Islamic Sacred Space and Place: Mosque Design
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Transcript of Islamic Sacred Space and Place: Mosque Design
Islamic Sacred Space and Place: Mosque Design
Early period (622-900)
Centralized empire
Middle period (900-1500)
Regional centers and local powers
Late period (1500-1800)
Supra-regional powers
Historical periods of Islamic cultures
Prophet Muhammed (c. 570-632)
revelations (Arabic ‘koran’)
about the one God (Arabic, allah)
Islam (Arabic, ‘submission to God)
became 'Muslim' (i.e. one who submitted him/herself to God)
Muhammed Appointed by Archangel Gabriel (16th cen., Turkish)
I. The tenets of Islam and its need for occasional and congregational architecture A. What was the origin of Islam – the third monotheistic religion to emerge from the lineage of Abraham?
The Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (axis mundi)
I. B. What is Islam’s most important – and for some Muslim’s the only – shrine of occasional architecture?
The Five Pillars of Islam – the “edifice” of faith 1. Testify (the shahada): “There is no god but God” 2. Pray five times a day facing in the direction of Mecca; on Friday, go to congregational prayer. 3. Fast sunrise to sunset during the holy month of Ramadan. 4. Give alms to the poor. 5. The Hajj: make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
I. C. Why is congregational architecture necessary in Islam and how does the orientation of mosques emphasize the monotheistic unity of the faith?
Orientation of the world’s mosques to the Kaaba in Mecca
Traditional mosque typologies worldwide
I. C.
House of the Prophet (possibly the first mosque)
mosque at Kufah, 670
Great Mosque of Damascus, 706
Dome of the Rock, 685
I. C.
Great Mosque at Cordoba, Spain, 8th-10th centuries
II. The hypostyle mosque and Muslim prayer ritual
Great Mosque at Kairawan, Tunisia, 9th century (820-39)
II. The hypostyle mosque and Muslim prayer ritual
II.
Great Mosque at CordobaGreat Mosque at Kairawan, Tunisia
Roman spolia in hypostyle mosques
II. A. Transition to sacred space 1. minaret
Great Mosque at CordobaMuhammed gives the call to prayer from the Kaaba a muzzein in a minaret
II. B. 1.
call to prayer : “Allahu Akbar” (“God is most great”)
Repetition of “Allahu Akbar” Orients worshiper toward God as, center of reality.
Drawn-out and sustained sound: human sadness at separation from God.
Minaret of the Great Mosque at Kairawan
II. B. Exterior: characteristics as related to religious purpose
Massive unpierced temenos walls *architecture experienced from within
Great Mosque at CordobaGreat Mosque at Kairawan
II. C. The Courtyard: How is ritual purity achieved before entering the prayer hall?
ablution fountain
1. removal of shoes2. cleanse in the ablution fountain
Great Mosque at Kairawan
II. D. The prayer hall – design principles and effects 1. Design for a non-processional religious gathering
Early Christian and Byzantine designsIslamic non-processional design
non-axial entrances
Santa Sabina
Hagia Sophia Great Mosque at CordobaGreat Mosque at Kairawan
II. D. 2. qibla (“direction of prayer”) in a hypostyle mosque a. How is the qibla made visible in the architecture of the mosque?
Great Mosque at Kairawan Great Mosque at Cordoba
mihrab
mihrab in the Great Mosque of Cordobamihrab in the Great Mosque of Kairawan
II. D. 2.
II. D. 3. Where is the minbar, from which the prayer leader speaks, located?
Great Mosque at Kairawan - the minbar next to the mihrab
II. D. 4. Where is there subtle hierarchy in the plan?
Great Mosque at Cordoba
primacy of the qibla wall
primacy of the mihrab niche
separation of sexes during services
House of the Prophet
mosque at Kufah, 670
Great Mosque of Damascus, 706
Persepolis, Iran, 5th cen. BC
Karnak, 15th cen. BC
III. Spatial character of the Islamic hypostyle as sacred space of monotheism
III. A. 1. Practicality - expandability of the hypostyle type
Great Mosque at Cordoba
*Buildings not necessarily designed as a single balanced unit.
Platonic shape / Pythagorean ratio
III. A. 1.
Great Mosque at Cordoba
Architecture suspended from the ceiling
Great Mosque at Cordoba Hypostyle hall at Karnak, Egypt
III. A. This sacred space as a religious metaphor
Great Mosque at Cordoba
sense of the immeasurable distance, infinity
Great Mosque at Kairawan
III. A.
Great Mosque of CordobaGreat Mosque of Kairawan
III. C. Non-tectonic values
*creation of non-tectonic values
courtyard
mihrab in the Great Mosque of Cordoba
Inscriptions make the word of God visible.
*creation of non-tectonic values
mihrab in the Great Mosque of KairawanNon-figural ornament and inscriptions draw worshiper into contemplation
III. C. 1. Why is the mihrab ornamented with non-figural ornament?
IV. Exterior expressions of secular power in some mosque architecture
maqsura
Door of the Mininsters
Great Mosque of Cordoba
IV. A. “Door of the Ministers” in the west wall
Door exteriorizes the interior architecture
*non-tectonic textures Great Mosque of Cordoba
IV. B. a maqsura
maqsura – screened area close to the mihrab reserved for the ruler or his representative
The maqsura begins where the railing is at the back
Great Mosque of Cordoba
IV. B. Cordoba’s maqsura domes
center domewest maqsura dome east maqsura dome
Comparison of early medieval monotheism’s modulations on classical architecture
Measuring up to the standard set by the classical past