Girih

Geometric patterns in Islamic architecture

Girih pattern with inlaid floral decoration from Shah-i-Zinda in Samarkand, Uzbekistan Part of a series on

Arabic culture

Architecture

Styles

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Features

* Ablaq
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* Zellij

Types

* Albarrana tower
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Art

Styles

* Ancient South Arabian art
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Types

* Arabic calligraphy
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* Islamic Metalwork

Features

* Arabesque
* Arabic geometric patterns
* Banna'i
* Damascus steel
* Damask
* Girih tiles
* Hedwig glass
* Kiswah
* Muqarnas
* Pseudo-Arabic
* Zellij

Cuisine

* Khalij (Arabian Peninsula)
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* Arab Maghreb (North Africa)

Dress

Headwear

* Agal
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* Keffiyeh
* Litham
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* Taqiyah
* Tantour
* Tarboush (fez)
* Turban

Clothing

* Abaya
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* Durra'ah
* Fouta towel
* Izaar
* Jellabiya
* Kaftan
* Macawis
* Robe of honour
* Sirwal
* Takchita
* Thawb
* Tiraz

Music

Theory

* Arabic maqam
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* Algerian scale
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* Taqsim
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* Kitab al-Aghani

Genres

* Arabic pop
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Art music

* Andalusian classical music
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* Taqsim
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Folk

* Ataaba
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* Chaabi (Morocco)
* Egyptian folk
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* Liwa
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* Sawt
* Shaabi
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Dance

* Ardah
* Belly dance
* Dabke
* Deheyeh
* Guedra
* Hagallah
* Khaleegy
* Liwa
* Mizmar
* Ouled Nail
* Raqs Sharqi
* Samri
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* Schikhatt
* Tahtib
* Tanoura
* Yowlah
* Zār

Literature

Scripts

* Old
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Prose

* Epic literature
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* Maqama
* Love in Arabic literature
* Arabic erotic literature
* Arabic grimoires
* Literary_criticism
* Arabic short story
* Tabaqat
* Tezkire
* Rihla
* Mirrors for princes

Islamic

* Quran
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* Fiqh
* Aqidah

Poetry

* Anthologies
* Poets
* Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry
* Modern Arabic poetry

Genres

* Madih
* Hija
* Rithā'
* Waṣf
* Ghazal
* Khamriyyah
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* Khawal
* Fakhr
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Forms

* Diwan
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* Urjūza
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* Riddles
* Kharja
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Arabic prosody

* Bayt
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* Madīd
* Basīṭ
* Kamil
* Wāfir
* Hazaj
* Rajaz
* Ramal
* Munsariħ
* Khafīf
* Muqtaḍab
* Mujtathth
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National literatures of Arab States

* Algeria
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Science

* Arabic chemistry
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Philosophy

* Early Arabic Philosophy
* Islamic Aristotelianism
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* Islamic Logic
* Kalam
* Sufi metaphysics
* Sufi philosophy
* Farabism
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Concepts

* Al-aql al-faal
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* Dhati
* Peace
* Arcs of Descent and Ascent
* Asabiyyah
* Hal
* Irfan
* Nafs
* Qadar
* Qalb

Texts

* Liber de Causis
* The Theology of Aristotle
* Al-isharat
* The Book of the Apple
* Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity
* The Incoherence of the Philosophers
* The Incoherence of the Incoherence
* Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
* Theologus Autodidactus
* On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy
* Muqaddimah
* Sicilian Questions
* Fusus al-Hikam

Mythology

* Ababil
* Atlantis of the Sands
* Bahamut
* Beast of the Earth
* Book of Idols
* Book of Wonders
* Buraq
* Dandan
* Falak
* Ghoul
* Hinn
* Houri
* Ifrit
* Iram of the Pillars
* Jinn
* Karkadann
* Kujata
* Luqman
* Magic carpet
* Marid
* Mount Qaf
* Nasnas
* One Thousand and One Nights
* Qareen
* Qutrub
* Roc
* Shaddad
* Shadhavar
* Shams al-Ma'arif
* She-Camel of God
* Wāḳwāḳ
* Zulfiqar
* Zarqa al Yamama

Fictional Arab people

* Aladdin
* Abdul Alhazred
* Ali Baba
* Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
* Battal Gazi
* Hayy ibn Yaqdhan
* Kara Ben Nemsi
* King Marsile
* Layla and Majnun
* Othello
* Palamedes
* Princess Jasmine
* Ra's al Ghul
* Sindbad
* Talia al Ghul

