Art and Architecture of the Islamic World (Essay Sample)

Art and Architecture of the Islamic World
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Abstract
Architecture and art of the Islam world covers an extensive range of material, buildings and religious fashions from the prehistoric Islam foundation to the current day. This has influenced the construction and design of structures and buildings in the Islamic culture. Mosques, tombs and palaces are example of prime forms of the Islamic architecture. Most of the new elements of the Islamic architecture were introduced during the Umayyad era. This paper aims at giving a detail historical description and the visual representation of Islamic art and architecture by the rulers of the Umayyad era. During the Umayyad era, there were various constructions of different mosques; for example, Damascus Mosque, Dome of the Rock, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
Keywords: art, architecture, Islam world, Umayyad era.
Damascus Mosque
Abd al Malik’s son, al Walid, built the great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. The great mosque was built on the site which used to be the Roman temple; hence, turning it to Byzantine church. The massive walls besieging the church complex act as the walls of the mosque. The Damascus Mosque combines the elements received from the other cultures into a tale of united architecture. This includes: the idiosyncratic elements of mihrab, minaret, minbar and mihrab dome of the Islam.[Cunningham, L. S., & Reich, J. J. (2009). Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities (7th Edition ed.). Connecticut, U.S.: Cengage Learning.] [Gardner, H., Kleiner, F. S., & Mamiya, C. J. (2006). Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective (12th Edition ed.). Connecticut, U.S.: Cengage Learning.]
Fig 1, Mosque of Damascus[Picture of the Damascus Mosque, showing the main entrance into the mosque]
Visual analysis of Damascus Mosque
Visual analysis can be defined as the description, from a standpoint, that conveys the entirety of the work revealed by the art and architecture and at the same time communicate the most important traits by translating what one sees and experience into words. The great Umayyad mosque of Damascus establishes the idea of Spatial Sunnah. This concept is vital; since the search for a model is prone to confusion by the hybrid examples traits whose origins frequently predate Islam. The issues that alter the idiom spatial ‘Sunnah’ are raised by the aesthetic of the Damascus mosque, since the mosque entertains the application of ornamental features though still retaining a well-designed similarity with the elemental edifice. The mosque is also a simulacrum, a cross reflection whose elements of structure were adapted from the Roman and Byzantine edifices.[Kahera, A. I. (2002). Deconstructing the American Mosque: Space, Gender, and Aesthetics. Texas: University of Texas Press.]
The commencement of the work, to build the Damascus Mosque, was reported to correspond to the key restructuring of the administrative regime where caliphal ruling replaced the Greek with Arabic, as the authorized effective language. The reforms provided an overall context for the al-Walid’s architectural projects and also led to more suggestions of more intrinsic relationship between the mosques. An extensive cycle of mosaics covers the walls of the Great Mosque. For example, conch shell niche supports an arcaded flowering rooftop, flanked by structures displayed in classical standpoint. In the great Mosque, no; zoomorphic forms, humans or animals; appear in the pictorial or ornamental space. This is because the Islamic tradition shuns the representation of fauna of any kind in the sacred places.[Flood, F. B. (2001). The Great Mosque of Damascus: Studies on the Makings of an Umayyad Visual Culture. Leiden: BRILL .] [Ibid Gardner, H., Kleiner, F. S., & Mamiya, C. J. (2006)] [Necipoglu, G. (2009). Muqarnas. (G. Necipoglu, & K. Leal, Eds.) Leiden: BRILL.]
