In 750, the Abbasids seized power from the Umayyad rulers of the Arab Empire, who lost all their possessions except Spain.[5] The Abbasid caliphs, based in modern-day Iraq, ruled Iran, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the lands of the eastern and southern Mediterranean. The period between 750 and 900 has been described as the Golden Age of Islam.[6] While the Umayyads often reused pre-Islamic buildings in the cities they had conquered, in the Abbasid era many of these structures had to be replaced. The spread of Muslim beliefs also brought about changes in needs. The Abbasids had to build masjids and palaces, as well as fortifications, houses, commercial buildings and even facilities for races and polo matches.[7] They improved the pilgrimage route from Baghdad and Kufa to Mecca, leveling the surface and building walls and ditches in some areas, as well as stations for pilgrims with rooms and a mosque in which to pray.[7]​.

In 762, Caliph Al-Mansur founded a new capital, Baghdad, on the banks of the Tigris, which soon became one of the largest cities in the world. In 836 the caliph Al-Mustá'sim moved the capital to Samarra. The Abbasids began to lose control over the peripheral areas of the empire, and local dynasties gained effective independence in Khorasan (Samanids), eastern Iran, Egypt (Tulunids) and Ifriqiya (Aghlabids). The Caliph al-Mu'tamid "Al-Mu'tamid (caliph)"), who now only ruled in Iraq, moved his capital to Baghdad in 889. In 945, the Buyis, followers of Shiism, became effective rulers as emirs, while the Abbasid caliphs retained their nominal title. Under Caliph An-Násir (1179-1225), the Abbasids once again controlled Iraq, but the sack of Baghdad "Battle of Baghdad (1258)") by the Mongols in 1258 put an end to the Abbasid caliphate.[5]​.

The early Abbasid architecture was very similar to that of the Sassanid empire, as demonstrated by the palace of Ujaidir. He used the same techniques, the same materials of mud bricks, fired bricks and rough stone blocks laid with mortar, and followed Sassanid designs. Stone is scarce in the central and southern alluvial plains that formed the heart of the Abbasid territory, so many of the buildings were made of mud bricks, covered with plaster and frequently repaired or rebuilt. Sometimes baked brick was used.[7]​.

When Caliph Al-Mansur built the round city of Baghdad, called Madinat al-Salam, which contained the caliphal palace, mosque and administrative buildings, he may have followed earlier traditions, such as the round city of Gur built by Ardacher I (r. 224-241) at Firuzabad.[7]​.

With the Muslim Conquest of Transoxiana, the influence of Sogdian architecture increased. In Samarra, the stuccoes and wall paintings are similar to those in the palaces of Panjakent, in modern-day Tajikistan. Later, in the 2nd centuries, the architecture of the lands ruled by the Abbasids became dominated by Seljuk architecture.[5]​.

The Abbasid cities were located in enormous places. The palaces and mosques of Samarra stretched along the banks of the Tigris for 40 kilometers. To match the scale of the sites, monumental buildings were erected, such as the enormous spiral minarets of the Abu Dulaf Mosque and the Great Mosque of Samarra, which had no equivalent anywhere else.[5] The double-centred pointed arch and vault had appeared before the Abbasids took power, but became the norm in Abbasid architecture, with the point becoming more prominent.[7] The first fully developed example of the arch The design of four centers was in the Qasr al-'Ashiq, built between 878 and 882.[8]​.

Three new types of stucco decoration were developed in Samarra and quickly became popular elsewhere.[5] The first two styles can be considered derived from the decorative styles of Late Antiquity or the Umayyads, but the third is entirely new. The C style used molds to create repeating patterns of curved lines, notches, indentations, and other elements. The fluid designs did not make use of traditional vegetal, geometric or animal themes.[9]​ Stucco work was sometimes colored red or blue, and sometimes incorporated a glass mosaic.[10]​ This is the earliest and purest example of the arabesque.[9]​ It may represent a deliberate attempt to realize an abstract form of decoration that avoids the representation of living beings, and this may explain its rapid adoption throughout the Muslim world.[11]​.

Contenido

Entre los rasgos típicos de los edificios más importantes se encontraban los enormes pilares redondos y las pequeñas columnas adosadas.[12]​ La arquitectura abasí del siglo contaba con decoraciones foliadas en los arcos, bóvedas pinjantes, bóvedas de mocárabes y enjutas policromadas entrelazadas que se identificaron como típicas de la arquitectura islámica, aunque estas formas pueden tener su origen en la arquitectura sasánida. Así, el arco frontal del Arco de Ctesifonte estuvo decorado con una moldura lobulada, forma copiada en el palacio de Ujaidir.[13]​.

