Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Abbasids, Baghdad, Iraq
Further reading:
A.Northedge, ‘Planning Samarra’, 
Iraq
47: 109–28, 1985.
—— ‘The Palace of Istabulat’, 
Archéologie islamique
4: 1993.
A.Northedge and R.Falkner, ‘The 1986 survey season at
Samarra’, 
Iraq
49: 143–74, 1987.
A.Northedge, T.J.Wilkinson and R.Falkner, ‘Survey and
excavations at Samarra 1989’, 
Iraq
52: 121–48.
San
a
Capital city of Yemen.
The city is located on a high plateau 2,200 m above
sea level. Above the city is Jabal Nuqum which acts
as a collecting point for clouds and consequently
precipitation. San
a seems to have risen to
prominence in the third century CE although an
earlier settlement probably existed on the site.
San
a has thirty-four historic mosques, the oldest
of which is the Great Mosque which is said to have
been founded on the orders of Muhammad during
his lifetime. This early mosque was extended
northwards during the Umayyad period on the
orders of Caliph al-Walid. Subsequent restorations
were carried out in the twelfth, thirteenth and
sixteenth centuries, although the basic form of the
building appears to have remained the same. In its
present form the mosque consists of a large
rectangle measuring 66 by 78 m with six gateways,
one at the south, four on the east and west sides
and one in the north wall next to the mihrab. The
external walls are built of large blocks of squared
basalt with a central core of rubble. The courses of
the wall are marked by narrow ridges (approxi-
mately 0.5 cm wide) formed by the faces of the
stones leaning outwards. This is a masonry
technique characteristic of pre-Islamic Yemeni
architecture. In the centre of the mosque there is a
square courtyard surrounded by arcades, four on
the south side, three on the east and west sides and
five on the north (qibla) side. The arcades have a
flat wooden roof supported by arches resting either
on columns or on circular stone piers. In the centre
of the courtyard is a square box-shaped structure
covered with a dome known as Sinan Pashas
Qubbah. Although it was built in the early
seventeenth century, its form and position suggest
it may have earlier antecedents. There are two
minarets, one in the south-east corner of the
courtyard and the other at the east side of the
mosque next to the outer wall. They both seem to
date from the thirteenth century but may have been
restored later. The mosque has four mihrabs, three
subsidiary ones at its south end and a main mihrab
to the left of centre in the north wall. The area above
the mihrab is roofed by five corbelled wooden
domes, a central dome and four smaller side domes.
In the centre of each dome is a block of alabaster
which would have functioned as a skylight.
Other early mosques in San
a include the
Jabbanah Musalla, the Tawus Mosque, the mosque
of al-Jala and the Jami al-Tawashi. The Jabbanah
Musalla is an open-air prayer area which is said
to date from the time of Muhammad, although it
has been extended in later times. The other early
mosques are rectangular box-like structures with
hypostyle roofs and recall pre-Islamic Yemeni
temples. Mosques of the twelfth century and later
are influenced by the architecture of Egypt and
Syria. This influence can be seen in the use of
arches and domes, which are rare features in the
traditional architecture of Yemen. After the
Ottoman occupation of the sixteenth century,
mosques were built with large central domes and
domed arcades.
The domestic architecture of San
a is represented
by tall tower houses built of stone and decorated
with white plasterwork around the windows and
coloured glass in the reception rooms (mafraj) at the
top of the house.