Monuments of Islamic Architecture Lectures delivered by Professors
Monuments of Islamic Architecture Lectures delivered by Professors Gülru Necipoğlu and David Roxburgh at Harvard University Specially adapted for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Education Programme in collaboration with the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University
Architecture of Empire: The Abbasids Lesson 6
Abbasid Colors The Abbasid revolution took place in Merv (now Turkmenistan) and Khorosan (Eastern Iran). It aimed to include the non. Arabs who had converted to Islam into the ruling elite. Because the Umayyads restricted many rights to the Arabs, the Persians and other groups who had converted to Islam rebelled, believing that they should be equally entitled. These revolutionaries adopted black costumes, which became adopted by the Abbasid caliphate. Illustrations from a manuscript from the 13 -14 th centuries depict the Abbasids and their prayer leaders in black costumes, signifying allegiance to the Abbasid caliphate. They wear armbands (tiraz) inscribed with the name of the caliph. These armbands were very highly political symbols. When the Fatimids came to power they adopted white as their color. Hence, costume, color and other aspects of visual and material culture were highly ideological signifiers of political allegiance. The color black showed allegiance to the Abbasid caliphate. The depiction of the pilgrimage parade to Mecca during the hajj ceremony shows the black flags with inscriptions that were carried to advertise the power of the Abbasid caliphs. The painting of a mosque interior, on the other hand, depicts a black-robed Abbasid preacher with tiraz armbands on a minbar featuring a pair of black Abbasid flags (standards).
Mosque in Kufa, Iraq ✤ The city of Kufa in Iraq was a major Shi'ite center and the place where the fourth Sunni Caliph ʿAli (the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law), who is the first Imam of Shi'is, was based. The ‘Alids opposed from this power base the Umayyads who were not descendants of the Prophet. ✤ Kufa is one of five Iraqi cities that are of great importance to Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq, along with Samarra, Karbala, Najaf and Kadhimiyya. ✤ The hypostyle Kufa Great Mosque is based on the model of the Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque in Medina, with its equally distributed pillars lacking axiality and a central nave leading to a domed maqsura in front of the mihrab. ✤ It is like a forest of columns, defining a undifferentiated space, and includes a central courtyard with double rows of pillars. Kufa Great Mosque
Mosque of al-Mansur, Baghdad (76267) ✤ The mosque of the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (r. 754– 775) at the center of the round city of Baghdad was relatively simple in its construction. Eventually a second courtyard was added to increase the size of the mosque. ✤ Occasionally rulers decided that the qibla direction was incorrect. If som they demolished the old mosque and built a new one according to their understanding of the “correct” direction of the qibla. ✤ Al-Mansur’s mosque featured brick piers rather than marble columns and lacked a dome. This hypostyle mosque thus negated the Umayyad domed models with spolia marble columns and central axial naves, preferring instead the undifferentiated space of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina as a model.
The Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil’s two mosques in Samarra ✤ Unlike the domed Umayyad mosques, the domeless Abbasid great mosques were distant from the caliphal palaces. The Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847– 861) created a second extension of Samarra, called Ja'fariyya, about eight kilometers to the north on the east bank of the Tigris. This second mosque of al -Mutawakkil in Samarra, called the Mosque of Abu Dulaf (85961) became the city’s new congregational mosque, serving the same function as did the caliph’s earlier Great Mosque in Samarra, but only for a brief period. The caliph al-Mutawakkil lived there less then a month after its inauguration and was killed by his Turkish guards. The city was then abandoned. ✤ This new Samarran mosque was smaller than the earlier one called the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil (848 -51) in Samarra, which remains the biggest mosque in the Islamic world. ✤ One of the innovations of the Samarran Abbasid mosques was an open zone around the mosque, known as ziyada (extra or enlargement). Functions related to the mosque were fulfilled in these extensions such as ablutions, medical facilities, law courts etc. Such spaces can be seen as an early example of multifunctional mosque complexes built by later Tulunid and Ottoman rulers. ✤ The tombs of rulers had not been important at this time. The Abbasid mosques were anonymous structures though they were built by individual caliphs. The royal tombs were associated more with palace sites in this early period. Deceased Abbasid and Fatimid caliphs were often buried within their palace pavilions. It was not until the Seljuk period that rulers and dignitaries built their own tombs attached to madrasas and other public building types.