Palaces

The oldest surviving Abbasid palace, built around the year 775, is the Ujaidir palace. It has a floor plan derived from the previous Sassanid and Umayyad palaces.[14] It is located in the desert, about 180 km south of Baghdad.[15] It is rectangular in shape, 175 by 169 meters, with four doors. Three of them are located in semicircular towers that protrude from the wall and one in a rectangular hole in it. Inside there is a vaulted entrance hall, a central courtyard, an iwan open to the courtyard opposite the hall, and residential quarters.[14] Sassanid techniques persist in the construction of vaults with pointed curves using rubble and mortar covered with brick and stucco, blind arches as decoration of large wall surfaces, and long vaulted halls with niches behind the arches supported by heavy "Pillar (architecture)" pillars. Verbal descriptions indicate that the palaces of Baghdad had a similar layout, although on a larger scale.[16]​.

The palaces of Samarra, such as Qasr al-'Ashiq and al-Jiss, built around 870, feature deeply carved multi-lobed moldings on the intrados of the arches, giving the appearance of a foliated arch. (architecture)") of carved or molded stucco that decorated the lower part of the walls, and stucco also decorated the door frames, wall niches and arches, in three different styles.[8] Other palaces that have been excavated usually have a central vaulted chamber surrounded by four iwans facing the outside.[18]

The only remaining Abbasid palace in Baghdad is located in the Al-Maiden neighborhood, overlooking the Tigris.[19] The palace was erected under the rule of Caliph An-Násir (1179-1225). It has two floors and contains a central courtyard and an iwan with a brick roof and facade. Excavations and restoration work show that it most likely functioned as a school and not a palace. Some scholars believe that it is the Sharabiya School, a school of Islamic theology built in the 20th century. The structure and design of the palace bear great similarities to al-Mustansiriya University. Some parts of the palace were rebuilt by the State Establishment of Antiquities and Heritage, including the restoration of the large Iwán and adjacent facades.[21]​.

Mosques

The Abbasids continued with the rectangular Umayyad hypostyle plan, with a porticoed courtyard and a covered prayer hall. They built mosques on a monumental scale using bricks, stucco ornaments, and architectural forms developed in Mesopotamia and other regions of the East.[23] The oldest mosque was built by Al-Mansur in Baghdad, now destroyed. The Great Mosque of Samarra, built by Al-Mutawákkil, measured 256 by 139 meters. It had a flat wooden roof supported by columns.[14] The prayer hall of the Abu Dulaf mosque in Samarra had arcades on rectangular brick pillars that formed a right angle to the qibla wall. The two mosques at Samarra have spiral minarets, the only examples in Iraq.[14] A mosque in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan, was about 20 by 20 meters square, with three rows of three square bays supporting nine vaulted domes.[8] Other surviving Abbasid mosques include the turn-of-the-century mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Tarikhaneh of Damghan (Iran), among others. 750 and 789, and the Masjid-I-Tarikh, from the 1st century, in Balj (Afghanistan).[24]​.

Other buildings

Most houses appear to be two stories.[18] The lower level was often sunken into the ground for cooling and had vaulted ceilings. The upper level had a wooden roof and a flat terraced roof that provided living space on summer nights. The houses were built around courtyards and had a featureless exterior, although they were often elaborately decorated inside.[10] Most houses had latrines and cold-water bathing facilities.[18]

The Abbasids also undertook public works that included the construction of canals in Samarra and cisterns in Tunisia and Palestine. The Nilometer of Fustat, near present-day Cairo, built in 861, has elaborate and ornate masonry and discharge arches.[25]​.

The three types (styles A, B and C) of stucco decoration best exemplified, and perhaps developed, in Abbasid Samarra were quickly imitated elsewhere and style C, which in turn remained common in the Islamic world for centuries, was an important precursor to fully developed arabesque decoration. The Tulunis of Egypt built copies of Abbasid buildings in Cairo.[26]​ The mosque of Ibn Tulun, built at Fustat, near Cairo, in 876-879, combines Umayyad and Abbasid structural and decorative features.[27]​ It is the only mosque outside Iraq to have a spiral minaret.[14]​.

The layout of the Fatimid city of Al-Mansuriya, in Ifriqiya, founded in the year 946, was circular, perhaps in imitation of Baghdad. The Fatimid architecture of Ifriqiya and Egypt followed Abbasid styles, as evidenced by the Great Mosque of Mahdia and the al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.[28] Even Umayyad buildings in the Iberian Peninsula show Abbasid influence.[6] Nine-domed mosques have been found in Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, and Central Asia.[29] More recent buildings sometimes follow Abbasid architectural styles, such as the mosque Hamoudi of Djibouti "Djibouti (city)"), 19th century.

