Islamic Architecture 2 [PDF]

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CHAPTER 7

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

s we have seen, the Early Christians went through an extensive process to develop architectural forms suitable for and expressive of their religion. Followers of the religion founded by the prophet Mohammed experienced a similar evolutionary process, but one that led to quite different results as they created buildings to serve and symbolize Islam. Islam originated in Arabia. In 610 the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mohammed in Mecca and over time expounded the revelation of God, or Allah (,Al-lah' meaning 'the God'). These revelations were collected into a holy book, the Qur'an (or Koran), which expressed in Arabic the message of Islam, a word signifying submission to the will of Allah. Each Muslim accepted five basic truths or duties: to believe in the oneness of God, and that Mohammed was the messenger of God; to pray five times daily; to fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan; to give alms to the poor; and to make at least one pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, wealth and health permitting. Conversion of the tribes to Islam was accompanied by an intense awakening of Arab fervor, and the courage and fighting skill of Arabic tribes, previously exploited by th e Sassanian and Byzantine empires, was turned against these masters in a fury of rapid conquests, frequentl y aided by local contempt for the corruption associated with Byzantine rule. By 661 Islamic armies had swept through what is today Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, and Egypt, and they then moved across the North African coast to enter Spain in 711. From Spain they pushed northward into France, where forces led by Charles Martel stopped their European expansion in 732 at the battle of Tours. Islamic settlers remained in central and southern Spain until 1492, however, and their armies continued to batter the southem borders of the Byzantine Empire until, under the Ottoman Turks, they finally conquered Constantinople in 1453. Through trade, Islamic dynasties made contact with China and India, where their religion would eventually take root, and strong Islamic influence made a leap as far east as modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia. With military conquest came economic, social, and cultural dominance as Islamic customs and the Arabic language replaced surviving practices in the old Roman Empire. Islamic policy

A

Qibla iwan of the Friday mosque, Isfahan, 12th century. What began in the ninth century as a columnar hall mosque was transformed over ti me into a more elaborate plan, culminating with a large four-iwan courtyard. Note the iwan's muqarnas vaults.

ISLA MIC AR C HITECTURE

toward conquered populations was generally one of accommodation. Islamic rule was often preferred by the natives of occupied lands to that of harsh Byzantine governors, and the multi-cultural society the invaders fostered provided a model of respectful interaction that the modern world might do well to rediscover. The heady mix of learned men from Islamic and Jewish traditions, sometimes joined by Christian theologians, contributed to a highly productive era in the arts and sciences from the ninth through sixteenth centuries. Today, Muslims represent a majority of the population in the Middle East, North Africa, parts of Central and South Asia, the Malaysian peninsula, and the Indonesian archipelago, but sizeable minorities also live in Europe and the United States. Islamic worship requires prayer five times a day, and this prayer is practiced at four levels of participation: 1) the individual or small group, 2) the neighborhood congregation, 3) the entire populace of a small city, and 4) the whole Muslim world, and discrete structures are built for the first three levels of worship . For daily prayer (except on Fridays), small numbers of worshipers use the modestly sized masjid, containing a prayer niche, but no facilities for preaching. For universal corporate worship, a Muslim town requires an idgab, a very large, unroofed open space with a long prayer wall on one side. The residents of a neighborhood attend the most well-known Islamic religious structure: the congregational or Friday mosque, where the principal or weekly service is held, hence its naming for a day of the week. It is in the covered prayer hall of such a Friday mosque that mass prayer takes place. Worshipers assemble in tightly packed

Chronology appearance of the Angel Gabriel to Mohammed 610 revelation of the Qur'an to Mohammed 610-633 spread of Islam throughout the Middle East 7th century construction of the Dome of the Rock 687-91 spread of Islam across North Africa early 8th century defeat of Islamic forces at Tours by Charles Martel 732 construction of the Great Mosque, Cordoba 833-988 spread of Islam to India, Malaysia, and Indonesia 12th-13th centuries conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans 1453 construction of the Mosque of Siileyman 1550-57 the Magnificent construction of the Taj Mahal 1631-4

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7.1 Muslims at prayer in the Mosque of the Prophet, Mecca. This dramatic photograph illustrates a consistent patterning of highly ordered worshipers at prayer, the repeated orthogonal structural bays, and polychromatic masonry. All the worshipers are facing the prayer wall.