First Great Mosque of al -Mutawakkil in Samarra (848 -51) ✤ The Abbasid mosques of Samarra were destroyed by the invading pagan Mongols; only the Shi'i religious shrines and burials of imams were spared. ✤ Little remains of the interior of the first Great Mosque of al. Mutawakkil, however the baked brick outer wall still stands. The brick piers are distributed equally without any axial nave leading to the mihrab. ✤ The mihrab was rectangular with two marble columns on each side positioned in the southern qibla wall of the mosque. ✤ There was a U-shaped ziyada or additional outer space, where through aerial photographs one can detect the many structures that had once existed, including medical facilities, law courts, and ablution fountains. There was a second ziyada which completely surrounded the already extended first outer area. ✤ Behind the mihrab there was a palatial pavilion where the caliph would take ablutions, wear his ceremonial clothing, and hold receptions. This can be seen as a way of preserving the Umayyad idea of the contiguity between caliphal palace and mosque. However it in the Abbasid case, it is a temporary connection, as the caliphs were no longer living in palaces contiguous to the qibla walls of great mosques.
Malwiyya Minaret Samarra, Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil, spiral minaret (Malwiyya) ✤ Another unprecedented feature was a new type of Abbasid minaret introduced in al -Mutwawakkil’s first mosque in Samarra and repeated in smaller scale in the same caliph’s Abu Dulaf Mosque, also in Samarra, with a similar version only seen again in the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, a mosque based directly on Abbasid models in Samarra. ✤ This new type of spiral minaret was built not attached to the mosque, unlike the Umayyad ones which were derived from Mediterranean square towers in churches. ✤ Those in Samarra are square based spiral towers. They have been connected to the Mesopotamian ziggurats, which were however angular rather than circular. The Samarran minarets are therefore an Abbasid invention. The first one was named Malwiyya. which means twisted or snail shell like. The Abu Dulaf Mosque features a smaller spiral minaret, also built in baked brick. ✤ These minarets became symbols within the sprawling urban city-scapes of Samarra, announcing both through their verticality and soundscape the presence of Islam. Babylon, Ziggurat
AL-MUTAWAKKIL’S GREAT MOSQUE IN SAMARRA (848 -51) ✤ In al-Mutawakkil’s first mosque, each of the baked brick octagonal piers were framed by four marble colonettes in the corners. These marble columns were imported. Both material evidence and descriptions of the construction show that the caliph called artists from all over the Abbasid empire to participate in the construction of this monument. ✤ However, there was still an avoidance domes, as in Baghdad, and the flat roof was upheld by thick beams of wood. ✤ A frieze of sunken square niches with beveled frames runs the upper course of the entire structure. The façade with roundels in squares almost has a modernist flavor. A
Mosque of Abu Dulaf (859 -61) ✤ The Mosque of Abu Dulaf in Samarra is smaller than the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil. In this mosque arches were built on top of square brick piers rather than the octagonal piers with colonnettes used in the larger, earlier mosque. The inner space was not equally distributed, but instead a new plan type came about in which the central nave was wider than the others. The arches form two horizontal spaces parallel to the qibla wall. They delineate a T-shape in conjunction with the axial central nave. The origin of this T-shaped plan is not known. ✤ The T-shaped plan was likely introduced to reinforce the caliphal presence as it is not only directed toward the mihrab but also toward the pavilion behind the mihrab, where the caliph would prepare himself and take his ablutions. ✤ The caliph’s pavilion has a four-iwan plan, with a courtyard attached to it. The T-type plan is similar to the 9 th century Mosque of Qayrawan built by the Aghlabids, who ruled in North Africa as Abbasid vassals. ✤ In the Abu Dulaf Mosque the ziyada is a U-shaped wider space enveloping the prayer hall, which is surrounded by many buildings. ✤ The minaret is directly on the axis of mihrab as in the previous great mosque of Samarra. Many of the mosques in North Africa and Arab lands follow this tradition of a single minaret on the axis of the mihrab, which is different from what Umayyads did (using multiple corner minarets).
