structure with caves and ledges ple is the Rao-Rao Mosque in Batu Sangkar (west for meditation similar to the mountain representa­ Sumatra) with an Indo-Islamic fa~ade behind which tions of Java (e.g. Sunya Ragi). Nineteenth-century is wooden mosque with a complex Sumatran roof­ palaces show increasing Islamic and European influ­ type known as rumah-adhat. This consists of a ence, although there is still little relationship to the three-tiered pyramid roof construction with a small traditional wooden architecture of the island. The kiosk on top crowned with a tall finial. palace of Istana Maimun at Medan is laid out in a

270 Syria (Arabic: ai-Sham) formal European style enlivened with arcades of Fatata Mosque built in 840 and the Great Mosque horseshoe arches and crenellations. established in 859. See also: Indonesia, Java See also: Aghlabids, Tunisia Further reading: E. M. Loeb, Sumatra its History and People, Oxford 1935. Syria (Arabic: ai-Sham) D. Lombard, Le Sultunat d'atjeh au temps d'iskandar Muda Geographically Syria may be defined as the north­ 1607-1636, Publications de l'Ecole Fran<;aise d'extreme­ - Orient. 51, Paris 1967. ern part of Arabia between the Mediterranean and G. Serjeant, 'House form and decoration in Sumatra', Art the Euphrates river. This area includes Lebanon, and Archaeology Research Papers no. 12, 1977. Palestine and Jordan as well as the modem state of Syria. Politically Syria refers to the modem state Susa of Syria which roughly corresponds to the northern part of the geographical area of Syria excluding Tunisian coastal city noted for its ninth-century Agh­ the mountains of Lebanon and including parts of labid buildings. the Jazira between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Under the Byzantines the city was known as (Here the term Syria will be used to identify the Justinianopolis in honour of Justinian who rebuilt area of the modem Arab Republic.) The majority it after the Vandal destruction. In 689 CE it was of Syria's population lives within 100 krn of the captured by the Arabs and became one of the Mediterranean whilst there is lesser concentration principal ports for the Aghlabid conquest of Sicily. of people along the Euphrates river valley. The In 827 the city was refortified with ramparts and area between the coastal strip and the Euphrates is walls built in the Byzantine style. Important Agh­ sparsely populated semi-desert. labid buildings within the city include the ribat Syria was relatively densely populated in Roman built or restored by Ziyadat Allah in 821, the Bu and Byzantine times, with large cities such as

N t

10 15 20m Ribat at Susa, Tunisia (after Creswell)

271 Syria (Arabic: ai- Sham)

settlements relied on the increased trade and mobil­ ity offered by a situation where both eastern and western parts of the desert were united under Islamic rule. The Abbasid revolution in the mid­ eighth century brought about a radical change in the orientation of the Islamic world, where the lands of the former Sassanian Empire became cen­ tral and the west declined in importance. The result in Syria was a decline in wealth and urbaniza­ tion exacerbated by the growth of a rival caliphate (the Fatimids) in Egypt. During the ninth and tenth centuries Syria was in the middle of a three-way conflict between the Abbasids and their successors, the Fatimids and the Byzantines. During the eleventh century the Seljuk Turks established themselves in the north of the country. By the end of the eleventh century the Great Seljuk Empire had divided into a number of inde­ pendent principalities, or Atabegs. The arrival of the Crusaders in the early twelfth century imposed a sense of unity on the Muslim principalities which made itself felt under Salah aI-Din and his Ayyubid successors. During the thirteenth century Syria was subjected to a series of Mongol invasions which were repulsed by the Mamluks who had replaced the Ayyubids as rulers of Syria. There were further Mongol raids in the fifteenth century Muqarnas dome, Hospital of Nur ai-Din, Damascus, Syria, © Rebecca Foote led by the Central Asian ruler Timur. Despite the successive waves of invaders Syria seems to have been prosperous in the Middle Ages and some of Palmyra, Rusafa and Sergiopolis developing in the the finest artistic and architectural works were eastern part of the country. Traditionally it has carried out during this period. been thought that the Arab conquest of the sev­ In 1516 the Mamluks were defeated and Syria enth century bought an end to this wealthy urbani­ was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. The zation. Recent studies, however, have shown that country thrived during the first century of Otto­ there was a more complex sequence of events, man rule with many khans established in the which led to the growth of different parts of the major cities as well in the countryside. The Otto­ country and different areas of cities. What is certain man Hajj (pilgrimage) route to Mecca was of great is that the eastern part of the country, in particular importance during this period with Damascus estab­ Damascus and Raqqa were developed in the lished as the starting-point. During the eighteenth Umayyad and early Abbasid periods. Damascus century Europeans seem to have become increas­ flourished under the Umayyads who established it ingly involved in the commerce of the region. as the capital of their vast empire. The topography Cotton was of particular importance and many of Damascus changed very little from late Byzan­ Europeans established consulates in the coastal tine times and the only major addition was the cities in order to control this trade. In the nine­ construction of the Great Mosque. Elsewhere cities teenth century there seems to have been an eco­ such as Palmyra, Bostra and Raqqa continued to nomic decline with less European trade and increas­ be inhabited with few changes from the Byzantine ing interference from Egypt, culminating in the plan. However, a major change in the Umayyad invasion of 1831. Administrative reforms were period was the development of desert settlements introduced in the latter part of the nineteenth such as Qasr al-Hayr (East and West). These century which led to Syria being regarded as one

272 Syria (Arabic: ai-Sham) of the most advanced parts of the Ottoman Empire. transverse arches carrying short basalt beams which The collapse of Turkish rule in 1918 led to the form the roof. Houses in the Aleppo region are creation of a French protectorate which formed the built of mud brick with conical mud domes resem­ basis of the modem independent republic. bling beehives. Several buildings joined together The building materials used in Syria vary depend­ within a courtyard form a single house. In central ing on the area and type of settlement. On the Syria the traditional house is a rectangular mud­ Mediterranean coast houses are generally stone brick building with a flat roof. These houses are built, often of ashlar masonry; their general appear­ usually surrounded by a courtyard wall which may ance is that of Lebanese houses. In the mountains also include animal pens. In addition to permanent buildings are made out of rubble stone with mud settlements many people are traditionally nomadic mortar, their roofs made of wooden beams covered or semi-nomadic. Black goat-hair tents are the with matting and an exterior coating of earth. The principal form of bedouin tent used in the region. region of the Hauran in the south-east is predomi­ The main cities also have their own methods of nantly basalt desert with no trees. Basalt has been construction which differ from those of the the main material of construction since ancient countryside. times and many traditional houses re-use ancient material because of its indestructibility and the See also: Aleppo, Basra, Damascus, Lebanon, difficulty of carving new basalt blocks. One of the Qasr al-Hayr East, Qasr al-Hayr West, principal forms of house construction is to have Raqqa

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