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before it
attained popularity among the Gothic
church builders of Europe. Medieval
French, German, English and Italian
architects adopted the pointed arch in
the form of cusped, trefoil and ogee
arches which may be seen today supporting
and adorning magnificent European
cathedrals, such as those of Chartres and
Notre Dame in France and Wells in
England. Thus, they provided the model
for the Tudor arch and other arches found
chiefly in English, French and Italian
churches. In the Great Mosque of Cordova
(786), the soaring double arches were
used springing higher into the horse-shoe
forms; later even higher into the gothic.
Ribbed vaults
arching high over central spaces, arcades
and collonades defining interior spaces
in buildings, as well as construction
supports, inspired western builders in
their church designs and other buildings.
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Stone or wood interlacing (mashrabeyya)
grilles, an early feature of Arab
architecture, were to become one of the greatest
ornamental glories of the time. Begun in the
Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Blue Mosque in
Isfahan and in other monuments in Damascus, the
pierced fretted stone window grilles were laid
out in complex geometrical schemata. This
technique inspired builders of churches in
medieval Europe.
The Alhambra, the palace of the Moorish rulers of
Granada, built by Muhammad Ibn Al-Ahmar in 1230,
is perhaps the most famous example of classical
Muslim architecture in Europe. Externally, it
resembles an imposing fortress; internally, it
displays a most sumptuous design, an unsurpassed
conquest of space, light and water. It is laid
out with gardens, enclosed courts and luxurious
chambers and a mosque.
Islamic techniques of covering walls with
breathtaking explosions of brightlycolored
patterns, plastered ornaments and stretches of
lustered tiles are best exemplified in the
Aihambra, whose faience mosaic and tile designs
were absorbed into the mainstream of western
design.
Finally, the use of water as a landscaping
element to create a beautiful environment was
introduced by the Muslims in the Alhambra; this
technique was later imitated by European
architects and landscape designers to form
beautiful foundations, reflecting pools and
man-made waterfalls adorning many of the open
spaces and structures of the western world, such
as Villa D'Este in Rome, Italy.
The classical period of Arab art, which began
with the advent of Islam in the seventh century
and lasted more than a thousand years, was marked
by an art form that was essentially abstract and
geometric. The artistic movement in Islam has
always favored the lacy theorizing of geometry
over the realities of nature. Its staunch
monotheism discouraged depiction of human or
animal forms in any place or object used for
religious purposes, so that Muslim artists were
forced to limiting them-
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