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WonderOrnamental geometry fact

Muqarnas is a form of Islamic architectural decoration made of tiers of small niches, stacked like a honeycomb. It bridges the corners where a square room meets a round dome, and crowns doorways and vaults.

Muqarnas

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The story behind the card

Western writers have often called muqarnas 'stalactite' or 'honeycomb' vaulting. The earliest surviving examples are simple three-part corner niches beneath domes, such as those in the Arab-Ata Mausoleum at Tim in Uzbekistan (977–978) and the Gonbad-e Qabus tower in Iran (1006–1007). The oldest complete muqarnas dome known to modern scholars crowned the Imam Dur Mausoleum at Samarra in Iraq, finished in 1090. Historians still debate whether the technique began in north-eastern Iran or in Abbasid Iraq. Built of brick and plaster, carved stone or wood, it spread across the Islamic world: Seljuk builders in Anatolia set it over great stone gateways, and in Spain it fills the ceilings of the Alhambra.

Türkçe oku
Mukarnas, küçük nişlerin bal peteği gibi kat kat dizilmesiyle yapılan bir İslam mimarisi bezemesidir. Kare bir odanın yuvarlak kubbeyle birleştiği köşelerde geçiş öğesi olarak, ayrıca kapıların ve tonozların üst kısımlarında kullanılır.

Batılı yazarlar mukarnası çoğu zaman “sarkıt” ya da “bal peteği” tonozu diye anmıştır. Günümüze ulaşan en eski örnekler, kubbelerin altındaki köşelerde kullanılan üç bölümlü basit nişlerdir: Özbekistan'da Tim'deki Arab-Ata Türbesi (977–978) ile İran'daki Kabus Kümbeti (1006–1007) bunlardandır. Bilinen en eski eksiksiz mukarnas kubbe, Irak'ın Samarra kentindeki İmam Dur Türbesi'ni örtüyordu ve 1090'da tamamlanmıştı. Tekniğin kuzeydoğu İran'da mı, yoksa Abbasi Irak'ında mı doğduğu hâlâ tartışılıyor. Tuğla ve alçıdan, oyma taştan ya da ahşaptan yapılan mukarnas İslam dünyasının her yanına yayıldı: Anadolu Selçukluları onu görkemli taş taç kapılarda kullandı, İspanya'da ise Elhamra Sarayı'nın tavanlarını doldurur.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Muqarnas
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