Spirituality

North Arabian deities

* Allah
* Al-‘Uzzá
* Al-Lat
* Manāt
* Dushara
* Chaabou
* Manaf
* Nuha
* Al-Kutbay
* Asira
* Awal
* Azizos
* Bajir
* Quzah
* Manāt
* Manāt
* A'ra
* Abgal
* Aglibol
* Al-Qaum
* Atarsamain
* Baalshamin
* Bēl
* Hubal
* Suwa'
* Theandrios
* Wadd
* Malakbel
* Orotalt
* Ruda
* Sa'd
* Yarhibol
* Isāf and Nā'ila

South Arabian deities

* Almaqah
* Amm
* Anbay
* Athtar
* Salman
* Dhat-Badan
* Haubas
* Ta'lab
* Qaynan
* Basamum
* Dhul Khalasa
* Haukim
* Nasr
* Sīn
* Ya'uq
* Yaghūth
* Yatha

* v
* t
* e

Girih (Persian: گره, "knot", also written gereh[1]) are decorative Islamic geometric patterns used in architecture and handicraft objects, consisting of angled lines that form an interlaced strapwork pattern.

Girih decoration is believed to have been inspired by Syrian Roman knotwork patterns from the second century. The earliest girih dates from around 1000 CE, and the artform flourished until the 15th century. Girih patterns can be created in a variety of ways, including the traditional straightedge and compass construction; the construction of a grid of polygons; and the use of a set of girih tiles with lines drawn on them: the lines form the pattern. Patterns may be elaborated by the use of two levels of design, as at the 1453 Darb-e Imam shrine. Square repeating units of known patterns can be copied as templates, and historic pattern books may have been intended for use in this way.

The 15th century Topkapı Scroll explicitly shows girih patterns together with the tilings used to create them. A set of tiles consisting of a dart and a kite shape can be used to create aperiodic Penrose tilings, though there is no evidence that such a set was used in medieval times. Girih patterns have been used to decorate varied materials including stone screens, as at Fatehpur Sikri; plasterwork, as at mosques and madrasas such as the Hunat Hatun Complex in Kayseri; metal, as at Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan in Cairo; and in wood, as at the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba.

## History

[edit]

Further information: Islamic geometric patterns

### Origins

[edit]

2nd century Roman mosaic in Bosra with curvilinear knot patterns

The girih style of ornamentation is thought to have been inspired by 2nd century AD Syrian Roman knotwork patterns.[2] These had curvilinear interlaced strapwork with three-fold rotational symmetry. The Umayyad Mosque (709–715) in Damascus, Syria has window screens made of interlacing undulating strapwork in the form of six-pointed stars.[3] Early examples of Islamic geometric patterns made of straight strap lines can be seen in the architecture of the surviving gateway of the Ribat-i Malik caravanserai, Uzbekistan, built in 1078.[4] The wild application of girih on architectures should credit to the close relationship between Islamic architecture, geometry, and craft. Architecture was classified in the field of practical geometry in the early Islamic period, and building projects always involve a muhandis (geometer).[5] In addition, no clear border was established between science and craft;[5] thus, the craftsmen usually followed the mathematicians’ principles and guidelines directly.

### Early Islamic forms

[edit]

The earliest form of girih on a book is seen in the frontispiece of a Quran manuscript from the year 1000, found in Baghdad.[6] It is illuminated with interlacing octagons and thuluth calligraphy.[7]

In woodwork, one of the earliest surviving examples of Islamic geometric art is the 13th-century minbar (pulpit) of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo.[8][9] Girih patterns can be created in woodwork in two different ways. In one, a wooden grille with polygons and stars is created; the holes can be left as they are, or filled with some material. In the other, called gereh-chini[10] small wooden panels of geometric shapes are created individually, and combined to create an elaborate design.[2]

In 10th century a systematic investigation of geometric patterns was conducted by Persian mathematician and astronomer Abu al-Wafa' Buzjani in the House of Wisdom. In his treatise A Book on Those Geometric Constructions Which Are Necessary for a Craftsman, he explained the geometric structure and illustrates the methods of drawing polygons within other shapes (mostly circles) for craftsmen and artisans.[11] This book laid the groundwork for designing girih by explaining fundamental grammar for construction girih patterns.[11]

The term "girih" was used in Turkish for polygonal strap patterns in architecture as early as the late 15th century.[12] In the same period, artisans compiled girih pattern books such as the Topkapı Scroll.[13]