In 750, the Abbasids seized power from the Umayyad rulers of the Arab Empire, who lost all their possessions except Spain.[5] The Abbasid caliphs, based in modern-day Iraq, ruled Iran, Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the lands of the eastern and southern Mediterranean. The period between 750 and 900 has been described as the Golden Age of Islam.[6] While the Umayyads often reused pre-Islamic buildings in the cities they had conquered, in the Abbasid era many of these structures had to be replaced. The spread of Muslim beliefs also brought about changes in needs. The Abbasids had to build masjids and palaces, as well as fortifications, houses, commercial buildings and even facilities for races and polo matches.[7] They improved the pilgrimage route from Baghdad and Kufa to Mecca, leveling the surface and building walls and ditches in some areas, as well as stations for pilgrims with rooms and a mosque in which to pray.[7]​.

In 762, Caliph Al-Mansur founded a new capital, Baghdad, on the banks of the Tigris, which soon became one of the largest cities in the world. In 836 the caliph Al-Mustá'sim moved the capital to Samarra. The Abbasids began to lose control over the peripheral areas of the empire, and local dynasties gained effective independence in Khorasan (Samanids), eastern Iran, Egypt (Tulunids) and Ifriqiya (Aghlabids). The Caliph al-Mu'tamid "Al-Mu'tamid (caliph)"), who now only ruled in Iraq, moved his capital to Baghdad in 889. In 945, the Buyis, followers of Shiism, became effective rulers as emirs, while the Abbasid caliphs retained their nominal title. Under Caliph An-Násir (1179-1225), the Abbasids once again controlled Iraq, but the sack of Baghdad "Battle of Baghdad (1258)") by the Mongols in 1258 put an end to the Abbasid caliphate.[5]​.

The early Abbasid architecture was very similar to that of the Sassanid empire, as demonstrated by the palace of Ujaidir. He used the same techniques, the same materials of mud bricks, fired bricks and rough stone blocks laid with mortar, and followed Sassanid designs. Stone is scarce in the central and southern alluvial plains that formed the heart of the Abbasid territory, so many of the buildings were made of mud bricks, covered with plaster and frequently repaired or rebuilt. Sometimes baked brick was used.[7]​.

When Caliph Al-Mansur built the round city of Baghdad, called Madinat al-Salam, which contained the caliphal palace, mosque and administrative buildings, he may have followed earlier traditions, such as the round city of Gur built by Ardacher I (r. 224-241) at Firuzabad.[7]​.

With the Muslim Conquest of Transoxiana, the influence of Sogdian architecture increased. In Samarra, the stuccoes and wall paintings are similar to those in the palaces of Panjakent, in modern-day Tajikistan. Later, in the 2nd centuries, the architecture of the lands ruled by the Abbasids became dominated by Seljuk architecture.[5]​.

The Abbasid cities were located in enormous places. The palaces and mosques of Samarra stretched along the banks of the Tigris for 40 kilometers. To match the scale of the sites, monumental buildings were erected, such as the enormous spiral minarets of the Abu Dulaf Mosque and the Great Mosque of Samarra, which had no equivalent anywhere else.[5] The double-centred pointed arch and vault had appeared before the Abbasids took power, but became the norm in Abbasid architecture, with the point becoming more prominent.[7] The first fully developed example of the arch The design of four centers was in the Qasr al-'Ashiq, built between 878 and 882.[8]​.

Three new types of stucco decoration were developed in Samarra and quickly became popular elsewhere.[5] The first two styles can be considered derived from the decorative styles of Late Antiquity or the Umayyads, but the third is entirely new. The C style used molds to create repeating patterns of curved lines, notches, indentations, and other elements. The fluid designs did not make use of traditional vegetal, geometric or animal themes.[9]​ Stucco work was sometimes colored red or blue, and sometimes incorporated a glass mosaic.[10]​ This is the earliest and purest example of the arabesque.[9]​ It may represent a deliberate attempt to realize an abstract form of decoration that avoids the representation of living beings, and this may explain its rapid adoption throughout the Muslim world.[11]​.

Contenido

Entre los rasgos típicos de los edificios más importantes se encontraban los enormes pilares redondos y las pequeñas columnas adosadas.[12]​ La arquitectura abasí del siglo contaba con decoraciones foliadas en los arcos, bóvedas pinjantes, bóvedas de mocárabes y enjutas policromadas entrelazadas que se identificaron como típicas de la arquitectura islámica, aunque estas formas pueden tener su origen en la arquitectura sasánida. Así, el arco frontal del Arco de Ctesifonte estuvo decorado con una moldura lobulada, forma copiada en el palacio de Ujaidir.[13]​.

