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