While curvilinear precedents of girih were seen in the 10th century, fully developed girih patterns were not seen before the 11th century in Iran. It became a dominant design element in the 11th and 12th centuries, as in the carved stucco panels with interlaced girih of the Kharraqan towers (1067) near Qazvin, Iran.[2][14] Stylized plant decorations were sometimes co-ordinated with girih.[15]

After the Safavid period, the use of girih continued in the Seljuq dynasty and the Ilkhanate. In the 14th century, girih became a minor element in the decorative arts; it was largely replaced by vegetal patterns during the Timurid dynasty, but continued to be important in decorative arts in Central Asian monuments after that time.[2]

## Construction

[edit]

A girih pattern based on a hexagonal overlapping circles grid that can be drawn with compass and straight edge

A window cage at the Topkapı Palace, built with this girih pattern

### Compass and straight edge

[edit]

Further information: Compass and straightedge constructions

Girih consists of geometric designs, often of stars and polygons, which can be constructed in a variety of ways.[16] Girih star and polygon patterns with 5- and 10-fold rotational symmetry are known to have been made as early as the 13th century. Such figures can be drawn by compass and straightedge. The first girih patterns were made by copying a pattern template on a regular grid; the pattern was drawn with compass and straightedge. Today, artisans using traditional techniques use a pair of dividers to leave an incision mark on a paper sheet that has been left in the sun to make it brittle. Straight lines are drawn with a pencil and an unmarked straightedge.[a][10] Girih patterns made this way are based on tessellations, tiling the plane with a unit cell and leaving no gaps. Because the tiling makes use of translation and rotation operations, the unit cells need to have 2-, 3-, 4- or 6-fold rotational symmetry.[18][19]

### Polygons in contact

[edit]

One of the early Western students of Islamic patterns, Ernest Hanbury Hankin, defined a "geometrical arabesque" as a pattern formed "with the help of construction lines consisting of polygons in contact."[20] He observed that many different combinations of polygons can be used as long as the residual spaces between the polygons are reasonably symmetrical. For example, a grid of octagons in contact has squares (of the same side as the octagons) as the residual spaces. Every octagon is the basis for an 8-point star, as seen at Akbar's tomb in Agra (1605–1613). Hankin considered the "skill of the Arabian artists in discovering suitable combinations of polygons ... almost astounding."[20]

Girih tiles

A pattern made from these tiles

Detail of Green Mosque, Bursa using this girih pattern

### Girih tiles

[edit]

Main article: Girih tiles

By the 15th century, some girih patterns were no longer periodic, and may have been constructed using girih tiles. This method is based on a set of five tiles with lines drawn on them; when used to tile the plane with no gaps, the lines on the tiles form a girih pattern. It is not yet known when girih tiles were first used for architectural decoration instead of compass and straightedge, but it was probably at the start of the 13th century.[21][22] Methods of ornamentation were extremely diverse, however, and the idea that one method was used for all of them has been criticised as anachronistic.[23]

### Two-level design

[edit]

Girih pattern on a spandrel from the Darb-e Imam, Isfahan, Iran

Reconstruction of the larger-scale thick line pattern with larger tiles, and a spandrel in yellow

Subdivision rule for the spandrel's pattern

The girih patterns on the Darb-e Imam shrine built in 1453 at Isfahan had a much more complex pattern than any previously seen. The details of the pattern indicate that girih tiles, rather than compass and straightedge, were used for decorating the shrine. The patterns appear aperiodic; within the area on the wall where they are displayed, they do not form a regularly repeating pattern; and they are drawn at two different scales. A large-scale pattern is discernible when the building is viewed from a distance, and a smaller-scale pattern forming part of the larger one can be seen from closer up.[21]

Although there is evidence that some ancient girih tilings used a subdivision rule to draw a two-level pattern, there are no known historic examples that can be repeated an infinite level of times. For example, the pattern used in the spandrel of the Darb-i Imam shrine (see figure) consists only of decagons and bowties, while the subdivision rule uses an elongated hexagon tile alongside these two shapes. Therefore, this design lacks self-similarity between the two levels.[21]

#### Aperiodicity

[edit]

