JOY FREDERICK A.

CABATIN
BS ARCHITECTURE 42117
Terms

Definitions

Kaba

the holiest place in Islam, a large cube-shaped building

inside the al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca.

Mihrab

is a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that

indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in
Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face
when praying

Qibla

is the direction that should be faced when

a Muslim prays during salah prayers. It is fixed as the
direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. Most mosques contain a
wall niche, known as mihrab, that indicates the Qiblah.
Mostmultifaith prayer rooms will also contain a Qibla,
although usually less standardized in appearance than
one would find within a mosque.[1]

Trabeate
Architect
ure

post and lintel (also called prop and lintel or

a trabeated system) is a building system where strong
horizontal elements are held up by strong vertical
elements with large spaces between them.

Illstrations

JOY FREDERICK A. CABATIN

BS ARCHITECTURE 42117
Fouriwan
type

Just as the hypostyle hall defined much of mosque

architecture of the early Islamic period; the 11th century
shows the emergence of new form. An iwan is a vaulted
space that opens on one side to a courtyard.

madrassa

A theological school, generally arranged around a

courtyard, from the 11th cent. A.D. on, in Anatolia, Persia,
and Egypt.

qubba

is an Arabic tomb, particularly the domed shrines of

Islamic saints. It originally meant a tent of hides but may
also be used generally for tomb sites if they are places of
pilgrimage.

JOY FREDERICK A. CABATIN

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Mashhad

Yasser Tabbaa states in his seminal book "Constructions of

Piety": "The mashhad al-Husayn is the most important
medieval Shi'i structure in all of Syria. It is also the largest,
most complex, and most enigmatic religious monument in
Ayyubid Aleppo, comparable in all these respects to the
madrasa al-Firdaws."

ziyada
The extra or empty space between the mosque and the
surrounding buffer wall. Not all mosques had ziyadas, but
a very good example is the one of the mosque of Ibn
Tulun in Cairo.

Mashrabi
ya

,is the Arabic term given to a type of projecting oriel

window enclosed with carved wood latticework located on
the second storey of a building or higher, often lined
with stained glass. The mashrabiya is an element of
traditional Arabic architecture used since the Middle Ages
up to the mid-20th century. It is mostly used on the street
side of the building; however, it may also be used
internally on the sahn (courtyard) side.

JOY FREDERICK A. CABATIN

BS ARCHITECTURE 42117
minbar

A minbar or mimber is a pulpit in the mosque where

the imam (prayer leader) stands to deliver sermons
khutbah) or in theHussainia where the speaker sits and
lectures the congregation. The word is a derivative of the
Arabic root n-b-r ("to raise, elevate"); the Arabic plural
is manbir(Arabic ).

minaret

A minaret from manra, lit."lighthouse", also known

as Goldaste is a distinctive architectural structure akin to a
tower and typically found adjacent to mosques. Generally
a tall spire with a conical or onion-shaped crown, usually
either free-standing or taller than associated support
structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base,
shaft, and gallery. Styles vary regionally and by period.
Minarets provide a visual focal point and are traditionally
used for the Muslim call to prayer.

Fatimid
decoratio
n

Refers to Islamic artifacts and architecture from

the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171), principally
in Egypt and North Africa. The Fatimid Caliphate was
initially established in the Mahgreb, with its roots in a
ninth-century Shia Ismailist religious movement originating
in Iraq and Iran.

Cuerda
seca

A group of Islamic objects, found in a pottery workshop in

Saragossa (Spain), was studied in order to characterize
the cuerda seca decoration in these glazed ceramics.
Glaze technology in Islamic pottery was developed during
the 11th century in the taifakingdoms of al-Andalus, but
many aspects of this artisan process are still unknown.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study
these lead-silica glazes and the black pigments used for
drawing the design outlines. Chemical compositions were
determined for the glazes, colouring elements and
pigments, allowing these to be identified and the stages
involved in the cuerda seca decorative technique to be
elucidated.

JOY FREDERICK A. CABATIN

BS ARCHITECTURE 42117