Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Baghdad, Damascus, Iran, Iraq,
Isfahan, Merv, Nishapur, Syria
semahane
Literally ‘dance hall’; an Ottoman Turkish term for a
room used for dervishes to dance. The typical
Ottoman semahane was an octagonal domed room
often attached to a mosque. The most famous is the
Mevlana dervish centre in Kenya.
serai
Turkish term for a palace.
serdab
Sunken courtyard opening on to underground
rooms used to escape the heat of the day. Serdabs
are of pre-Islamic Iranian origin but were rapidly
incorporated into Islamic architecture. One of the
earliest examples is in the palace of Khirbet al-
Mafjar.
seref
Ottoman term for the balcony on a minaret. Most
minarets only have one balcony, although some of
the more important mosques have minarets with up
to three, the most famous example being the Üç
Serefeli Mosque in Edirne.
Seville (Arabic: Ishbiliyya)
City in south-west Spain originally capital of the Muslim
province of al-Andalus (Spain) and later one of main
centres of Islamic culture in Spain.
Before the coming of Islam, Seville was the first
capital of the Visigoths until they moved to Toledo.
It was captured by the Arabs in the eighth century
and remained a Muslim city until the early thirteenth
century when it was taken by the Christian armies
of Ferdinand III. Despite this change Seville
remained an important centre of Mudéjar
architecture throughout the Middle Ages.
During the Islamic period the city was known
for silk weaving and scholarship and was the home
to the famous physician and philosopher Averroës.
Unfortunately little remains of the early Islamic city,
although traces of the Almohad and Al-moravid city
remain along with fine examples of Mudéjar
craftsmanship.