A periodic tiling of the plane is the regular repetition of a "unit cell", in the manner of a wallpaper, without any gaps. Such tilings can be seen as a two-dimensional crystal, and because of the crystallographic restriction theorem, the unit cell is restricted to a rotational symmetry of 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, and 6-fold. It is therefore impossible to tile the plane periodically with a figure that has five-fold rotational symmetry, such as a five-pointed star or a decagon. Patterns with infinite perfect quasi-periodic translational order can have crystallographically forbidden rotational symmetries such as pentagonal or decagonal shapes. These quasicrystal tilings contain shapes with five-fold symmetry that repeat periodically in between other shapes that do not repeat.[21]

One way to create quasi-periodic patterns is to create a Penrose tiling. Girih tiles can be subdivided into Penrose tiles called "dart" and "kite", but there is no evidence that this approach was used by medieval artisans.[21] Another way to create quasiperiodic patterns is by subdividing girih tiles repeatedly into smaller tiles using a subdivision rule. In the limit the plane would be divided into girih tiles that repeat with frequencies that are aperiodic. The use of such a subdivision rule would serve as evidence that Islamic artisans of the 15th century were aware that girih tiles can produce complex patterns that never exactly repeat themselves. However, no known patterns made with girih tiles have more than a two-level design. There would have been no practical need for a girih pattern with more than two levels of design, as a third level would be either too large or too small to be perceived. It appears that medieval Islamic artisans were using a tool that had the potential of creating highly complex patterns, but they never realized it. As E. Makovicky argues,[24]

> The artisans were satisfied by creating a large fundamental domain without being concerned with the mathematical notion of indefinitely expandable quasiperiodic patterns. However, they understood and used to their advantage some of the local geometric properties of the quasi-crystalline patterns they constructed.[24]

#### The Topkapı Scroll

[edit]

A Topkapı Scroll panel; featuring a girih pattern in black with red tiles

Topkapı scroll panel with patterns at two scales and tiles used

Reconstruction of the small scale pattern (thick black lines) in left panel, using small tiles

Reconstruction of the large scale pattern (thick red lines) in left panel, using large tiles

The Topkapı Scroll, from the late 15th century, documents the use of girih tiles to create girih patterns. The drawings in this pattern book show the girih lines superimposed on the tiles used to generate the pattern, making the construction fully evident.[21]

### Templates

[edit]

Once a repeating pattern has been constructed, regardless of the method used, the pattern can be recreated by copying a repeating unit of it, like the pattern of a wallpaper, as a paper template. The pattern can then simply be pricked through on to the surface to be decorated. The Topkapı Scroll grids may well have been meant for use as such templates.[23] The Anonymous Compendium contains square repeat units for many girih patterns.[23] Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari's Compendium of Science and Useful Practice in the Mechanical Arts contains explicit templates for special purposes such as cast bronze doors.[23]

## Girih in varied materials

[edit]

* Girih stone screens at the tomb of Salim Chishti, Fatehpur Sikri, 16th century

* Girih in plasterwork of Iwan of Hunat Hatun medersa, Kayseri

* Girih in metal: 12-pointed star on gate at Sultan Hassan's mosque, Cairo

* Girih in wood: grille in the Great Mosque of Cordoba

## Girih on various surfaces

[edit]

### Girih on windows

[edit]

Colourful window of Dowlad Abad Garden

Girih has been widely applied on the architecture. The patterns on the Persian geometric windows meet the need of the Persian architecture, as the ornateness of windows indicated the social and economic status of the owner. A good example is Azad Koliji, a Dowlatabad Garden in Iran. With the girih patterns on its window, the architects manage to demonstrate multiple layers. The first layer is the actual garden which people can see when they open the window. And the second layer is the artificial garden as the girih patterns are on the outside of the window is the carved pattern and a colorful glass is below it which creates an illusion of a beautiful garden. The multi-colour layer create a sense of a mass of flowers. The artificial layer is abstract which forms a clear contradiction with the real layer outside the window and gives the audience enough space of imagination.[25]

### Girih on domes

[edit]

Nasr ol Molk mosque vault ceiling

In addition to plain platforms like the windows, girih patterns on the domes are very popular as well. However, due to the curve shapes of the domes, they need special techniques. One of the most important techniques is called “Dast-Garden” method. This method refers to that the number of star polygons applied to the pattern are highly dependent on the change of the dome curvature. Decreasing the curvature of a dome surface leads to the decreasing of the number of points on a star polygon. Thus, the shapes of the girih pattern are heavily relying on the dome.[26] The same method can be applied to other surfaces, even irregular surface.