A building whose function is not known sits across the river from where the main city was developed. Scholars have noted its similarity to the Dome of the Rock. It is an octagonal building with an ambulatory. It is on a high platform reached by stairs from four sides, as one reaches the raised platform of the Dome of the Rock. This octagonal monument in Samarra is thought to be a tomb as there were some burials underneath the structure. It has also been proposed that this might be a symbolic shrine for circumambulation by those who were unable to perform the pilgrimage to either to Jerusalem or Mecca.
Abbasid Vassals of Egypt and Ifriqiya ✤ The Tulunids were a dynasty of Turkic origin ruling in Egypt and much of Syria. They broke away from the central authority of the Abbasids in 868 and remained independent until 905, when the Abbasids regained control over the Tulunid domains. ✤ The Aghlabids were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Nejdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya—an area composed of modernday Tunisia, western Libya and eastern Algeria. The Aghlabids ruled nominally as vassals on behalf of the Abbasid caliphs for a century until the were overthrown by the Fatimids. ✤ Unlike the Abbasid mosques of Baghdad and Samarra, the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo and the Aghlabid Mosque of Qayrawan are both extant and therefore offer more complete examples of Abbasid architecture and aesthetics. ✤ The city of Cairo, as its location is understood today, was a creation of the Fatimid caliphate. At the time of the Tulunids the capital of Egypt was al-Qata’i a military settlement whose focal point was the Samarran-style grand congregational mosque commissioned by Ahmad Ibn Tulun 876 -878/79.
Mosque of Ibn Tulun (876 -878/79) ✤ Mosque of Ibn Tulun was built in the 9 th century by Ahmad ibn Tulun, a Turkic slave-soldier who became the semiautonomous ruler of Egypt. ✤ The building was constructed in the Abbasid style with a flat roof, resting on arched piers and a large courtyard. The plan is T-type and there is a spiral minaret. ✤ However many aspects of the buildings reflect later reconstructions. The Fatimids also made changes to the building. For example, the middle ablution fountain covered with a domed pavilion was a later Mamluk addition from the thirteen century. Originally the fountain as covered by a gilt dome resting on 10 marble columns, surrounded by 16 marble columns. ✤ Like Abbasid mosques in Samarra, the mosque of Ibn Tulun has ziyadas. The mosque has multiple doors with semicircular staircases. The ablution fountain and spiral minaret are on exact axis with the mihrab. Although the minaret existed before, it too was rebuilt during the Mamluk period.
✤ The Dar al-Imara behind the mihrab (House of Government) was where Ibn Tulun came with his entourage. ✤ Between the mosque and palace was a large maydan or urban square. ✤ The palace gate had triple arches like the one in the caliphal palace in Samarra. When Ibn Tulun went to the mosque with his entourage, he passed through the central arch while the two branches of the army paraded through the flanking arches.
Decoration ✤ The ornaments of the Ibn Tunun Mosque are in the “Beveled Style” of Samarra. The mosque is devoid of naturalistic vegetal ornaments. Its abstract vegetal and geometric patterns are a regional interpretation of Abbasid prototypes. ✤ Unlike the octagonal piers with four colonettes in the Great Mosque of Samarra, here the piers are square with four colonettes. The exterior walls topped by crenellations have an upper row of windows with grills.