ra nks and fil es, pl acing th emselves as cl ose as poss ibl e to the praye r wa ll , which expl ains the square o r wide- rectangle shapes of such ha lls as o pposed to the lo ng, narrow pl ans o f Christi an churches o r th e central pl ans o f Byza ntine o nes. Prayer is directi o nal, o ri ented towa rd Mecca, and requires th at wo rshipers, after ritual purifi ca ti o n, proceed th ro ugh a series of bowings, pros trati o ns, a nd recita ti o ns fro m the Q ur'a n ( Fig. 7. 1) . Isla m prescribes th at o rn amentati o n be aniconic, mea ning symbo li c o r suggesti ve rather th an litera lly representati o na l. This o rn a ment is so metimes executed in sto ne, but mo re frequently in glazed bri ck o r tile, gypsum stucco, glass, or even wood . The exteri o r envelo pes o f Islamic religio us buildings are trea ted like a skin th at ca n receive universa lly applied deco rati o n . The o rdering o f this deco rati o n, th o ugh apparentl y co mpl ex, is typi ca lly contro ll ed by prim ary a nd seco nd ary grids and makes extensive use of repetiti o n, symm etry, and patterning. This o rdering ca n be subdivided according to fo ur design strategies: 1) the repetiti o n of a n architectural element like a n arch, 2) geo metric manipul ati o ns like ro tated and interl ocking po lygo ns, 3) o rga ni c growth in th e fo rm o f pl ant-like fo li atio n, a nd 4) ca lli graphy. Architectural elements ca n be two- o r three-dim ensio nal and appea r most co mm o nly as w ind ow o r doo r o penings . Geo metri c mo ti fs a ll ow for alm ost endl ess crea tivity a nd include the

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ribbing of vaults. Two- a nd three-dim ensio nal orga ni c co m pos iti o ns ca n be hi ghly stylized o r app roach naturalism, and as th ey beco me linea r a nd seemingly endl ess produce a so-ca ll ed arabesque, o r intricate pattern of interlaced lin es. Ca lligraphy is th e most impo rtant o f the fo ur strategies because it reco rds the word of All ah. It ca n be fl owing, o r cursive, as well as angul ar. So me o rn a mental co nditi o ns expl o it li ght, such as glass o r tra nsluce nt screens that filter illumin ati o n, and muqarnas vaults th at bo th refl ect and refract it.

EARLY SHRINES AND PALACES Fo r their ea rli est buildings, th e largely no madi c Islami c Arabs ass imil ated techniques and fo rms fro m the civilizati o ns th ey encountered . Syri an and Christi an influences are cl ear in o ne of th e most pro min ent ea rly shrines, the Do me of th e Rock (687-91) in Jerusa lem (Figs. 7.2-7.4 ). Its loca ti o n o n Mo unt Mo ri ah was sacred to th e Jews, bo th as th e site o n whi ch Abraha m had o ffered his so n Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lo rd a nd as the locatio n of So lo mo n's Templ e. Muslims ho no red it fo r Abraha m's presence, but also venerated it as th e pl ace fro m which Moha mm ed ascend ed in his night jo urney to pa radise. At the center of th e Do me o f the Rock is a rock, under which li es a sma ll cave with a single o pening. The shrine is ca refull y pos iti o ned around this rock, th e do med central po rti o n encl os ing the rock a nd a co ncentri c aisle permitting ci rcum a mbul atio n. The building's fo rm was pro babl y derived fro m Christi a n precedent. Co nstantine's Church

CHAPTER 7

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

7.2

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687- 91.

One of the ea rli est Islamic shrines, this octagonal domed building has a double ambulatory surrounding the rock from which Mohammed ascended on his journey to paradise.

7.3 Axonometric section of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687-91. This section shows the sophisticated geometry involved in the Dome of the Rock's design, a characteristic shared by a number of fourth- and fifth-century Syrian churches. 7.4 The Dome of the Rock interior, Jerusalem, 687-91. This celebration of a holy site through the erection of a dome, in this case over a rock above a cave and by Jews and Musl ims in Jerusa lem, can be compared to the building of the dome of st. Peter's by Christians in Rome (see chapter 11) over the spot where the apostle Peter is believed to have been buried.

