Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Granada, Spain
Further reading:
O.Grabar, 
The Alhambra,
London 1978.
W.Irving, 
The Alhambra,
London 1906.
F.Prieto-Moreno, 
Los Jardines de Granada,
Madrid 1952.
Great Mosque, Algiers (after Golvin)
Alhambra

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16
Plan of Alhambra Palace Granada, Spain (after Goodwin)
Alhambra

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17
E.Sordo and W.Swaan, 
Moorish Spain: Córdoba, Seville and
Granada,
London 1963.
Almohads
North African Berber dynasty which ruled over much of
North Africa, Spain and parts of sub-Saharan West
Africa.
The Almohads originated from the Atlas mountains
of Morocco and were led by a religious leader who
preached moral reform. They defeated the ruling
dynasty of the Almoravids and established the
greatest empire of the western Islamic world. In 1170
the capital was moved to Seville from where
resistance to the Christian reconquest could be
organized.
Almohad architecture is characterized by its
mosques and fortifications. The most notable feature
of Almohad mosques are the large minaret towers
which dominate the great mosques of Seville,
Marakesh and Rabat. Under their predecessors, the
Almoravids, minarets were thought to be
inappropriate and were left out of mosque designs.
The Almohads were responsible for reintroducing
the minaret, first in a tentative form, as in the minaret
of Timnal where it is a low tower behind the mihrab,
and later in a monumental form. The design varied
from one tower to another but the basic form was a
square shaft containing a central core with a vaulted
room on each storey. The exterior was usually
decorated with windows set within frames made of
cusped arches which formed networks of lozenge
shapes. The form of these minarets established a
tradition which was followed in mosques of the
fourteenth century and later.
City walls are equally demonstrative symbols of
Almohad ideology with stepped crenellations and
decorated gateway façades. The best examples of
Almohad fortifications are the city gates at Rabat
with their complex bent entrances and monumental
façades decorated with cusped arches.