### Girih on walls

[edit]

Dome of Jame Mosque Yazd

Girih patterns are very likely to be all over the walls of some Islamic architectures. The decorating lines connect to each other and form a continuous network across the entire tiling with edges combine. In addition, girih patterns vary a lot on the surface, with different geometric shapes including decagons, hexagons, bowties and rhombuses. Among all these patterns, a special technique is shared: "self-similar transformation". The mapping is completed by using this freedom to eliminate the edge difference of these patterns and reduce the edge mismatches to the lowest degree.[21] The extensive use of Girih for interior decoration corresponds to Islam belief. The repetitive patterns of Girih are capable of expanding in every direction, thus Girih has an indefinite nature. This characteristic resembles Muslim's belief that human, who is not the measure of the world, can never comprehend the "infinite meaning of the world" created by the un-definable god.[27] The Girih patterns also have visual function of helping viewers to transcend the monocular vision as the viewers shifting their views according to the underlying schemes.[11]

## See also

[edit]

* Islamic interlace patterns
* Muqarnas
* Topkapi Scroll

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Eric Broug's Islamic Geometric Patterns illustrates many such patterns, and (in the Appendix) gives detailed instructions for their construction using only compass and straightedge.[17]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Bonner, Jay (2017). Islamic geometric patterns : their historical development and traditional methods of construction. New York: Springer. p. 579\. ISBN 978-1-4419-0216-0. OCLC 1001744138.
2. ^ a b c d "Gereh Sazi". Encyclopaedia Iranica Online. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
3. ^ Broug, Eric (2008). Islamic Geometric Patterns. Thames and Hudson. p. 153\. ISBN 978-0-500-28721-7.
4. ^ Broug, Eric (2008). Islamic Geometric Patterns. Thames and Hudson. p. 71\. ISBN 978-0-500-28721-7.
5. ^ a b Ahuja, Mangho (1995). "Tessellations in Islamic Calligraphy". Leonardo. 28 (1): 41–45. doi:10.2307/1576154. JSTOR 1576154. S2CID 191368443.
6. ^ "Materials and Mediums". Pattern in Islamic Art. Archived from the original on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
7. ^ Tabbaa, Yasser (2002). The transformation of Islamic art during the Sunni revival. I. B. Tauris. p. 84\. ISBN 978-1-85043-392-7.
8. ^ "Jami' Ibn Tulun". Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
9. ^ Broug, Eric (2008). Islamic Geometric Patterns. Thames and Hudson. pp. 66–69. ISBN 978-0-500-28721-7.
10. ^ a b Henry, Richard (2007). "Pattern, Cognition and contemplation: Exploring the Geometric Art of Iran" (PDF). Iran Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
11. ^ a b c Koliji, Hooman (30 March 2016). "Gazing Geometries: Modes of Design Thinking in Pre-Modern Central Asia and Persian Architecture". Nexus Network Journal. 18: 105–132. doi:10.1007/s00004-016-0288-6.
12. ^ Dündar, A. (2003). "Bir Belgeye Göre Amasya II. Bayezid Külliyesi" (PDF). Ankara Üniverstesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (in Turkish). 44 (2): 131–172.
13. ^ Katz, V. J. (2007). The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam. Princeton University Press. p. 620\. ISBN 978-0-691-11485-9.
14. ^ "Architecture – iv. Central Asian". Encyclopaedia Iranica. August 11, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
15. ^ Pugachenkova, G. A.; Dani, A. H. Dani; Yinsheng, Liu (2000). Urban development and architecture. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103654-5. `{{cite book}}`: `|work=` ignored (help)
16. ^ Allen, Terry (2004). "Islamic Art and the Argument from Academic Geometry". Retrieved 2012-01-23.
17. ^ Broug, Eric (2008). Islamic Geometric Patterns. Thames and Hudson. pp. 194–243. ISBN 978-0-500-28721-7.
18. ^ Cromwell, P.R. (2009). "The Search for Quasi-Periodicity in Islamic 5-fold Ornament". Mathematical Intelligencer. 31 (1): 36–56. doi:10.1007/s00283-008-9018-6. S2CID 18284378.
19. ^ Lee, A. J. (1987). "Islamic Star Patterns". Muqarnas. 4: 182–197. doi:10.2307/1523103. JSTOR 1523103.
20. ^ a b Hankin, Ernest Hanbury (1925). The Drawing of Geometric Patterns in Saracenic Art. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India No. 15. Government of India Central Publication Branch.
21. ^ a b c d e f g Peter J. Lu and Paul J. Steinhardt (2007). "Decagonal and Quasi-crystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture" (PDF). Science. 315 (5815): 1106–1110. Bibcode:2007Sci...315.1106L. doi:10.1126/science.1135491. PMID 17322056. S2CID 10374218. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07.
22. ^ Lu and Steinhardt, Supplementary figures Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
23. ^ a b c d Necipoglu, Gulru (2017). The Arts of Ornamental Geometry: A Persian Compendium on Similar and Complementary Interlocking Figures. A Volume Commemorating Alpay Özdural. Brill. pp. 11–76. ISBN 978-90-04-31520-4.
24. ^ a b Emil Makovicky (2007). "Comment on "Decagonal and Quasi-Crystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture"". Science. 318 (5855): 1383a. Bibcode:2007Sci...318.1383M. doi:10.1126/science.1146262. PMID 18048668.
25. ^ Koliji, Hooman (2015). "Built on Light: The 'Crafty' Art of Geometric Patterned Windows". International Journal of Islamic Architecture. 4: 75–108. doi:10.1386/ijia.4.1.75_1.
26. ^ Mohammad, Kasraei (2016). "Girih for Domes: Analysis of Three Iranian Domes". Nexus Network Journal. 18: 311–321. doi:10.1007/s00004-015-0282-4.
27. ^ Nejdet Erzen, Jale (2011). "Reading Mosques: Meaning and Architecture in Islam". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 69 (1): 125–131. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6245.2010.01453.x. JSTOR 42635843.