EARLY SH RIN ES AND PALACES

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7.5

Muslims circumambulating the Ka'ba during the Haj, Mecca.

The idea of pilgrimage is one shared by Chri stians and Muslims. In this scene in Mecca, throngs of pilgrims surround the Ka'ba. In chapter 8, you will find Romanesque churches along the pilgrimage roads in France and Spain that lead to the city of Compostela and the highly venerated tomb of the apostle James son of Zebedee.

of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem had featured a similar rotunda, and there were many centrally planned domed churches throughout the Byzantine world. Unlike most Byzantine domes, however, the structure here is of wood. (There is evidence that early Christian shrines also had wooden domes, although none has survived to the present day. ) The dome of the Jerusalem sanctuary, sixty-seven feet in diameter, is constructed of a double shell, each shell having thil1y-two converging wooden ribs, and the whole rests on a cornice atop a maSOI1lY drum. The inner ribs are plastered and adorned with painted and gilded designs (fourteenth-centUlY reconstructions), while the exterior is sheathed with boards and finished with lead and gold leaf. The general scheme employed at the Dome of the Rock, that of a central shrine around which the faithful could circulate, was used earlier at Mecca in rebuilding the Ka'ba, the goal of Islamic pilgrimage (Fig. 7.5 ). This clothdraped cubical shrine contains the Black Stone, believed to have been given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. The stone was venerated in pre-Muslim times. Mohammed destroyed the idols placed around it, and his successors cleared neighboring buildings in order to provide clear circulation space around the stone. At the Haj, or annual pilgrimage, the devout process seven times around the Ka'ba, fo ll owing the sets of concentric rings set in the pavement encircling th e shrine.

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CONCEPTION OF THE MOSQUE The building type most closely associated with Islam is the mosque, th e primalY place of worship, which evolved from several sources. These included the House of the Prophet at Medin a (ca. 622), Christian churches, and perhaps the audience halls of Persian kings. Beside Mohammed's house stood a square enclosure, with small chambers set in the southeast corner for his living qual1ers (Fig. 7.6) . The remainder of the space was a partially open central court. Although constructed origi nally for domestic purposes, it also served as a gathering place for his followers to hear sermons and prayers, and after Mohammed's death its form was imitated in simple worship facilities built in other settlements.

7.6

Reconstruction of the House of the Prophet, Medina, ca. 622.

This building became a prototype for the mosque. Followers of Mohammed assembled in the open courtyard to hear sermons and participate in group prayer, functions that had to be accommodated into mosque design.

CH A PTER 7

ISL A MIC A RCHITECTURE

7.7 Plans of the Great Mosque, Cordoba, 785 and 833-988; and the Great Mosque, Damascus, 706- 15. Both these mosques have columned prayer halls preceded by open courts or sahns.

Prayer hall or haram

Minaret

Original prayer wall or qibla

1

Minaret

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P

Octagonal pavilion

Domed fountain pavilion

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~

"e

Court or sahn

J

Trip'rarched gate

~ ,-I....ti

!1 I

Minaret

Y .Jl'\I

Prayer hall or haram

-

Pra er wall or ibla

..... :=l

Prayer hall or haram

I

Minaret

Prayer niche or mihrab

Damascus N

$

Cordoba

100m lOO ft

Final quibla

The Great Mosque at Damascus (706-15, with later rebuildings) is the oldest extant mosque and illustrates a process through which the form developed (Fig. 7.7). The site is an ancient one on which had stood a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter and a fOUl1h-centUlY Christian church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. For a time after the Islamic conquest of the city in 635, both Christians and Muslims worshiped on the site, but in 706 the church was pulled down and an impressive mosque, based in pa11 on tripartite aisle-and-nave basilican church plans, was constructed under the caliphate of al-Walid I. The mosque's outline was determined by the shape of the Roman shrine that was entered through a gateway in th e center of the shorter, east side. Four towers, or minarets, provided elevated platforms at the corners of the site from which a caller (muezzin) could summon the faithful to prayer. The genera l design of these towers may have been based on earlier fortification towers or lighthouses, but, with their incorporation at Damascus, minarets became standard features of subsequent Friday mosques. Just as belltowers or raised domes do for churches, minarets serve to identify the mosque in the landscape. Much later, particularly imp ortant mosques were som etimes given multiple minarets, but one generally sufficed. Over half of the inner space is given over to an open arcaded court, or sahn, containing a domed fountain pavilion for ritual ablutions and an octagonal pavilion originally used for the public treasury. The covered prayer ha ll, or haram, extends along the entire long south wall. Two parallel rows of columns divide this hall longitudinally into thirds, near the center of which the arcades are interrupted by a broad transverse element similar to a nave, with a wooden dome over its central bay. This

