Muqarnas
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Muqarnas (no plural) (Arabic: مقرنس) is a type of corbel used as a decorative device in traditional Islamic and Persian architecture. The term is similar to mocárabe, but mocárabe only refers to designs with formations resembling stalactites, by the use of elements known as alveole.[1][2]
Muqarnas takes the form of small pointed niches, stacked in tiers projecting beyond those below and can be constructed in brick, stone, stucco or wood. They are often applied to domes, pendentives, cornices, squinches and the undersides of arches and vaults.[1]
Muqarnas is the Arabic word for stalactite vault, an architectural ornament developed around the middle of the tenth century in north eastern Iran and almost simultaneously, but apparently independently, in central North Africa. It involves three-dimensional architectural decorations composed of niche-like elements arranged in tiers. The two-dimensional projection of muqarnas vaults consists of a small variety of simple geometrical elements.
Examples can be found in the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, the Abbasid Palace in Baghdad, and the mausoleum of Sultan Qaitbay, Cairo, Egypt.[1]
To view an animation of a modern muqarnas go to: [1]
Muqarnas is also the name of an academic journal about Islamic art and architecture.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Curl, James Stevens [2006]. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (Paperback), Second (in English), Oxford University Press, 880 pages. ISBN 0-19-860678-8.
- ^ Armenian architectural glossary
[edit] External sources
- Muqarnas : A Three-dimensional Decoration of Islam Architecture.
- Abstract, Nexus 2004, Muqarnas, Construction and Reconstruction
