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Showing posts with label Islamic strutures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islamic strutures. Show all posts

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Ince Minaret Madrasa - Seljuk Period-Architecture in Turkey

         Ince Minare Madrasa




Ince Minare Madrasa is the 13th-century Madrasa located in Konya. Ince Minare Madrasa is One of the famous Architecture in Turkey. Ince Madrasa is built between 1260 to 165 CE by Seljuk Sultan Sahib Ata Fahreddin Ali. The architect of Madrasa was the kelul ibn Abdallah. It is the most attractive architecture in Turkey. The Ince Minare Madrasa takes its name from the Its Tall Minare. The Minare of Madrasa is extremely much taller than the building.


The facade of the Building has highly ornamented with stone which includes geometric Patterns, Some relief work, and verticle lines. The entrance of the building is decorated with Thuluth, surah 36, and surah 110. The Minare of the Building has square-shaped from the lower part and round shape from the upper part. The lower part of the Minare was made up of Brick and the color was green. The minaret has two balconies and was built for the adjoining mosque, which preceded the Madrasa now ruined.

The Qibla side of the Mosque contains the prayer hall. Besides this, there is a huge hall covered with a huge decorative Dome. The dome of the madrasa is supported on the sets of four triangular pendentives but without tiles. The minaret was truncated by lighting in 1901.

The Ince madrasa has a T-shaped plan. The portal of the Mosque framed with broadband of calligraphy. The Madrasa was built in a rectangular area. The rooms of the Madrasa are arranged on the north, south, and west sides of a domed courtyard.

Ince Minaret is one of the dominant architecture in Turkey. The decorative work in the Madrasa takes place in the Entrance, the courtyard dome, and the walls of the rooms facing the courtyard. The portal and the foundations of the minaret are decorated with carved stone by using floral and geometric motifs. The decoration of the windows' tympana above the entrances to the students' chambers, the base of the dome, and the triangles making up the fan-shaped pendentives, consist of inscriptions and floral and geometric motifs executed in tile-mosaic. The geometric decoration on the body of the minaret and on the surface of the dome is achieved with both glazed and unglazed brickwork.

The Madrasa was converted into a Museum of Stonework in 1956.

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Monday, August 17, 2020

Mosque of Ala ad-Din - Seljuk Period - Arts and Architecture

 Mosque of Ala ad-Din - Seljuk Period 



Seljuk periods

Ala ad-Din Mosque is the earliest structure built at the Seljuk capital. Mosque of Ala ad-Din situated in Konya, Turkey. The construction of the Mosque began during the period of Sultan Masud I and was completed during the period of the sultan Ala-ad Din keykubad.
The Mosque of Ala ad-Din was constructed in the stage between the 12th and mid 13th centuries in Seljuk Periods. The Architect of the Mosque was Muhammad bin Halvan al -Dimsiki.

 Mosque of Ala ad-Din Features:

  • The mosque has two prayer halls.
  • Towards the north, the prayer hall is a wide courtyard.
  • To the western part of the south, where QIbla is located, is thicker than the eastern part.
  • The eastern part of the prayer hall has seven aisles isolated by six rows of columns that are unique from one another.
  • Both western and eastern regions of the prayer hall have columns that are connected by pointed arches and both are covered with a flat roof.
    Mosque of Ala ad-Din - Seljuk period
  • The western part of the mosque has significantly more irregular design because columns were added to the west of the bay in front of the Mihrab, simply like the case of the east of the mosque, where the irregularity of the piers also points to repairs.
  • Traces of brick arches observed in the east and west walls in a north-south direction give the impression that these walls were shaped by closing off arches.
  • The present horizontal lines of arches sometimes end at piers or sometimes in the middle of arches on the west and east.
    Mosque of Ala ad-Din - Seljuk period
  • This is viewed as a sign that the eastern part had aisles running perpendicular to the Qibla wall.
  • There is two gateway at the north end of the mosque.
  • The pointed arch of the eastern portal is mounted by a knotwork motif in bi-colored marble.
    Mosque Ala Ad-din- Seljuk period
  • The facade and the columns nices on it were built during the reign of Ala-ad din keykubad I.
  • The wooden minbar, executed using the Kund e Kari technique.
  • The Mihrab decorated in tile mosaic.
  • This is a complicated building because of the numerous additions and repairs.
  • There are two monumental tombs in the courtyard. 
  • One was built during the reign of Kilic Arslan II. And the other one was built during the reign of keykavus I.
  • The structure was initially worked as a mosque and is still used as a place of worship
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Thursday, August 6, 2020

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.
    Islamic Architecture Influences
    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
  • Islamic Architecture Influences

    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.
    Islamic Architecture Influences
    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.
    Islamic Architecture Influences

    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

City of Al- Rafiqa , Syria - Islamic Arts And Architecture

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