Islamic architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Islamic architecture - Essay Example (Burckhardt, Art of Islam, p. 203) The divine reflections and revelations of Islamic architecture have deep historical roots in multiple cultures and religions. From ancient Greece to twenty-first century technological marvels, Islamic architecture draws from a plethora of rich influences and resources in creating its own unique experience of bringing the sacred and the divine into the human experience. The earliest historical influences arise out of the architecture of Ancient Greece with its Doric, Ionic and Corinthian styles of architecture as defined by their columnar structures. The influence of the Ionic and later Corinthian styles can be seen in columns of the earliest mosques, such as the Hagia Sophia built in 532 A.D in Istanbul (then Constantinople) in which Corinthian style columns can be seen on the left side knave and Ionic-style columns in the center kiosk in the picture at left (Wegner, Hagia Sophia, [internet]) and in the Tulun Mosque in Cairo Egypt built in 876 A.D. in the picture on the right in which the Corinthian style columns provide the supports to all the doorways and arches. (â€Å"Islamic Architecture† in Free Dictionary [internet]) The Romans also added their influence to Islamic architecture. Roman architecture was socio-policitical in nature. Its aim was primarily focused on public events of which the collisem in Rome is the main existing example. Islam absorbed this focus in its architecture as well in the way its people built their communities in consideration of community needs rather than individual glory. (Helms, pp 129-132) Mosques and Madrasahs reflect the spaciousness of the Roman buildings, as places with space for the whole community to gather for edification and worship. A mosque in Armenia provides an example of this with the photograph to the left illustrating its outer simplicity and the photograph to the left showing a floor-plan of its inner spaciousness. When the Byzantine Empire became the dominant force in