Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Alhambra, Spain
Further reading:
F.Prieto-Moreno, 
Los Jardines de Granada,
Madrid 1952.
E.Sordo and W.Swaan, 
Moorish Spain: Córdoba, Seville and
Granada,
London 1963.
Great Britain (United Kingdom)
Britain’s main source of contact with the Islamic
world has been through the British Empire and in
particular the Indian subcontinent. India was
acquired by Britain in the eighteenth century and
was one of Britain’s earliest colonial acquisitions. As
with most colonial encounters each side was
influenced by the culture and architecture of the
other. In India the British built the city of Calcutta as
capital complete with Anglo-Indian mosques. In
Britain the architecture of India was evoked in several
buildings, the most famous of which is the Royal
Pavilion at Brighton. Externally the building
resembles a late Mughal palace with bulbous domes,
chajjas and chatris, although internally it is decorated
like a Chinese palace.
With the Independence of India in 1948 and the
division of the subcontinent into Pakistan and
Bangladesh a large number of immigrants came to
Britain. Indians now make up the majority of
Britain’s Muslim population although they are
mostly concentrated in cities and the larger towns.
The first mosques in Britain were converted churches
or houses although more recently (since 1980) many
Granada

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new mosques have been built, financed partly by
British Muslim communities and partly by donations
from oil-rich Arab countries. The best-known
mosque in Britain is in Regents Park in London
although other cities like Bradford also have
prominent new mosques. In the typical modern
British mosque there is usually an emphasis on the
dome which is often covered in metal. Minarets are
usually quite small and are often non-functional (i.e
not used for the call to prayer).
Greece
Mountainous country in south-eastern Europe which for
over 400 years formed a part of the Ottoman Empire.
The position of Greece opposite Libiya and Egypt
and its exposure to the east Mediterranean sea meant
that it was exposed to Muslim raids from the
beginnings of Islam. Crete in particular was open to
attack and was briefly occupied by Muslim forces as
early as 674. Between 827 and 961 Crete was again
captured by Muslim forces who used the island as a
base for pirate raids against the rest of Greece. At
some time during the tenth century Athens seems
to have had an Arabic settlement with its own
mosque, traces of which have been excavated.
It was not, however, until the rise of the Ottomans
that Greece was fully brought under Islamic rule.
Different parts of Greece were incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire at different times and for varying
degrees of time. Thus the south and central part of
the country (Peleponnesus and lonnia) were
conquered in 1460 but lost to the Venetians between
1687 and 1715 after which they were recaptured and
remained part of the empire for another 100 years
until the Greek War of Independence in 1821–9. Parts
of northern Greece, however, were conquered by the
Ottomans as early as 1360 and by 1430 the whole of
the northern part of the country was under Turkish
rule which lasted until 1912. There was little Turkish
settlement in Greece with the exception of Thrace
where colonists were brought in soon after the
conquest.
There are comparatively few remains of Turkish
rule in central and southern Greece although Athens
contains a few notable examples. The oldest standing
Fethie Cami, Athens © Cherry Pickles
Greece

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mosque in Athens is the Fethie Cami built in the late
fifteenth century; the building is unusual because in
plan it closely resembles an Orthodox church. The
last Ottoman mosque built in Athens is the Djisdaraki
Cami erected in 1759, a building with a distinctive
Ottoman form, consisting of a triple-domed portico
and a square domed prayer hall. In addition to
mosques the Ottomans also built baths and
madrassas in Athens none of which has survived
although remains of the city wall built in 1788 by Ali
Hadeski can still be seen. The islands of Greece, in