Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Ottomans, Selimiye, tekke
Further reading:
A.Kuran, ‘Edirne
de Yildirim Camii’ (The Mosque of
Yildirim in Edirne), 
Belletin
, 28(3): 429–38, 1964.
R.M.Meriç, ‘Edime’nin tarihi ve mimari eserleri
hakkinda’, in 
Türk San’ati Tarihi Arastima ve Incelemeleri,
Istanbul 1963.
R.Meyer-Riefstahl, ‘Early Turkish tile revetments in
Turkey’, 
Ars Islamica,
4: 1937.
R.Osman, 
Edirne sarayi,
Ankara 1956.
A.S.Ünver, 
Edirne Muradiye cami
i,
Istanbul 1953.
Egypt (excluding Cairo)
Located at the north-eastern tip of Africa forming a
bridge between Africa and Asia. The population of the
Arab Republic of Egypt is 90 per cent Muslim and 10
per cent Coptic Christian. Despite its vast size (1
million square kilometres) most of the population lives
in the region of the Nile Delta between Cairo and
Alexandria. The other inhabited area is the Nile valley
which runs the whole length of the country from Sudan
in the south to the Mediterranean in the north. The
rest of Egypt is inhospitable desert with a sparse
population.
Egypt is fortunate in having a wealth of building
materials at its disposal. The main materials are
stone, baked brick, mud brick and wood. In the
Delta region (which includes Cairo and Alexandria)
suitable building stone is not naturally available,
although Ancient Egyptian monuments containing
stone imported from Upper Egypt provided a
plentiful quarry for many Islamic buildings. Even
in Upper Egypt ancient structures were often the
most accessible source of building stone.
Nevertheless, baked brick was often the preferred
material because of its relative cheapness (i.e.
transport costs), its versatility and standard size.
Mud brick is obviously cheaper than baked brick,
can be quickly produced and provides excellent
thermal insulation. In pre-modern times mud brick
formed the basic building material for most of the
country but more recently it is confined to southern
Egypt. Date palms form the main natural source of
wood and palm wood is used for most traditional
architecture. More exotic wood could be imported
from Europe or Africa for use in the wealthier
houses of Cairo.
Several factors have combined to make the
Islamic architecture of Egypt outside Cairo
virtually unknown: first, the overwhelming wealth
of Cairo’s architectural heritage; second, the
monuments outside Cairo are often made of mud
brick and have survived less well; third,
monuments of Egypt’s pharaonic past have tended
to overshadow those of later periods. In this
discussion I have concentrated on the architecture
of Upper Egypt which generally receives less
attention.
The most important monuments of Upper
Egypt are the necropolis of Aswan, the al-
Amri
Mosque at Qus and a group of five Fatimid
minarets. The necropolis of Aswan is located
outside the town of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The
necropolis consists of a long strip 500 m wide
stretching along the side of the road for nearly 2
km. Within the necropolis there are more than 1000
tombs built which originally had inscriptions dating
them to the eleventh or early twelfth century. The
tombs represent one of the best examples of
medieval funerary architecture in the Middle East.
There are several forms of tomb, from simple
rectangular enclosures open to the sky to elaborate
Egypt (excluding Cairo)

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domed structures with mihrabs and a variety of
vaults. Mud brick is the main material of
construction although baked brick was used for
the domes and some of the arches. The outer
surfaces of the tombs were originally covered in
lime plaster although in most cases this has now
worn off. A characteristic feature of the domed
tombs were projecting horns at the angles of the
drum which supported the dome. The tombs are
also significant as some of the earliest examples
of muqarnas squinches.
The city of Qus is located on the east bank of
the Nile more than 950 km south of Cairo. Qus
replaced Qift as the dominant city of Upper Egypt
during the ninth to tenth centuries. The city’s main
role was as a Nile port for goods coming overland
from the Red Sea port of Qusayr. The main
monument in the city is the al-
Amri Mosque which
is a Fatimid building founded in 1083 although it
has later Mamluk and Ottoman additions. The only
Fatimid remains are part of the qibla wall which
includes the original round-arched mihrab. The
most famous part of the complex is the tomb from
the Ayyubid period built for Mubarak ibn Maqlid
in 1172. The mausoleum stands on a square base
and is similar to some of the later tombs at Aswan
with projecting horns on the drum. However, the
design is more advanced and includes developed
muqarnas niches and a slightly fluted dome pierced
with star- and tear-shaped openings.
The five minarets of Upper Egypt which are
usually included in any discussion of Fatimid
minarets are also dated to the eleventh century.
The mosque of Abu al-Hajjaj in Luxor is the most
famous because of its position on the roof of the
Temple of Luxor. The mosque is mostly a
nineteenth-century construction but one of the two
minarets dates to the eleventh century. The minaret
is built of mud brick and has a square base 5 m
high surmounted by a tapering cylindrical shaft
which reaches a height of nearly 15 m. The top of
the minaret is a tall domed pavilion with two tiers
of windows. The square base is reinforced with
three layers of wooden beams and the staircase
inside is also made of wood. Eighty kilometres
south of Luxor is the small market town of Esna.
In the centre of the town is the Ottoman mosque
of al-
Amri with a Fatimid minaret similar to those
of Aswan and Luxor. The square base of the
minaret is built out of baked brick with layers of
wood inserted every nine courses. The tapering
cylindrical shaft is white-washed and may be built
of mud brick. The minaret at Aswan is similar with
a square base and a tapering shaft, but lacks the
domed chamber on the top, although the remains
of brackets indicate that there was once a
superstructure. Externally this building is built of
baked brick although the interior is made of
unbaked mud brick. Its notable feature is the two
bands of brickwork inscription at the top. This is
one of the earliest examples of this type of
inscription (hazarbaf) which was later to become
a common feature in Islamic architecture. To the
south of Aswan near the village of Shellal are two
minarets of similar style to the minaret of Aswan
and the mosque of Abu al-Hajjaj in Luxor. One of
the minarets known as Mashad al-Bahri has a brick
inscription similar to that of the minaret in Aswan.
The other minaret known as al-Mashad al-Qibli is
of interest as it stands next to a mosque of
approximately the same date. The mosque is built
on to a slope so that at one end it rests on a vaulted
substructure which overlooks the valley below.
Minaret, Aswan, Egypt, © Hutt Archive, Ashmolean Museum
Museum
Egypt (excluding Cairo)

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The sanctuary of the mosque is covered by six
domes and has three minarets in the qibla wall.