Dome of the Rock

Jerusalem

687-92

Islamic

• Primary Patron: Abd Al-Malik

• Constructed in response to a military victory

• Thought of as a tribute, and ascendancy of the islamic world

• Former site of Temple of Solomon, burial of Adam

• Jesus dies and was resurrected in Jerusalem

• Earliest work of Islamic Architecture

• octagonal plan- similar to san vitale,santa costanza and Holy sepulchre

• Dome made of wood, gilded, and entirely covered with mosaics

• mosaics contain foliage, lavish pots, and crowns

• Also mosaics with inscriptions-speak of christ as a messenger of god, rather than as a son of god

Great Mosque of Cordoba

Spain,

784 

Islamic

• hypostyle hall: flat ceiling supported by columns

• cordoba- great intellectual capital of Europe

• Provided hall for prayer and for teaching

• two leveled mosque- short columns with a layer on top

• arches pinched in at the base.

• Suggest nostalgia for Umayyad homeland (mosque at Damascus) or possibly influenced by roman architecture

  Dome's squinches form unique octagonal pattern

   

Mosque of Selim II, Edirne, Turkey, 1568-75

Islamic

• Created by sinan

• Built Selim II at 80 years of age

• Inspired by Haggia Sophia, but with a larger dome

• four large minarets

  Dome rests on supports that form octagon 

   

   

Koran Page,

c. 1000

Baghdad

Islamic

• Caligraphy was a spiritual exercise.

• Page made purely of text

• Script written from left to right

• Kufic script- only consonants written with vowels indicated by dots

Mihrab with blue tiles from Isfahan, Iran 1354

Islamic

• blue tiles highlighted by white tiles

• right angles avoided   

  Kuran Lines

  Pointed arch

   

Decorative stucco

Granada, Court of Lions

Islamic

• Inscription reads “ you would think that they are heavenly spirits”