REGIONAL VAR I AT I ONS IN MOSQUE DES I GN

element develops in later designs into the maqsura, a special processional area reserved for the retinue of the caliph, thereby justifying its dome as a special architectural accent. The south wall being the prayer wall, or qibla, there are three niches, or mihrabs, set into it to indicate the direction of Mecca. A raised pulpit, or minbar (not indicated on the plan), from which Qur'anic readings, sermons, or official proclamations and addresses are given, is located to the right of the central mihrab.

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN MOSQUE DESIGN Because mosques have been built throughout so much of the world, it will not be possible to represent their full diversity in this short chapter. The discussion that follows concentrates .o n 1) columnar or hypostyle mosques favored in Arabia, North Africa, and Spain, 2) iwan mosques popular in Iran and Central Asia, which consist of a rectangular court flanked by large, often vaulted spaces, or iwans, and 3) large, centrally organized, domedspace mosques found in Turkey.

COLUMNED HALL OR HYPOSTYlE MOSQUES The Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil at Samarra, Iraq (848/49 -5 2) has both a co lu mned hall and a single, extraordinary min aret. Enormous in size, the mosque consists of a rectangular burned-brick-wall enclosure more than 800 feet by more than 500 feet, with attached semi-circular towers. To the north along the enclosure's central, longitudinal axis ri ses the brick minaret (Fig. 7.8 ), its spiral

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7.8 The Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil, Samarra, 848/849-52.

This prominent minaret in the form of a tall spiral has a lineage traceable as far back as the Mesopotamian ziggurats. Note how the long, horizontal outer wall serves as a foil for the minaret's rich, strongly vertical silhouette.

form associated by some with the ziggurats of Ancient Mesopotamia. Inside the mosque's walls, a forest of square columns once surrounded a rectangular sahn, with the qibla adjacent to the deepest accumulation of column bays, altogether a highly ordered, even profound composition. The Great Mosque begun in around 785 in Cordoba, Spain (Fig. 7.7), evolved to have a much more complex columnar hall form than that at Samarra. In the first construction period, the mosque occupied a nearly square plan, half comprising the sahn and the other half the haram, which contained ten rows of eleven columns to create an eleven-aisled sanctualy. In the haram, superimposed arches connect the columns, the lower arch being horseshoe-shaped and the upper one not quite semicircular (Fig. 7.9). The effect of this work is light and delicate, and although both the tiered arcades of the Damascus mosque and the stacked arches of Roman aqueducts have been suggested as the inspiration for the superimposed arches, their treatment here is entirely original. Both arch levels are polychrome, composed of white stone voussoirs set alternately against red brick ones. Beginning in 833, this mosque was enlarged three times. In the first renovation campaign (833-48), the prayer hall was extended to the southwest by the addition

158

of eight new bays that maintained the alignment and rhythm of the original mosque but necessitated reconstruction of the qibla and mihrab . .In 951, the sahn was extended to the n0l1heast and a new minaret erected. The haram was again expanded to the southwest beginning in 962, when another twelve bays were added along with a new qibla and mihrab. The new mihrab was a richly ornamented niche, given prominence on the interior by a vi11ual forest of lobed and cusped arches, covered by a dome formed by boldly interlacing arches (Figs. 7.10-7.11), flanked by smaller domes also composed of interlaced arches in the bays to either side. So far as we know, these exceptional domes are an original invention here, and they are the possible inspiration for similar domes built in the Baroque by Guarini (see Fig. 12.25). The final extension of the mosque took place in 987 - 88 along the southeastern side, adding another eight aisles running the full length of the existing haram, and enlarging the sahn as well to create the largest mosque in Spain. In the sixteenth century, after the Moors were expelled from Spain, the cathedral of Cordoba (Fig. 7.12 ) was inserted inside the mosque, disrupting the colonnaded expanse of the haram but perhaps inadve11ently preserving a good portion of the Islamic fabric through the mosque's conversion to a place of Christian worship.

