Discover Top Posts Tagged with #islamicarchitecture

In 1978, the Rübel Asiatic Research Collection became part of the Fine Arts Library. Langdon Warner, an archaeologist and historian specializing in East Asian art, was the first professor of Asian art history at Harvard and the Curator of Oriental Art in the Fogg Art Museum. Warner traveled to Asia numerous times, among them an 1913-14 trip sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution to explore the possibility of founding an American School of Chinese Archaeology in Beijing.[1] In 1923 and 1925, the Fogg Museum sent Warner to western China. These expeditions have become controversial due to the removal of antiquities.

The Rübel Asiatic Research Bureau was established in 1927 with the opening of the Fogg Art Museum. Warner donated books and photographs from his personal collection to the Bureau, which served as the curatorial library of the Oriental Art Department. The Bureau was further strengthened by Boston businessman and Harvard alumnus, C. Adrian Rübel, who established a dedicated fund for the purchase of Asian books and art materials. In 1978, the Bureau was integrated into the Fine Arts Library, and its official name was changed to the Rübel Asiatic Research Collection. Today, the Rübel Collection includes approximately 65,000 volumes devoted to the history of Asian art, focusing on the art, architecture, and archaeology of China, Japan, Korea, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and India.

In 1979, the Documentation Center of the Aga Khan Program was established at the Fine Arts Library, a part of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, funded by a gift from H.H. the Aga Khan to support teaching and research on the history of art and architecture in Islamic societies.

Since then, the Fine Arts Library has been building comprehensive collections that combine visual and printed documentation in all languages and formats on the art, architecture, archaeology, and epigraphy of the Islamic world. The Middle East and Islamic Photographs include more than 150,000 photographs and slides documenting Islamic art and architecture, as well as ethnographic views, plans, and maps. Former librarian for Islamic Art and Architecture, András Riedlmayer cataloged years of cultural heritage destruction by Serbian nationalists in the Balkans in the 1990s and testified before the U.N. a decade later. Riedlmayer donated some of the burned books he collected from the Balkans to the Aga Khan Program at the Fine Arts Library.

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Hammouda-Pasha & Al-Zaytuna Mosques ( Tunis / Tunisia )

Memories of the Past

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What is Islamic Architecture?

Islamic Architecture is an architectural style that dominates Muslim-majority countries around the world such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many more, but is not limited to these locations. Islamic architecture can be found across the globe - though the architecture in other locations may not hold all the main characteristics - there are definite elements that have been incorporated into the western, modern world, (The Spruce., 2022).

This architectural style is associated with the religion of Islam, and has evolved from various other architectural styles like that of Mesopotamian and Roman.

Islamic architecture has several characteristics that are recognisable to even the untrained eye; the use of colour, geometric shapes, symmetry, patterns and calligraphy define the architectural style (Invaluable., 2020). This style of architecture is typically associated with religious establishments in Islam such as the Mosque, but is not restricted to this, the style extends to palaces, tombs, forts and public buildings. One of the oldest elements to identifying Islamic architecture is the presence of Minarets and domes. Minarets are tower-like structures with small windows and enclosed spiral staircases made for muezzins (a man who calls Muslims to pray) to call to worshippers from a high point. The minarets often feature one or more balconies. The forms of the minarets commonly seen range from thick, squat, spiral ramps to soaring, delicate, pencil-thin spires, with the base usually being square in shape. The number of minarets located in a Mosque will vary from one to six and they stand as landmarks of Islam.

Grand Mosque of Samarra and the spiralling Malwiya Minaret (Adventures of Nicole., 2022).

Domes (like several other architectural movements such as Renaissance and Byzantine) are also a regular feature of islamic architecture.

The first Islamic design featuring a dome is a 7th century shrine in Jerusalem - Dome of the Rock, Arabic Qubbat al-Ṣakhrah. Dome of the Rock was built by Umayyad caliph (chief Muslim civil and religious ruler of the first Muslim dynasty) 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān. The structure is situated on a flat elevated plaza known to Muslims as 'The Noble Sanctuary' (al-Haram al-Sharīf), and the rock above which the dome is located is the spot the propet Muhammad was taken up into heaven for an encounter with God (Mi'rāj), (Britannica., 2014).

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 691-692 CE.

Most domes rest on pendentives which are constructional devices used to place circular domes over square or rectangular shaped rooms. You can recognise pendentives as Islamic architecture by its decorative tiles or muqarnas - a form of ornamental vaulting, (IvyPanda.,2020).

Diagram of pendentives.

Muqarnas and decorative tiles example.

The most important piece of indo-Islamic architecture os the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. This tomb was built between 1320 and 1324 CE by Giyath al-Din Tughluq in the pre-mughal, architectural style, Giyath was the governor of Diplapor (a city in the Okara District of the Punjab, Pakistan) and is thought to have been built to serve as a tomb for himself. However, it was presented to the family of the renowned Sufi saint Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fateh (Sacred Sites., 2020). The tomb is an octagonal shape, 35m high and structured by red brick with a visible frame of beams and shisam wood, and further designed with the use of carved brick, wood blue and white faience mosaic tiles with raised relief patterns. The octagon is decorated with geometric, floral, and arabesque designs and calligraphic motifs. The interior was originally plastered but is now bare and the sarcophagus is surrounded by 72 of his descendants. The saint is still held in high esteem and the tomb is the focus of over 100,000 pilgrims from all over South Asia who visit in order to commemorate his memory, (Unesco., 2004).

Shah Rukn-i-Alam, Multan, Pakistan.

Arches are yet another prominent feature of identifying Islamic architecture, and their placements usually define the entrances to buildings and rooms. There are several types of arches including: Pointed Arches, Ogee Arches, Horseshoe Arches, and Multifoil Arches. The double arched system of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, the pointed arches of the Al-Aqsa masque provide excellent examples of how arches become indispensable features of Islamic architecture (Rethinking the Future., 2023).

Double Arches of Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

The majority of mosques and palaces falling under the style of Islamic architecture feature courtyards and can house large gatherings of people during festive occasions and prayers. The courtyards will feature fountains for the people to perform ablution before prayers.

Now that there has been an introduction into what it takes to create for Islamic styled architecture, the rest of the blog is open to deeper dives of certain establishments, countries, and architects themselves,

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Summer Marshall-Miller

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hohenadel, K. (2022) The Spruce. Available at: https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-islamic-architecture-5120474 (Accessed 20 January, 2023)

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. (2014) Encyclopaedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/mosque (Accessed: 20 January, 2023)

Unknown Author (2020) Invaluable. Available at: https://www.invaluable.com/blog/islamic-art-patterns/ (Accessed: 21 January, 2023)

IvyPanda (2020) 'Muqarnas in Islamic Architecture'. Available at: https://ivypanda.com/essays/muqarnas-in-islamic-architecture/ (Accessed: 24 January 2023)

UNESCO (2004) Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam. Available at:https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1884/#:~:text=The%20tomb%20of%20Shah%20Rukn,saint%20following%20the%20latter%27s%20death (Accessed 7th December 2022).

Unknown Author (2023) Rethinking the Future. Available at: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architectural-styles/a2589-10-distinctive-elements-of-islamic-architecture/ (Accessed: 23 January 2023).

Nicole Smoot (2022) The Adventures of Nicole. Available at: https://adventuresoflilnicki.com/samarra-iraq/ (Accessed: 23 January 2023).

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