Palaces

The oldest surviving Abbasid palace, built around the year 775, is the Ujaidir palace. It has a floor plan derived from the previous Sassanid and Umayyad palaces.[14] It is located in the desert, about 180 km south of Baghdad.[15] It is rectangular in shape, 175 by 169 meters, with four doors. Three of them are located in semicircular towers that protrude from the wall and one in a rectangular hole in it. Inside there is a vaulted entrance hall, a central courtyard, an iwan open to the courtyard opposite the hall, and residential quarters.[14] Sassanid techniques persist in the construction of vaults with pointed curves using rubble and mortar covered with brick and stucco, blind arches as decoration of large wall surfaces, and long vaulted halls with niches behind the arches supported by heavy "Pillar (architecture)" pillars. Verbal descriptions indicate that the palaces of Baghdad had a similar layout, although on a larger scale.[16]​.

The palaces of Samarra, such as Qasr al-'Ashiq and al-Jiss, built around 870, feature deeply carved multi-lobed moldings on the intrados of the arches, giving the appearance of a foliated arch. (architecture)") of carved or molded stucco that decorated the lower part of the walls, and stucco also decorated the door frames, wall niches and arches, in three different styles.[8] Other palaces that have been excavated usually have a central vaulted chamber surrounded by four iwans facing the outside.[18]

The only remaining Abbasid palace in Baghdad is located in the Al-Maiden neighborhood, overlooking the Tigris.[19] The palace was erected under the rule of Caliph An-Násir (1179-1225). It has two floors and contains a central courtyard and an iwan with a brick roof and facade. Excavations and restoration work show that it most likely functioned as a school and not a palace. Some scholars believe that it is the Sharabiya School, a school of Islamic theology built in the 20th century. The structure and design of the palace bear great similarities to al-Mustansiriya University. Some parts of the palace were rebuilt by the State Establishment of Antiquities and Heritage, including the restoration of the large Iwán and adjacent facades.[21]​.

Mosques

The Abbasids continued with the rectangular Umayyad hypostyle plan, with a porticoed courtyard and a covered prayer hall. They built mosques on a monumental scale using bricks, stucco ornaments, and architectural forms developed in Mesopotamia and other regions of the East.[23] The oldest mosque was built by Al-Mansur in Baghdad, now destroyed. The Great Mosque of Samarra, built by Al-Mutawákkil, measured 256 by 139 meters. It had a flat wooden roof supported by columns.[14] The prayer hall of the Abu Dulaf mosque in Samarra had arcades on rectangular brick pillars that formed a right angle to the qibla wall. The two mosques at Samarra have spiral minarets, the only examples in Iraq.[14] A mosque in Balkh, in what is now Afghanistan, was about 20 by 20 meters square, with three rows of three square bays supporting nine vaulted domes.[8] Other surviving Abbasid mosques include the turn-of-the-century mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, the Tarikhaneh of Damghan (Iran), among others. 750 and 789, and the Masjid-I-Tarikh, from the 1st century, in Balj (Afghanistan).[24]​.

Other buildings

Most houses appear to be two stories.[18] The lower level was often sunken into the ground for cooling and had vaulted ceilings. The upper level had a wooden roof and a flat terraced roof that provided living space on summer nights. The houses were built around courtyards and had a featureless exterior, although they were often elaborately decorated inside.[10] Most houses had latrines and cold-water bathing facilities.[18]

The Abbasids also undertook public works that included the construction of canals in Samarra and cisterns in Tunisia and Palestine. The Nilometer of Fustat, near present-day Cairo, built in 861, has elaborate and ornate masonry and discharge arches.[25]​.

The three types (styles A, B and C) of stucco decoration best exemplified, and perhaps developed, in Abbasid Samarra were quickly imitated elsewhere and style C, which in turn remained common in the Islamic world for centuries, was an important precursor to fully developed arabesque decoration. The Tulunis of Egypt built copies of Abbasid buildings in Cairo.[26]​ The mosque of Ibn Tulun, built at Fustat, near Cairo, in 876-879, combines Umayyad and Abbasid structural and decorative features.[27]​ It is the only mosque outside Iraq to have a spiral minaret.[14]​.

The layout of the Fatimid city of Al-Mansuriya, in Ifriqiya, founded in the year 946, was circular, perhaps in imitation of Baghdad. The Fatimid architecture of Ifriqiya and Egypt followed Abbasid styles, as evidenced by the Great Mosque of Mahdia and the al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo.[28] Even Umayyad buildings in the Iberian Peninsula show Abbasid influence.[6] Nine-domed mosques have been found in Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, and Central Asia.[29] More recent buildings sometimes follow Abbasid architectural styles, such as the mosque Hamoudi of Djibouti "Djibouti (city)"), 19th century.