Islamic Architecture Influences

 Influences of Islamic Architecture

• Islamic Architecture emerged soon After Muhammad's S.A.W.W. time, which was inspired by the Byzantine and Sassanid.
• One of the most important buildings of Islamic Architecture is The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem build in 691.

  

  The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem built in 691
  
  
  

• It is patterned after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Byzantine  Chritirstin artists were employed to create ita elaborate mosaic against the golden background.
• The extraordinary epigraphic vine frieze was adjusted from the Pre-Islamic Syrian Style.
• The Dome of the Rock featured interior vaulted spaces, a round dome, and the utilization of stylized repeating decorative arabesque patterns.
• Desert palaces in Jordan and Syria served the caliphs as living quarters, meeting rooms and showers, and were decorated to promote an image of royal luxury.
• The horseshoe arch became a well-known component in Islamic structures

• 

  
  Horseshoe Arch

  
  
• It said that the adopted it from Syria and Persia where the horseshoe arch has been used by the Byzantines as early as the 5th century.
• After the Moorish intrusion of Spain in 711 AD, the form was taken by the Umayyads who emphasized the curvature of the horseshoe.
• The Great Mosque of Damascus based on the site of the basilica of John the Baptist after the Islamic invasion of Damascus, a still incredible similarity to 6th and 7th-century Christian basilicas.
• Certain modifications were executed, including extending the structure along the transversal axis which is a better fit with the Islamic style of prayer.
• The Abbasid dynasty witnessed the movement of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, and from Bagdad to Samara.
• The shift to Baghdad influenced politics, culture, and art.
• The great mosque of Samarra, once the biggest in the world, was built for the new capital.
• Other major mosques built in the Abbasid architecture in Iraq as exemplified in the Fortress of AL-Ukhaidir.
• The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is viewed as the precursor of the considerable number of mosques in the western Islamic world.
• Its original marble columns and sculptures were of Roman workmanship brought in form Carthage and other elements resemble Roman form.
• It is one of the best-preserved and most significant examples of early great mosques, founded in 670 A.D.
• The Great Mosque of Kairouan is comprised of a massive square Minrate,  a huge courtyard surrounded by porticos, and a large hypostyle prayer hall covered on its axis by two cupolas.
• The great mosque of Samara in Iraq, completed in 474 AD, combined the hypostyle architecture.

  

  Great Mosque of Kairouan
  
  

• The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul also influenced by Islamic Architecture. When Ottomans conquered the city from Byzantine., they converted the Basilica to the Mosque.
• The Hagia Sophia also served the model of many mosques e.g. Shehzad Mosque, The Suleman Mosque, and  The Rustom Pasha mosque.

  

  
  Hagia Sophia
  

   
• Domes are the major structure of Islamic Arts and Architecture.
• The dome first appears in 691 in Islamic Architecture.
• Motifs of Islamic Architecture have always been the mathematical themes of repetition, rhythmic, and patterns. 
• other features are included Colounms, piers, arches, and niches.

I hope you like it. For more information stay Tuned. Thank you