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Architecture under Timur Timur built the Saray palace ("White, i.e. beautiful, Palace") in his home city Shahr-i Sabz, of which only the ruins of the enormous, richly decorated entrance...

Characteristics of Timurid Architecture The development, and peculiarities, of Central Asian architecture between the middle of the 14th and the middle of the 15th centuries...

The "Imperial style" and the cultural unity of the caliphate (Abbasids). In the time of the Prophet and his immediate successors, the mosque had combined several functions. It was, of course, a...

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Charminar Gate is one of the most important landmarks of the city. The monument was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 to commemorate the eradication of plague, shortly after he had...

Dome of the Rock Jerusalem became known as Al-Quds, The Holy. Many of the Prophet's Companions traveled to worship at the blessed spot to which Muhammad, peace and blessings...

Hagia Sophia Museum Hagia Sophia was first named "Megale Ekklesia" (The Great Church) as it was the largest church in Constantinople (Istanbul today). The historian Socrates...

3 8  M O S Q U E S

The Great Mosque of Cordoba 1 2 3 4 5 6 When the Umayyad were supplanted by the Abbasids in 750 and the centre of Islam relocated from Damascus...

Sayidnaa Al Hussein Mosque was built in 549H.(1154/55) to receive the head of Hussein ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. Nothing remains of it except the entrance doorway, known as Al-...

Al-Azhar Mosque This mosque, at the time of construction, probably had an open Court, surrounded by three hallways, the largest being the sanctuary which is five aisles deep...

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Topkapi Palace In contrast to the mighty mosque architecture supporting such enormous domes, comparable to the buildings of the European Renaissance, no such colossal image on...

Alhambra is not only the most important, but also the best conserved Arabian palace. The name Alhambra means "the red one" and refers to the color of the mountain, on which it...

Aljaferia of Saragossa Palace In the second half of the 11^th century, Abu Jafar Ahmad I ibn Suleiman al-Muqtadir billah (1049/1050-1082/1083), second ruler of the Banu Houd...

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Madrasa Al-Firdaus is located about 150 meters to the southwest of the Madrasa Al-Zahiriyah, generally between the Maqamat and Salihin cemeteries, is the largest and best known of the Ayyubid Madrasa...

Madrasa of Mir-I Arab Education is closely linked with worship in Islam and distinguishing between a mosque and a Madrasa (literally school) is often difficult because early mosques...

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The mosques of Samarqand and Bukhara After his campaign of pillage to India, Timur, between 1399 and 1404, had one of the biggest mosques in the world built in Samarqand...

Space and Dome solutions As a major building material, brick also determined the form taken by the buildings' various types of vaulting and domed roofs. The round base of the dome...

Squinches Mughals Architecture introduced many new features like arches, domes and Squinches and also evolved some new trends and techniques of decoration. Islamic art is...