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* Almohad
* Hafsid
* Zayyanid
* Ottoman
* Somali
* Sudano-Sahelian
* Swahili
* Tatar
* Timurid
* Umayyad
* Yemeni

Elements|

| Materials|

* Qadad
* Tadelakt

|
|

Arches|

* Chahartaq (four-arch structure)
* Discharging arch
* Four-centred arch
* Horseshoe arch
* Lambrequin arch
* Multifoil arch
* Ogee arch
* Pointed arch
* Squinch
* Vaulting

Roofs|

* Dome (Arabic dome / Onion dome / Persian dome / South Asian dome)
* Semi-dome
* Tajug
* Chhajja (eaves)

Religious
objects|

* Anaza
* Bedug
* Dikka (or müezzin mahfili)
* Gonbad
* Hussainiya
* Imamzadeh
* Kiswah
* Loudspeakers
* Maqsurah
* Mihrab
* Minaret
* Minbar
* Qibla
* Zarih

Decorations|

* (For overview, see Islamic ornament)
* Ablaq (multicoloured ashlar)
* Alfiz
* Arabesque
* Banna'i
* Girih
* Girih tiles
* Islamic calligraphy
* Islamic geometric patterns
* Jali
* Mosque lamp
* Muqarnas
* Nagash painting
* Qashani
* Sebka (Darj-wa-ktaf)
* Shabaka
* Shamsa
* Sitara
* Socarrat
* Stucco decoration
* Zellij

Rooms|

* Andaruni
* Harem
* Iwan
* Liwan (entrance hall)
* Mirador
* Hosh
* Qa’a
* Zenana

Gardens|

* Bagh
* Charbagh
* Islamic garden
* Mughal garden
* Paradise garden
* Persian gardens
* Reflecting pool
* Riad

Outdoor
objects|

* Chhatri
* Eidgah
* Fina
* Mechouar
* Sebil
* Shadirvan

Passive
cooling|

* Hypostyle
* Howz (fountain type)
* Jharokha
* Kucheh
* Mashrabiya
* Riwaq (arcade)
* Sahn (courtyard)
* Salsabil (fountain)
* Shabestan
* Shading Umbrellas
* Windcatcher

Types|

| Religious|

* Congregational mosque
* Dar al-Muwaqqit
* Dargah
* Gongbei
* Jama'at Khana
* Khanqah
* Külliye
* Kuttab (or maktab)
* Madrasa
* Maqam
* Maqbara
* Mazar
* Mosque
* Musalla
* Qubba
* Rauza
* Surau
* Takya (or takyeh in modern Iran)
* Türbe
* Zawiya

|

Civilian|

* Baradari
* Bazaar
* Caravanserai
* Dar al-Shifa (Bimaristan)
* Ghorfa
* Hammam
* Hasht-Bihisht
* Kasbah
* Mahal
* Medina quarter
* Souq
* Well house