CHAPTER 7

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

7.10

The Great Mosque vault above the maqsura, Cordoba, 833- 988.

7.9

The Great Mosque interior, Cordoba, 833- 988.

Note the use of lobed arches. polychromy. and the interlaced-arch structure of the dome.

This view of the prayer hall shows the horseshoe-shaped polychrome stacked arches that dominate the interior. Eventually 610 columns defined the immense space.

7.11

The Great Mosque vault above the mihrab bay, Cordoba, 833-988.

7.12

This vault also employs interlaced arches in its construction.

Parallel rows of ridge-and-valley roofs cover the prayer hall, and the foreground trees are growing in the sahn. One regrets the intrusion of a later Christian c'hurch in this splend id Islamic bUilding.

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN MOSQUE DESIGN

The Great Mosque from t he minaret, Cordoba,

833-988.

159

Minaret

80 ft

Small domed chamber

N

$

-

SOm

- - - 110ft --------

o

7.13

7.14a

Plan of the Bibi Kanum Mosque, Samarkand, begun

1399.

Plan ofthe Friday mosq ue, Isfahan, 8th- 17th centuries.

Compare this modular mosque plan with the equally regimented ranks and files of Muslim worshipers in Fig. 7.1 and remember that they are called to prayer five times daily. This rigorous prayer regime is mirrored in the rigorous planning of the mosque.

This mosque is interesting for its early incorporation of substantial domes within a multi-columned prayer hall. In its final form, the mosque evolved into a four-iwan type, having a large central courtyard bisected by cross-axes established by the iwans.

7.14b

Plan of and section looking southeast through Masjid-i-shah, Isfahan, 1611-ca. 1630.

IWAN MOSQUES

The mosque sits at the top of the public square. Entrance to it is centered in the arcades defining the square. but the axis turns to bring the mosque into alignment with Mecca. Madrasas. or theological schools, are located beside the mosque.

To the east, in Central Asian lands now part of Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, mosque designs developed initially from multi-columned halls. The Bibi Khanum Mosque at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, begun in 1399 by the militalY and political leader Timur, who founded a dynasty at the end of the fourteenth century, presents the essentials of the multi-columned iwan mosque form. Its constituent element, the iwan, is a vaulted or domed volume, walled on three sides and open on the other. At Samarkand, the plan (Fig. 7.13) is comparable to that at Samarra, with a sahn inside ranks of columns forming four L-shaped halls, all bounded by a rectangular perimeter wall. Here, however, an entty p011al, with stumps of flanking minarets remaining, opens into one short side of the sahn, and iwans appear at the center of the other three sides, becoming porch-like extensions of the central open space. The iwan facing the entry and terminating its axis is the qibla iwan and is domed and flanked by additional minarets,

o 1

I~ V

o

Sahn

SOm

Prayer hall

--------ISO ft

o Quibla

160

CH APTER 7

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

7.15 Masjid+Shah, Isfahan, 1611-ca. 1630. In order to respect the direction of Mecca, the mosque is turned forty-five degrees to the axis of the public square (left side of the photograph) laid out by Shah Abbas.

7.16 Iwan, Masjid-i-Shah, Isfahan, 1611-ca. 1630. Two-story arcades flank the central arch, which is finished with e!aborate tile decoration and a muqarnas vault. In the background is the rear of the entrance iwan on the public square.

The earliest mosque about which we have reliable archaeo logical information is the Friday mosque in Isfahan (Fig. 7.14a), begun in the eighth centUlY, finally achieving a form not unlike that at Samarkand and reworked repeatedly until the seventeenth century. The origina l form seems to have been a rectangular multicolumned hall covered with a wooden roof, with a large sahn at its core. In 1086-8 7 a domed chamber was introduced at the southwest end of th e existing building, probably to serve as a maqsura. It differed significantly in scale fro m the domes already seen as part of the maqsuras at

