Muqarnas (Arabic: مقرنص), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from Arabic: مقربص, romanized: muqarbaṣ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of Islamic architecture, integral to the vernacular of Islamic buildings, and typically featured in domes and vaults, as well as iwans, entrance portals, or other niches. It is sometimes referred to as honeycombs or stalactites. Muqarnas is an invention of Islamic architecture. Its structure originated from the squinch and its purpose is to create a smooth, decorative zone of transition in an otherwise bare, structural space. This structure gives the ability to distinguish between the main parts of a building and serves as a transition from the walls of a square or rectangular room to a round dome or vault above it. Muqarnas could also form entire vaults and domes. From below, these compositions can create an elaborate visual effect based on the interplay of light and shadow across the surfaces sculpted into three-dimensional patterns. Muqarnas most likely first developed in eleventh-century Iraq, although the earliest preserved examples are also found outside this region. As the technique became widespread in the 12th century, regional styles and variations developed across the Islamic world.
Etymology The etymology of the word muqarnas is somewhat vague. Its earliest use in Arabic dates to the 12th century. It is thought to have originated from the Greek word korōnis, meaning "cornice" or "ornamental molding". There is also speculation of the origin to stem from the Arabic word qarnasi meaning "intricate work". Nişanyan claims that it is related to the Aramaic קרנסא, meaning "hammering". The Spanish term mocárabe is derived from the Arabic term muqarbaṣ, which was also used to denote muqarnas in the western regions of the Islamic world. Its origin may be Koine Greek: κρηπίѕ, romanized: krēpís, lit. 'base, plinth'. It may also be related to the Arabic word mukrab meaning "solid, firm, bound".
Structure
Muqarnas consists of a series of niche-like elements or cells which are combined in a geometrical framework with a few axes of symmetry. The individual cells consist of a limited set of simple prismatic elements which are combined according to precise rules. Cells are organized in multiple levels overlapping and projecting over those below like corbels, thus creating a three-dimensional composition. Although following strict rules and using only a limited set of individual forms, the technique allows for the creation of highly complex and diverse compositions. The interplay of light and shadow across individual cells in a vast, geometric arrangement is what gives muqarnas its aesthetic visual effect. Western writers have often compared the resulting compositions to "stalactites" or "honeycombs" and these terms are often used in European languages to describe the technique.
Muqarnas is typically applied to the undersides of domes, pendentives, cornices, squinches, arches and vaults and is often seen in the mihrab of a mosque. It can also be applied across a flat surface as a decorative band or frieze. Its main function is ornamental and it is typically used to obscure or fill the structural transitions within a building. One of its main uses is to bridge the transition between the base of a circular dome and a square chamber below it, effectively serving as an evolution of the more traditional squinch.
The form and medium vary depending on the region they are found, as does the size of individual cells. In Syria, Egypt, and Turkey, muqarnas are usually constructed out of stone. In North Africa, they are typically constructed from plaster or wood. In Iran and Iraq, muqarnas are built with bricks which are sometimes covered in plaster or ceramic. Some plaster muqarnas compositions are attached to a hidden supporting framework or upper vault above, either glued or suspended by ropes.
History
Origins
The earliest monuments to make use of this feature date from the 11th century and are found in Iraq, North Africa, Iran, Central Asia, and Upper Egypt. This apparently near-simultaneous appearance in distant regions of the Islamic world has led to different scholarly theories about their origin and diffusion. Some early scholars of Islamic art, such as K. A. C. Creswell and Georges Marçais, believed that the evidence points to a simultaneous parallel development in these different regions. Others propose that they originated in one region at least a century earlier and then spread from there. The earliest evidence of muqarnas-like elements, although only conjectural, comes from fragments of stucco found in Nishapur, Iran, dated to the 9th or 10th century. These fragments have concave triangular shapes and were reconstructed by excavators as a tripartite squinch. The earliest surviving examples preserved in situ are tripartite squinches used as transitional elements for domes and semi-domes. These examples include the Arab-Ata Mausoleum (977–978) in Tim (near Samarkand) in Uzbekistan, the Gunbad-i Qabus (1006–1007) in northeastern Iran, and the Duvazdah Imam Mausoleum (1037–1038) in Yazd, Iran. Based on the evidence from Nishapur and Tim, some scholars have theorized that muqarnas originated in northeastern Iran and that it was further developed in subsequent Great Seljuk architecture, as seen in the Seljuk domes of the Great Mosque of Isfahan (1088).
The oldest full muqarnas dome to have survived to modern times was the Imam Dur Mausoleum at Samarra, completed in 1090. (This shrine was reported destroyed by ISIS in October 2014.) Based on this example and on the rapid spread of muqarnas vaulting across the Islamic world, some scholars believe that the primary role in its development was played instead by Abbasid Iraq, most likely in the early 11th century when the Abbasids in Baghdad were undergoing a renaissance. Yasser Tabbaa has argued that muqarnas domes in particular must have originated in Baghdad and that the far-reaching influence of the Abbasid capital enabled its rapid spread to other regions afterwards. Alicia Carrillo Calderero has proposed that the first muqarnas originated in the palaces of the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad.
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