Military|

* Albarrana tower
* Alcázar
* Amsar
* Kasbah
* Ksar
* Qalat
* Ribat

Resources|

* Aga Khan Award for Architecture
* ArchNet
* Museum with No Frontiers

Influences|

* Indo-Saracenic Revival
* Influences on Western architecture
* Moorish Revival
* Mudéjar

Category pages|

* Arabic architecture
* Berber architecture
* Iranian architecture
* Islamic architecture
* Moorish architecture
* Mughal architecture
* Ottoman architecture
* Sudano-Sahelian architecture
* Yemeni architecture

Part of Islamic arts • Architecture portal • Islam portal

* v
* t
* e

Islamic art

Architecture|

| Regional styles|

* Abbasid
* Ayyubid
* Anatolian Seljuk
* Chinese
* Fatimid
* Great Seljuk
* Hausa
* Indo-Islamic
* Bengali
* Bahmani and Deccan
* Mughal
* Indonesian / Malaysian
* Iranian
* Mamluk
* Moorish
* Ottoman
* Sudano-Sahelian
* Swahili
* Tatar
* Timurid
* Umayyad
* Yemeni

|

Elements|

* Ablaq
* Banna'i
* Iwan
* Jali
* Mashrabiya
* Mihrab
* Minaret
* Mocárabe
* Muqarnas
* Sitara
* Stucco decoration
* See also Decoration

Arts|

| Regional styles|

* Bangladeshi
* Persian (Early, Qajar, Safavid)
* Turkish (Ottoman)

|

Carpets|

* Gul
* Kilim
* Motifs
* Persian
* Turkish
* Prayer

Pottery|

* Fritware
* Hispano-Moresque
* Iznik
* Lustreware
* Mina'i ware
* Persian
* Chinese influence

Textiles|

* Batik
* Damask
* Ikat
* Embroidery
* Soumak
* Suzani

Woodwork|

* Khatam
* Minbar

Other media|

* Music
* Brass
* Damascus steel
* Enamelled glass
* Glass
* Hardstone carving
* Ivory carving
* Mosque lamp
* Stained glass
* Shabaka

Arts of
the book|

| Miniatures|

* Arabic
* Mughal
* Ottoman
* Persian

|

Calligraphy|

* Arabic
* Diwani
* Indo-Muslim
* Kufic
* Muhaqqaq
* Naskh
* Nastaliq
* Persian
* Sini
* Taliq
* Thuluth
* Tughra

Other arts|

* Muraqqa
* Hilya
* Ottoman illumination

Decoration|

* Arabesque
* Geometric patterns
* Girih (tiles)
* Zellij
* See also Calligraphy

The garden|

* Charbagh
* Mughal
* Ottoman
* Paradise
* Persian

Museums,
collections|

* Berlin
* Cairo
* Doha
* Ghazni
* Istanbul (Arts, Calligraphy Art)
* Jerusalem (Islamic Museum, Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem)
* Kuala Lumpur
* London (British Museum, V&A, Khalili Collection)
* Los Angeles
* Marrakech (Museum, Majorelle Garden)
* Melbourne
* Paris (Arab World Institute, Louvre)
* Singapore
* Toronto (Aga Khan)
* Tripoli

Exhibitions|

* Empire of the Sultans
* Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands
* Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam

Principles,
influences|

* Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World
* Aniconism in Islam
* Indo-Saracenic Revival
* Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe
* Influences on Western art
* Grotesque
* Moresque
* Mathematics and architecture
* Moorish Revival
* Mudéjar
* Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting
* Pseudo-Kufic
* Stilfragen
* Topkapı Scroll

* v
* t
* e

Ornaments

* Acanthus
* Antefix
* Arabesque
* Ball flower
* Bead and reel
* Blackamoor
* Branchwork
* Bucranium
* Buta
* Cartouche
* Christmas
* Cornucopia
* Curlicue
* Dentil
* Dog-tooth
* Egg-and-dart
* Festoon
* Foil
* Gadrooning
* Garden/Lawn
* Garland bearers
* Girih
* Green Man
* Grotesque
* Guilloché
* Gul
* Hilarri
* Hood
* Interlace
* Lintel
* Margent
* Mascaron
* Meander
* Medallion
* Millefleur
* Molding
* Moresque
* Palmette
* Plant
* Bulbous
* Grass
* Peak
* Puer mingens
* Putto
* Rais-de-cœur
* Rinceau
* Rosette
* Scroll
* Spur
* Strapwork
* Trophy of arms
* Volute (Vitruvian scroll)
* Zellige

