Islamic architecture | by Cultural Mosaic
Written by | Gaurav Mathur , Edited By | Sneha Rajadhyaksha
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture and beyond. The principal Islamic architectural types are: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace, the Fort, the School, and urban buildings. For all these types of constructions, Islamic architecture developed a rich vocabulary that was also used for buildings of lesser importance such as public baths, fountains and domestic architecture. The following article, recalling salient aspects of the rich tradition of Islamic architecture, provides a brief discussion on the concept of Islamic architecture and reviews a number of its key theoretical issues circulating in the Western academic circles.
Although Muslim architecture has been widely investigated, it still remains omitted from main stream architecture theories and much of the existing works about it are no more than curiosities undertaken by a group of sympathisers. Here, the notion of Islamic architecture has been associated with Muslim monuments such as mosques, palaces, and castles. Some scholars, such as Briggs (1924), called it Muhammedan. Sometimes, it is denoted as Saracenic, a Crusaders' name for the Muslims. In some textbooks, we find deliberate silence, an example of this is Simpson‘s book, one of early key references of History of architecture. his three volume work touched upon the architecture of most nations but jumped from Sassanian and Byzantine architecture (4th and 5th century CE) to European Medieval architecture of the 11th century (Romanesque), ignoring some 500 years of Muslim architectural achievements (700-1200). Hope (1835) provided a chapter on Islamic architecture entitled "Derivation of the Persian, Mohammedan, and Moorish architecture from that of Byzantium." The title clearly demonstrates why Hope referred to Islamic architecture. Meantime, publications referring to it often present a shy coverage. Kostof (1994), for example, gave it a mere eight pages with five figures in his 800 pages work.
Furthermore, there are views circulating in the West which reject the "islamisation" of architecture, arguing that Muslim architecture was used by Orientalists only to differentiate it from other types of architecture. This prejudice is often argued by the misconception of Islam‘s reluctance to building and urbanisation which circulates among some scholars. They propound that the nomadic lifestyle of the Arabs discouraged any form of permanent settlement and thus any architectural or building tradition. According to this view, much of the building heritage of what is called Islamic architecture came from Christian, Persian, or Indian origins and Muslims only imitated and sometimes employed masons from these cultures.
© Copyright Cultural Mosaic . All Rights Reserved.
Written by | Gaurav Mathur , Edited By | Sneha Rajadhyaksha
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture and beyond. The principal Islamic architectural types are: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace, the Fort, the School, and urban buildings. For all these types of constructions, Islamic architecture developed a rich vocabulary that was also used for buildings of lesser importance such as public baths, fountains and domestic architecture. The following article, recalling salient aspects of the rich tradition of Islamic architecture, provides a brief discussion on the concept of Islamic architecture and reviews a number of its key theoretical issues circulating in the Western academic circles.
Although Muslim architecture has been widely investigated, it still remains omitted from main stream architecture theories and much of the existing works about it are no more than curiosities undertaken by a group of sympathisers. Here, the notion of Islamic architecture has been associated with Muslim monuments such as mosques, palaces, and castles. Some scholars, such as Briggs (1924), called it Muhammedan. Sometimes, it is denoted as Saracenic, a Crusaders' name for the Muslims. In some textbooks, we find deliberate silence, an example of this is Simpson‘s book, one of early key references of History of architecture. his three volume work touched upon the architecture of most nations but jumped from Sassanian and Byzantine architecture (4th and 5th century CE) to European Medieval architecture of the 11th century (Romanesque), ignoring some 500 years of Muslim architectural achievements (700-1200). Hope (1835) provided a chapter on Islamic architecture entitled "Derivation of the Persian, Mohammedan, and Moorish architecture from that of Byzantium." The title clearly demonstrates why Hope referred to Islamic architecture. Meantime, publications referring to it often present a shy coverage. Kostof (1994), for example, gave it a mere eight pages with five figures in his 800 pages work.
Furthermore, there are views circulating in the West which reject the "islamisation" of architecture, arguing that Muslim architecture was used by Orientalists only to differentiate it from other types of architecture. This prejudice is often argued by the misconception of Islam‘s reluctance to building and urbanisation which circulates among some scholars. They propound that the nomadic lifestyle of the Arabs discouraged any form of permanent settlement and thus any architectural or building tradition. According to this view, much of the building heritage of what is called Islamic architecture came from Christian, Persian, or Indian origins and Muslims only imitated and sometimes employed masons from these cultures.
© Copyright Cultural Mosaic . All Rights Reserved.
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