Contextual or historical analysis of Damascus Mosque
The Umayyad rulers of Damascus build several palatial residences right through the extensive territories they ruled. The caliph’s palace was next to the great mosque so that the ruler could pass easily from his home to the mosque. The Roman and Byzantine structural columns, in the Great Umayyad mosque at Damascus, integrates the concept of hierarchical grid of the hypostyle hall. The importance of this juxtaposition presents the learner with a simulacrum whereas the explicit building’s plan uses the experimental structure of elements. From theoretical viewpoint, the assembly of pre-existing elemental structures illustrates the use of architectural vocabulary simply for its structural efficacy.[Ibid Cunningham, L. S., & Reich, J. J. (2009] [Ibid Kahera, A. I. (2002)]
Dome of the Rock
Fig 2, the dome of the Rock[A picture of the dome of the Rock]
The dome of the Rock, located in Jerusalem, is the earliest and of the most magnificent achievements of Islamic architecture. The dome was built between 688 and 692 A.D., around 60 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad. It was built toward the end of the 17th century, by Caliph Abd al Malik of Damascus on the elevated Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Temple Mount was once Jewish’s site and the Romans destroyed. The dome consists of two sections joined into one another. The first is a tall cylinder of aluminium alloy, with a diameter of 20 meters and a height of 25 meters. The cylinder is set over a great natural and rocky outcrop. The second one is an octagonal ring, of about 48 meters in diameter, of 4 huge piers and pillar around the central rock. It is an octagonal building with a golden dome ceiling. The dome sits on a weighty drum supported by 4 giant piers and 12 pillars.[Burckhardt, T., & Nasr, S. H. (2009). Art of Islam: Language and Meaning. Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, Inc.] [Grabar, O. (2006). The Dome of the Rock. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.] [Ibid Cunningham, L. S., & Reich, J. J. (2009)]
Visual analysis of Dome of the Rock
Just before the late middle age, the interior of the building is lavishly decorated with mosaics just like the outside of the building. During the late middle age, the mosaic outside the building was replaced by tiles. The building is clearly indebted to the Roman and the Byzantine architecture, yet the Qur’anic verses in the interior makes it to serve an Islamic function. The walls of the octagonal rock, currently ornamented with Turkish ceramic tiles, were once before covered with ceramics. The 4 portals unfold onto the 4 prime points thereby situating the building figuratively, at the heart of the world. There is no representation of animate beings in ornamental decorations of the Dome of the Rock.[Ibid] [Ibid Burckhardt, T., & Nasr, S. H. (2009)]
Contextual analysis of Dome of the Rock
Sometimes, the Dome of the Rock is referred to as the Mosque of Umar. This is inaccurate, because it was founded by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik and not by Umar. Umayyad Caliph built the dome covering the sacred rock during the time when Mecca had fallen, to the hands of Ibn az-Zubayr, Abd al-Malik rival. This enabled the faithful to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in preference to Mecca, where the pilgrims were provisionally banned. The rock is holy to the Muslims for the following reasons; for the memory of Abraham, who went to sacrifice his only son on top of Mount Moriah; the Solomon’s temple, a spot where the ‘holy of the Holies’ stood upon; lastly, owing to the reason that the Prophet Muhammad had been taken there in his "night journey”. The plan of the rock expresses the synthesis of; the circle and the square, movement and relaxation and time and place. This synthesis is expressed in a remarkable style, by the building’s exterior shape where the dome’s ‘heavenly’ sphere connects the octagon’s ‘earthly’ crystal.[Ibid Burckhardt, T., & Nasr, S. H. (2009)] [Ibid Burckhardt, T., & Nasr, S. H. (2009)]
The Great Mosque of Cordoba
The Great Mosque of Cordoba is a mosque showing the relationship between the Islamic architecture and the Byzantine decoration. In 18th century, Muslims arrived in Spain and made Cordoba their capital. Construction of Great Mosque of Cordoba commenced in the 18th century, which is around 786 A.D., during the reign of Abd-al-Rahman I and it took one to reach its finishing point. The courtyard and the prayer hall were completed between the 9th and 10th century. The great mosque of Cordoba was, arguably, built in 4 main building campaigns. The first was between 786 and 796, under the reign of Abd-al-Rahman I. The first and the second, renovation and addition to the mosque, was made under the rule of Abd-al-Rahman II’s and it took place around 833-848 and 961-975 respectively. The largest extension of the Great Mosque of Cordoba was conducted by Almanzor, vizier Al-Hakam II’s, around 987 and 990.[Ibid Cunningham, L. S., & Reich, J. J. (2009)] [Lapunzina, A. (2005). Architecture of Spain. Connec...