Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Bukhara, Timurids, Uzbekistan
Further reading:
J.Lawton and F.Venturi, 
Samarkand and Bukhara,
London
1991.
A.L.Mongait, 
Archaeology in the U.S.S.R.,
trans. M.W.
Thomson , Pelican, London 1961.
N.B.Nemtseva, ‘The origins and architectural
development of the Shah i Zinda’, trans. with additions
by J.M.Rogers and A.Yasin, 
Iran
15: 51–74, 1977.
R.Pinder-Wilson, ‘Timurid architecture’, in 
Cambridge
History of Iran
6, 1993.
D.N.Wilber, ‘The Timurid court: life in gardens and tents’,
Iran
27: 127–134, 1979.
Samarra
Abbasid capital in central Iraq.
Samarra is now recognized as the largest
archaeological site in the world and stretches for over
40 km along the banks of the Tigris. Although there
were settlements in the area of Samarra before the
Abbasid period, it was not established as capital until
836 CE when the Abbasid caliph al-Mu
tassim
decided to set up a new city following clashes
between his troops and the local population of
Baghdad. The city remained capital for fifty-six years
and was home to eight caliphs, until 892 when the
capital was moved back to Baghdad.
The predominant building material in Samarra
was mud brick and pisé with baked brick reserved
for more important structures (i.e. the Great Mosque
and the Bab al-Amma). Houses and palaces were
decorated with carved and moulded stucco panels,
and Samarra provides the earliest examples of
bevelled stucco decoration. Some of the palaces were
also decorated with wall paintings and glass mosaic
although none of this remains in situ.
The modern town of Samarra is located
approximately in the centre of the Abbasid city.
Immediately to the north-west of the city, on the west
bank of the Tigris, is the Jausaq al-Khaqani which
for most of the time was the caliph’s palace and was
always his official residence. It was built by one of
al-Mu
tasim’s Turkish generals and reflects features
of Central Asian influence such as wall paintings
with Bactrian camels. The palace is a vast complex,
including a mosque, a polo ground and a horse-
racing track. On the west side of the palace, facing
the river, there is a monumental gateway or portal
known as the Bab al-Amma, or public gate. This
structure was probably an official entrance and a
place for public audiences. Directly to the east of the
palace is the Great Mosque of Samarra with its spiral
minaret (the Malwiyya). Measuring over 240 by 160
m this is one of the largest mosques in the world. It
is built entirely of baked brick although marble
columns on brick piles originally supported the roof.
The outer wall of the mosque is supported by four
corner towers and twenty semi-circular bastions
resting on square bases. The curtain wall is entirely
plain except for a frieze which runs between the
bastions, each section consisting of six bevelled
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squares with shallow concave discs in the centre. The
Malwiyya, or spiral minaret, is 52 m high and may
have been influenced by earlier Mesopotamian
ziggurats.
In the north of Samarra are the remains of an
extension to the city built by Caliph al-Mutawakkil
in an attempt to found a new city. This new area had
a palace, garrisons and a congregational mosque
known as the Abu Dulaf. The Abu Dulaf Mosque is
a smaller version of the Great Mosque and has a
spiral minaret 19 m high. On the west bank of the
Tigris is the Ashiq Palace, one of the last buildings
made before the capital was relocated in Baghdad.
The palace is built on a vaulted substructure or
Qubbat al-Sulaybiyya, Samarra, Iraq
Great Mosque above and smaller mosque in foreground, Samarra, Iraq
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terrace so that it can overlook the Tigris. The building
forms a high rectangle with the outer walls decorated
by a series of blind niches. One of the distinctive
features of the palace is the use of the four-
centrepoint arch for the first time in Islamic
architecture.
South of the modern town of Samarra are a
number of major structures, including the palaces
of al-Istabulat, al-Balkuwara and Musharrahat. In
addition, there is a huge octagonal enclosure, each
side of which is half a kilometre long, known as the
octagon of Qadisiyya. This probably represents the
remains of an unfinished city started by Harun al-
Rashid in the eighth century.