✤ The heavy square piers obscure the visibility of the central mihrab area, however, many mihrabs are provided along the qibla wall. The prayer hall with pointed arches is like a labyrinthine space, producing complex perspectival effects. ✤ Above the piers are arched openings that were meant to bring light and to counter the heaviness of the walls. Pointed arches became standard in this period, when round arches associated with Roman-Byzantine Mediterranean architecture that were prominent in the Umayyad monuments became abandoned.
The mosque’s geometric window grills have elaborate interlaced forms that became common in the medieval period in conjunction with stylized vegetal forms. The main mihrab which exists today within the Ibn Tulun Mosque is from the Mamluk period. All of these elements such as woodwork, plaster and brick that all bear same kinds of patterns are found in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.
Great Mosque of Qayrawan, Tunisia, Aghlabid Dynasty (670, 862, 875) ✤ The Aghlabid Great Mosque of Qayrawan underwent several stages of construction. ✤ The building has aisles perpendicular to the qibla wall, a T-shaped central nave with two domes at both ends, piers with colonettes, marble spolia columns, and a stepped square minaret. ✤ The initial building was from the Umayyad period. This region was conquered by an Umayyad governor and general Uqba Ibn Nafi (also the founder of the city of Qayrawan) in 670. There is an architectural memory and core of the original Umayyad building in the present structure. This is perhaps why, unlike Samarra mosques and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, this building has domes missing in Abbasid mosques. ✤ However, Abbasid influences are found in the piers with corner colonettes and pointed arches, which are similar to those of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. The Qayrawan mosque also maintained the T-shaped plan of the Abu Dulaf Mosque, with its wider central nave perpendicular to the wider qibla aisle. Here the emphasis on the nave is additionally emphasized by two domes. ✤ The minaret is slightly offset from the mihrab axis. Rather than being spiral it is a square with diminishing stepped tiers. ✤ The mosque, like those of Samarra is in brick. However, the availability of marble in North Africa—as it was previously a Roman region—encouraged the use of spoliated columns.
Dome ✤ The fluted and ornate dome in Qayrawan precedes comparable developments in Umayyad Spain. While North Africa has been thought of as a backwards or peripheral region, architectural innovations that are seen in Spain occurred earlier in the Aghlabid mosque of Qayrawan. In the Great Mosque of Qayrawan one finds spectacular innovations such as a fluted dome with ribs inside, squinches in a shell form, as well as shell forms carved in marble decorating the mihrab niche. ✤ Shell motifs are a highly symbolic forms because mother of pearl shells are associated with heavenly symbolism. It is known that the Umayyads used a shell form over the mihrab of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina which has since disappeared. Such a shell-conch appears in the main mihrab of the Umayyad Mosque in Cordoba as well. The Great Mosque of Qayrawan therefore displays a unique combination of Abbasid and Umayyad features.
✤ In Cordoba, one finds more ornate versions of corner squinches with shells and ribs seen earlier in Qayrawan. The mihrab of the Great Mosque in Cordoba is decorated with Umayyad gold mosaics and the interior of the recessed octagonal mihrab is covered with a domical shell. ✤ This shell motif is a direct reference to the shell-shaped mihrab the Umayyads added to the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina. The cross-reference in Cordoba to the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina may also explain the prominent shell motifs that appear in the Qayrawan Great Mosque.
Mihrab of Qayrawan ✤ In Qayrawan a cross reference has been made to artistic developments in Abbasid Iraq through the use of luster ceramic tiles that were imported from Baghdad or Basra. The mihrab uses luster tiles that create the effect of shimmering gold mosaics used by the Umayyads, but now in a cheaper material and with stylized geometric and abstract vegetal forms. ✤ The original structure of the mihrab created by the Umayyad conqueror of Tunisia is preserved behind the present curved mihrab. The older mihrab is concealed behind the Aghlabid mihrab. Yet the Aghlabid mihrab has carved and pierced marble screens through which one can detect glimpses of the original mihrab. This open work in marble creates a literal and conceptual transparency alluding to the monument’s layered historical memory.
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