Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Fatimids, Libiya
Further reading:
A.Abdussaid, ‘Early Islamic monuments at Ajdabiyah’,
Libiya Antiqua
1: 115–19, 1964.
—— ‘The old Islamic city of Ajdabiyah’, in 
Some Islamic
Sites in Libiya,
Art and Archaeology Research Papers,
London 1976, 19–24.
H.Blake, A.Hutt and D.Whitehouse, ‘Ajdabiyah and the
earliest Fatimid architecture’, 
Libiya Antiqua
8: 105–20,
1970.
P.Donaldson, ‘Excavations at Ajdabiya, 1976’, 
Libyan
Studies
7: 9–10, 1976.
D.Whitehouse, ‘The excavations at Ajdabiyah: an interim
report’, 
Libyan Studies
3: 12–21, 1972.
—— ‘Excavations at Ajdabiyah: second interim report’,
Libyan Studies
4: 20–7, 1973.
ajimez
Spanish term for pair of windows sharing a central
column. This is one of the distinctive features of
Islamic buildings in Spain and is especially noticeable
on minarets.
Albania
Mountainous country in south-eastern Europe which was
incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth
century.
The first Ottoman incursions into Albania in the late
fourteenth and early part of the fifteenth century were
fiercely resisted by the Albanians under their leader
Skanderberg who managed to unite the various feudal
factions who had previously ruled the country. The
resistance of the people together with its mountainous
terrain meant that the country was not fully conquered
until the late fifteenth century. Few Turks settled in
the country which nevertheless converted to Islam.
This remained the state religion until the revolution
of 1967 when the country became officially atheist.
Mosques were converted into museums and minarets
were demolished in order to destroy the distinctive
Islamic appearance of the cities. In 1991 with the
collapse of the authoritarian communist regime Islam
has again become the main religion with 72 per cent
of the population Muslim and 27 per cent Christian
(Greek Orthodox and Catholic). As a result mosques
have been reopened with rebuilt minarets. There are
substantial numbers of Albanians living abroad