Islamic architecture Week 4 Abbasid Architecture 750 AD

Islamic architecture Week 4 Abbasid Architecture (750 AD - 1258 AD)

• In 750 there was a revolution against Umayyad rule which began in eastern Iran and rapidly spread over the whole empire. The Umayyads were totally destroyed except for one prince who fled to Spain and established the Umayyad dynasty there. • The newly established Abbasids decided to move the capital from Damascus to a city further east - 762 Baghdad was founded by the Abbasid caliph al. Mansur. • Baghdad grew to be one of the biggest and most populous cities in the world based around Mansur's famous round city.

The City of Baghdad – Al Mansur’s famous circular city of Baghdad (city of peace) The Samarra of Al-Mutasim ABASSID ARCHITECTURE IN CAIRO . Conslusion – Architecture of Kufa, basra and Wasit prevails - Flat-roofed hypostyle 1 st evolved. - Architect as Persian brought palaces and Sasanian four-part court (iwan)

• The city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 AD. • The Abbasid Caliphate was based on their being the descendants of the uncle of Muhammad s. a. w. and being part of the Quraysh tribe. • They used Shi’a resentment , Khorasanian movement, and appeals to the ambitions and traditions of the newly conquered Persian aristocracy to overthrow the Umayyads. • The Abbasids sought to combine the hegemony of the Arabic tribes with the imperial, court, ceremonial, and administrative structures of the Persians. • The Abbasids considered themselves the inheritors of two traditions: the Arabian-Islamic (bearers of the mantle of Muhammad) and the Persian (successors to the Sassanid monarchs • These two things are evident from the construction, which is modeled after Persian structures and the need of Mansur to place the capital in a place that was representative of Arab-Islamic identity by building the House of Wisdom , where ancient texts were translated from their original language, such as Greek, to Arabic. Mansur is credited with the" Translation Movement "for this. Further, Baghdad is also near the ancient Sassanid imperial on the Tigris River.

http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Baghdad The plan of the Round City of Madinat al (-Salam (Baghdad was thought to have looked like as originally conceived by the Caliph al-Mansur, when he started building his new capital in 758 AD Back Slide 6161

• Construction • Mansur assembled engineers, surveyors, and art constructionists from around the world to come together and draw up plans for the city. • Over 100, 000 construction workers came to survey the plans. • Throughout the city marble was used to make the buildings. • Within the city there were many parks, gardens, villas, and beautiful promenades which gave the city an elegant and classy finish. • The city was designed as a circle about 2 km in diameter, leading it to be known as the "Round City". • The original design shows a ring of residential and commercial structures along the inside of the city walls, but the final construction added another ring, inside the first. • In the centre of the city lay the mosque, as well as headquarters for guards. • The purpose or use of the remaining space in the center is unknown. The circular design of the city was a direct reflection of the traditional Arab urban design. • The ancient Sasanian city of Gur is nearly identical in its general circular design, radiating avenues, and the government buildings and temples at the centre of the city.

• • • The four surrounding walls of Baghdad were named Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, and Damascus; named because their gates pointed in the directions of these destinations. The distance between these gates was a little less than a mile and a half. Each gate had double doors that were made of iron; since the doors were so heavy it took several men to open and close them. The wall itself was about 44 m thick at the base and about 12 m thick at the top. Also, the wall was 30 m high. , which included merlons, a solid part of an embattled parapet usually pierced by embrasures. This wall was surrounded by another wall with a thickness of 50 m. The second wall had towers and rounded merlons, which surrounded the towers. This outer wall was protected by solid glacis, which is made out of bricks and quicklime. Beyond the outer wall was a water filled moat. The two designers who were hired by al-Mansur to plan the city's design were Naubakht, Zoroastrian who also determined that the date of the foundation of the city would be astrologically auspicious, and Mashallah, a Jew from Khorasan, Iran.

City of Samarra • In 836 the Abbasid caliphate's Turkic slave soldiers — known as Mamluk — agitated the citizens of Baghdad, provoking riots. The capital of the Caliphate was moved from Baghdad to the new city of Samarra later that year by Caliph Al-Mu'tasim. • During this time the original pre-Islamic settlement was replaced with a new city established in 833. Samara would remain the capital of the Muslim world until 892 when it was returned to Baghdad by al. Mu'tamid. Samarra further developed under Caliph al-Mutawakkil. • Caliph al-Mutawakkil sponsored the construction of the Great Mosque of Samarra with its spiral minaret, built in 847. • The Abbassid capital was shifted back to Baghdad and Samarra entered a prolonged decline.

The Samarra of Al-Mutasim

The Great Mosque of Samarra is a 9 th century mosque which is located in the Iraqi city of Samarra. The mosque was commissioned in 848 and completed in 851 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned (in Samarra) from 847 until 861. The Great Mosque of Samarra was at one time the largest mosque in the world; its minaret , the Malwiya Tower, is a vast spiralling cone (snail shaped) 52 meters high and 33 meters wide with a spiral ramp. The mosque had 17 aisles, and its walls were panelled with mosaics of dark blue glass. It was part of an extension of Samarra eastwards.