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN MOSQUE DESIGN

Damascus and Cordoba: rather than covering one bay of the columnar hall, the southern dome covered twenty bays. In 1088, a slightly smaller dom e was added in an axial line to the n011h. It is not clear what function it served initially, for it was outside the building at the tim e of its construction but was soon incorporated into arcades. At some later date, Isfahan's Friday mosque was modifi ed again to include four iwans set in the center of each side of the sahn. Their boldly sca led arched openings provided builders with an opportunity to exercise their skills in geometric ornamentation, including the application of glazed tiles in shades of blue, turquoise, white, and yellow, and stalactite-like muqarnas vaults, the ornamental treatment of curved wall surfaces with corbeled concave elements that has the overall effect of dissolving the material presence of the wall into facets that seem to hover in

161

7.17 Masjid-I-shah, entrance to prayer hall, Isfahan, 1611-ca.1630.

can see the iwan constructed in front of the qibla, but the circulation path leads first laterally to either side of the initial iwan, then toward the sa hn, thereby accomp lishing the axial shift with finesse. Apart from the transitional elements at the entrance, symmetty governs the entire design. A still pool at the center of the sahn refl ects the blue-background glazed tilework covering the four iwans and the great dome of the haram. Among the decorative elements portrayed in the tiles are peacocks, reflecting the builders' willingness in this case to depict animals in art rather than confining ornament to recursive geometric elements and calligraphy. The domed prayer hall is augmented by rooms on either side, also covered by a succession of small domes, that served as a winter mosque, and it is further complemented by LwO religious schoo ls (madrasas), thus continuing an established tradition of incorporating education with worship. (The study of law and religion are inseparable aspects of Islamic higher education .) Islam came to India in successive waves of militalY invasions in the eleventh through thi11eenth centuries, cha llenging th e established religions of Hinduism and Buddhism with its fundamentally different religious perspective. India's cave-like temp les with interiors used only by priests and covered inside and out with intricately wrought sculpted figures were totally alien to the Islamic idea of the mosque with accessible open coUl1yards, spacious prayer ha lls, and scrupulous avoidance of the human figure in representationa l art. Hindu and Buddhist temples were replaced with mosques initia lly based on multi-columned hall designs. Beginning with the ascendancy of the Mughal Dynasty (mid-sixteenth to eighteenth centuries), however, one sees a distinctly Ind o-Islamic style come into being, spurred on in large measure by the arrival of foreign craftsmen from Central Asia. Some of

This view shows the elaborate blue-glazed tile work and muqarnas vault. Sometimes compared to a honeycomb, these cellular vaults are formed by corbeling.

space. The mosque is also renowned for its intricate brickwork patterns in the domes. During the reign of Shah Abbas I, the core of Isfahan was greatly expanded, as a whole new market area was developed at some distance from the older settlement around the Friday mosque. Included in the new construction was a congregational mosque, the Masjid-i-Shah (1 61l-ca. 1630), built to designs of Badi' ai-Zaman Tuni and Ali Akbar a l-Isfahani (Figs. 7. 14b, 7.1 5-7 .17) . Entrance into it is mad e through the center of the southern side of the market, so as to provide a monumental portal to the publi c area and match the gateway to the bazaar at the opposite end of the square, but the mosque itself is turned forty-five degrees so as to be correctly aligned with Mecca. The skill with which the designers accommodated the change in axis is one of the most admired aspects of the plan. From the entranceway, one

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7.18 Plan of the Friday mosque, Fatehpur Sikri, ca. 1568-71.

Mausoleum of

The monumental gate is on the southern side of the mosque, preceded by a wide stairway. while the haram is set to the west.

Salim Chishti

150ft

CHAPTER 7

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

7.19

Friday mosque interior, Fatehpur Sikri, ca. 1568-71.

This view shows the distinctive detail developed by Akbar's architects as they fused Islamic forms (the pointed arch, for example) with elements from Hindu and Buddhist traditions already well established in India.

7.20

Friday mosque gateway, Fatehpur Sikri, ca. 1568-71.

As Akbar's city was set on a plateau above the surrounding terrain, a monumental flight of steps is required to gain entrance to the mosque from the southern side. It serves as a plinth for an impressive arched gateway.

REGIONAL VARIAT I ONS IN MOSQUE DESIGN

these individuals were descendants of Indian craftsmen taken captive by the Mongol conqueror Timur in 1398. Their return in the sixteenth centlllY brought skilled builders familiar with the Islamic architecture of Persia to India, and the resulting works done for the Mughal rulers are some of the most magnificent to be found in the Islamic world . Jalil ai-Din AJ