Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Entrance portal at the Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars in Cairo, Egypt (13th century) Ablaq became a prominent feature of Mamluk architecture in Syria, Egypt and Palestine in the 14th and 15th centuries. During this period, black and white stone were often used as well as red brick in recurring rows, giving a three colored striped building. [3]
Along the top corners of the walls runs a black cloth embroidered with gold Qur'anic verses. Caretakers anoint the marble cladding with the same scented oil used to anoint the Black Stone outside. Three pillars (some erroneously report two) stand inside the Kaaba, with a small altar or table set between one and the other two.
An octagonal drinking fountain is aligned with the central portal of the north façade. The pyramidal roof of the fountain is supported by composite black and white columns with braided central sections. The north façade of the mosque is constructed in alternation layers of black and white stone. The double portico has five domes.
The mosque has an unusual layout, consisting of two consecutive halls, with the second one accessed through the first one. The first hall is accessed via a portal with a large pointed arch, inside which is a doorway built in alternating black and white stone, or ablaq.
Middle stage patterns on geometric borders around a Mihrab in the Alâeddin Mosque, Konya, Turkey. 1220 onwards. The next development, marking the middle stage of Islamic geometric pattern usage, was of 6- and 8-point stars, which appear in 879 at the Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo, and then became widespread. [25]
The eastern side of the complex includes the Sultan's mausoleum, a khanqah, a sabil (water distribution kiosk), and a kuttab (Islamic primary school), while the western side of the complex is a mosque and madrasa. [2] Today the mosque-madrasa is still open as a mosque while the khanqah-mausoleum is open to visitors as a historic site. [3]
Stone relief with arabesques of tendrils, palmettes and half-palmettes in the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus. The Islamic arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, [13] often combined with other elements.
Balconies are a common feature of Islamic domestic architecture due to the warm climates in most countries. One of the mosque recognizable types is the mashrabiya, a wooden lattice screen which projects from the side of a building and which protected privacy by allowed those inside to look outside without being visible from outside.