* v
* t
* e

Mathematics and art

Concepts|

* Algorithm
* Catenary
* Fractal
* Golden ratio
* Hyperboloid structure
* Minimal surface
* Paraboloid
* Perspective
* Camera lucida
* Camera obscura
* Plastic ratio
* Projective geometry
* Proportion
* Architecture
* Human
* Symmetry
* Tessellation
* Wallpaper group

Forms|

* Algorithmic art
* Anamorphic art
* Architecture
* Geodesic dome
* Pyramid
* Vastu shastra
* Computer art
* Fiber arts
* 4D art
* Fractal art
* Islamic geometric patterns
* Girih
* Jali
* Muqarnas
* Zellij
* Knotting
* Celtic knot
* Croatian interlace
* Interlace
* Music
* Origami
* Mathematics
* Sculpture
* String art
* Tiling

Artworks|

* List of works designed with the golden ratio
* Continuum
* Mathemalchemy
* Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond
* Octacube
* Pi
* Pi in the Sky

Buildings|

* Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption
* Hagia Sophia
* Pantheon
* Parthenon
* Pyramid of Khufu
* Sagrada Família
* Sydney Opera House
* Taj Mahal

Artists|

| Renaissance|

* Paolo Uccello
* Piero della Francesca
* Leonardo da Vinci
* Vitruvian Man
* Albrecht Dürer
* Parmigianino
* Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror

|

19th–20th
Century|

* William Blake
* The Ancient of Days
* Newton
* Jean Metzinger
* Danseuse au café
* L'Oiseau bleu
* Giorgio de Chirico
* Man Ray
* M. C. Escher
* Circle Limit III
* Print Gallery
* Relativity
* Reptiles
* Waterfall
* René Magritte
* La condition humaine
* Salvador Dalí
* Crucifixion
* The Swallow's Tail
* Crockett Johnson

Contemporary|

* Max Bill
* Martin and Erik Demaine
* Scott Draves
* Jan Dibbets
* John Ernest
* Helaman Ferguson
* Peter Forakis
* Susan Goldstine
* Bathsheba Grossman
* George W. Hart
* Desmond Paul Henry
* Anthony Hill
* Charles Jencks
* Garden of Cosmic Speculation
* Andy Lomas
* Robert Longhurst
* Jeanette McLeod
* Hamid Naderi Yeganeh
* István Orosz
* Hinke Osinga
* Antoine Pevsner
* Tony Robbin
* Alba Rojo Cama
* Reza Sarhangi
* Oliver Sin
* Hiroshi Sugimoto
* Daina Taimiņa
* Roman Verostko
* Margaret Wertheim

Theorists|

| Ancient|

* Polykleitos
* Canon
* Vitruvius
* De architectura

|

Renaissance|

* Filippo Brunelleschi
* Leon Battista Alberti
* De pictura
* De re aedificatoria
* Piero della Francesca
* De prospectiva pingendi
* Luca Pacioli
* De divina proportione
* Leonardo da Vinci
* A Treatise on Painting
* Albrecht Dürer
* Vier Bücher von Menschlicher Proportion
* Sebastiano Serlio
* Regole generali d'architettura
* Andrea Palladio
* I quattro libri dell'architettura

Romantic|

* Samuel Colman
* Nature's Harmonic Unity
* Frederik Macody Lund
* Ad Quadratum
* Jay Hambidge
* The Greek Vase

Modern|

* Owen Jones
* The Grammar of Ornament
* Ernest Hanbury Hankin
* The Drawing of Geometric Patterns in Saracenic Art
* G. H. Hardy
* A Mathematician's Apology
* George David Birkhoff
* Aesthetic Measure
* Douglas Hofstadter
* Gödel, Escher, Bach
* Nikos Salingaros
* The 'Life' of a Carpet

Publications|

* Journal of Mathematics and the Arts
* Lumen Naturae
* Making Mathematics with Needlework
* Rhythm of Structure
* Viewpoints: Mathematical Perspective and Fractal Geometry in Art

Organizations|

* Ars Mathematica
* The Bridges Organization
* European Society for Mathematics and the Arts
* Goudreau Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science
* Institute For Figuring
* Mathemalchemy
* National Museum of Mathematics

Related|

* Droste effect
* Mathematical beauty
* Patterns in nature
* Sacred geometry

* Category

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