Plan of the Samarra Mosque The art and architecture of the mosque was influential; stucco carvings within the mosque in floral and geometric designs represent early Islamic decoration. Additionally, the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Egypt was based on the Samarra mosque in many regards

The Great Mosque - mihrab (interior of south wall

The Great Mosque - exterior of qibla (south) wall

Samarra Mosque Arabian pattern with Iranian technical and styles undertone. Has 9 nine bays deep, riwaqs consist of 4 rows and entrance side has 3 rows. Enclosure had 13 doors, 5 at each sides 3 at entrance. Interior had a ceiling height 11 m with single row of windows. Large piers in baked brick supporting flat roof. Roof covered with earthen material. It show the new spirit of experimentation.

The minaret standing on a square base, with exterior spiral ramp. Place at central axis of the mesjid at the North wall. Not anymore use in other mesjids. Islamic decorative art applied with use of stucco and carved wood. Stucco decoration used in mihrab and exterior facades. Mosaic are use also.

The Malwiyya: the famous spiraling, free-standing minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra. It was repeatedly compared to Mesopotamian Ziggurats

Abbasid Arch in Cairo Mosque of Ibn Tulun From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Ţūlūn is located in Cairo, Egypt. • It is arguably the oldest mosque in the city surviving in its original form, and is the largest mosque in Cairo in terms of land area. • The mosque was commissioned by Ahmad ibn Ţūlūn, the Abbassid governor of Egypt from 868– 884. • The mosque was constructed on a small hill called Gebel Yashkur, "The Hill of Thanksgiving. " • The grand ceremonial mosque was intended as the focal point of Ibn Ţūlūn's capital, al-Qatta'i, which served as the center of administration for the Tulunid dynasty. • The mosque originally was backed by ibn Ţūlūn's palace, and a door adjacent to the minbar allowed him direct entry to the mosque. • The mosque was constructed in the Samarran style common with Abbassid constructions. • The mosque is constructed around a courtyard, with one covered hall on each of the four sides, the largest being on the side of the qibla, or direction to Mecca. • The original mosque had its ablution fountain (sabil) in the area between the inner and outer walls. A distinctive sabil with a high domed roof was added in the central courtyard at the end of the thirteenth century by the Sultan Lajīn.

Plan of the Mosque The mosque has been restored several times. Rectangular enclosure (118 x 138 m) has tarditional transversal 5 aisles on the mihrab. Sahn is surrounded by double arcades on 3 sides. Flat timber roof. 3 -side of the mesjid has narrow area (ziyadas) which at the north side has minaret. During the medieval period, several houses were built up against the outside walls of the mosque. Two of the oldest and best-preserved homes were left intact. The "house of the Cretan woman" (Beit al-Kritliyya) and the Beit Amna bint Salim, were originally two separate structures, but a bridge at the third floor level was added at some point, combining them into a single structure. The house, accessible through the outer walls of the mosque.

The enclosed, domed sabil, or ablution fountain, in the central courtyard

• The Ziyada The Mosque of Ibn Tulun has a Ziyada (an additional exterior space in between the two set of walls) and during the Late Ottoman period, one side of the Ziyada was filled with numerous Ottoman apartment blocks. These apartment blocks were removed during a restoration, and the whole Ziyada was cleared and restored. The Mosque is covered with this Ziyada on all sides except the Qibla side wall. • The Arcades cover the four sides of the courtyard. These arcades are supported by piers instead of columns, which is unusual for its time. One explanation for this is that the Christian architect of this mosque wanted to avoid having columns taken as spolia from churches in Cairo. Another more adequate explanation was that the Samarran style of building with bricks required them to use piers. • The Mehrab It is decorated with carved and stucco, painted wood and glass mosaic on the top part, and marble panels on the lower part. The Shahada is stated around the top of the Mehrab and is of Kufic Script (The term kufic, derived from the early Muslim city of Kufa where a particular variant of the angular style developed, came to be used generically to denote all angular scripts)

Ibn Tulun mosque: courtyard and ablution fountain

A general view of the mosque with the fountain dome in the center The furthest westerly evidence of the spread of the Abbasid imperial style. This mosque is distinguished by its combination of columns and piers (eastern and western influences), its spiralling minaret and exclusive dependence on brick as a building material. Its porticos are composed of brick piers with four engaged brick columns which run along its four sides

Stucco Decoration, Samarra Style: the style tended towards the abstraction of scrolls, stems, and leaves that belonged to the decorative vocabulary of Antiquity. Following the degree of abstraction, three styles have been identified: Style A: vine-leave ornament bearing resemblance to the Hellenistic, naturalizing origin. Style B: vegetal ornament with some abstraction such as no stalks from which the leaves grow. Style C: moulded pattern, very abstract with a combination of vegetal and geometric motifs. Patterns are normally inscribed within borders

Plan of the Qubbat al-Sulaibiyya The Qubbat al-Sulaibiyya: First monumental mausoleum in Islam, built for the caliph al-Muntasir (862. (