Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Almohads, Fez, Marakesh, Meknes,
Rabat
Further reading:
R.Landau, 
The Kasbas of Southern Morocco,
London 1969.
mosaics
Inlay of small tiles or stones used for decoration of walls
or floors.
The use of mosaics in Islam is derived directly from
Roman and Byzantine architecture where their most
common function was to decorate churches and public
buildings. It is known that many mosaics in the early
Islamic period were carried out by Byzantine
craftsmen and artists. Two main types of mosaic can
be distinguished, those used for floors and those used
for walls. Floor mosaics were made out of coloured
fragments of stone or marble and were often arranged
as patterns. Wall mosaics were often made out of
specially manufactured tesserae of glass and were
usually arranged as illustrative scenes.
Examples of floor mosaics have been found in
excavations of the earliest Islamic structures in Syria
and Palestine which were often converted Byzantine
buildings. Floor mosaics usually lack any figural
depictions of animals or humans and it is noticeable
that many churches had the figural parts of the
mosaics removed or scrambled during the Islamic
period. Nevertheless, private palaces such as Qasr al-
Hayr in Syria and Khirbet al-Mafjar had figural
mosaics on the floor. It has been argued that figural
representation on the floor was permitted as it was
not in a respectful situation and could be walked over.
The most famous example is the apse of the audience
hall at Khirbet al-Mafjar which has a depiction of a
lion attacking a deer in front of a tree.
Wall mosaics are more elaborate than those on
the floor and are often gilded with gold leaf. The
oldest example of wall mosaics in Islamic
architecture is the decoration of the Dome of the Rock
in Jerusalem, dated by an inscription to 691 CE. The
motifs used include both Sassanian (winged crowns)
and Byzantine (jewelled vases) themes held together
within an arabesque foliage. Other early Islamic wall
mosaics are those of the Great Mosque in Damascus
which depict houses and gardens next to a river but
significantly no people or animals. Although mosaic
was primarily a technique employed in the
Mediterranean area it was occasionally used further
east in Iraq and Iran. Some of the best examples have
been found at the palace of al-Quwair in Samarra.
Generally mosaics declined in importance after the
tenth century, although in Egypt glass mosaics were
used for the decoration of mihrabs as late as the
thirteenth century (see for example the mausoleum
of Shajarat al Durr in Cairo). From the eleventh
century onwards mosaics were replaced by glazed
tilework in most parts of the Islamic world.