Islamic architecture and art

[TheMagnificent]

my country realy doesnt have something to compete with when it comes to religious buildings

I still think that the smaller, but yet beautiful, mosques fit very well in the relatively not so populous Bosnia and its beautiful green landscape.

Careva Džamija (Emperor's Mosque), Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Emperor's Mosque


Ali Pasha Mosque, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Ali Pasha Mosque


Gazi Husrev-begova Džamija (Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque), Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior


Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior


Besides, I think for example that Mostar is a city that has no equivalent in the Islamic world, with its architecture peculiar to the Bosnian landscape and culture. In my second post in this thread I also gave the example of Blagaj Tekke, which is also a nice structure that is in harmony with its surroundings.

[Sultan Suleiman]

@Energia

Amazes me that it survived the Taliban savages...

[Sultan Suleiman]

my country realy doesnt have something to compete with when it comes to religious buildings

Well if you believe in Sarajevo mythology there is a story that, before the sack of Sarajevo there were plans for a mosque which would rival the Blue Mosque of Turkey

I wonder how Sarajevo would have looked if the Hungarians were stopped at battle of Sava.

[Damião de Góis]

Here is the only thing that survived from the islamic period. The Mértola Mosque (now a church):

[Riki]

TheMagnificent-The Moors built strong castles and fortifications in many cities but, although many Portuguese mediaeval castles originated in the Islamic period, most of them have been extensively remodelled after the Christian reconquest. One of the best-preserved is Silves Castle, located in Silves, the ancient capital of the Al-Garb, today's Algarve. Built between the 8th and 13th centuries,

"A primitiva ocupação humana da colina de Silves remonta à pré-história, acreditando-se que, no primeiro milênio a.C., navegadores Fenícios tenham penetrado no rio Arade, navegável até fins da Idade Média, e que, posteriormente, tenha conhecido a presença Romana, que aqui explorou uma jazida de cobre, conforme os testemunhos arqueológicos. Alguns autores pretendem que teriam sido estes os responsáveis por uma primeira fortificação, entre os séculos IV e V, também atribuída aos Visigodos que se lhes sucederam."


Basically it states that according to the arqueological finds the first stage of the fortification of the "Castle"was Roman and then Visigoth.
I wouldn't particularly call It Moorish.

[dado]

I still think that the smaller, but yet beautiful, mosques fit very well in the relatively not so populous Bosnia and its beautiful green landscape.

Careva Džamija (Emperor's Mosque), Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
[IG]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7220/7203006396_6f055e2fb3_b.jpg[/IMG]

Emperor's Mosque
[IG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8040/8004389713_e172c9c87a_b.jpg[/IMG]

Ali Pasha Mosque, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
[IG]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2251/2201932889_c6e0b4555a_b.jpg[/IMG]
Ali Pasha Mosque
[IG]http://karim74.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/ali-pasha-mosque-in-sarajevo-bosnia-and-hercegowina.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-begova Džamija (Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque), Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
[IG]http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4006/4377785543_164242e074_b.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
[IG]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3521/3885200463_3e91131de3_b.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
[MG]http://farm1.staticflickr.com/231/513735413_f6fec085b2_z.jpg?zz=1[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
[MG]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2237/2187541818_687f337aab_b.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
[IG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Sarajevo_Gazi_Husrev_Beg_Moschee_5.JPG[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
[IG]http://farm1.staticflickr.com/214/513699168_738e0b2759_z.jpg?zz=1[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior
[I MG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8317/7978251519_84ca759e80_b.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior
[IM G]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/7978232010_4f3b19265c_b.jpg[/IMG]

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, interior
[IM]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7351707326_77d535a4e4_b.jpg[/IMG]

Besides, I think for example that Mostar is a city that has no equivalent in the Islamic world, with its architecture peculiar to the Bosnian landscape and culture. In my second post in this thread I also gave the example of Blagaj Tekke, which is also a nice structure that is in harmony with its surroundings.

sure...but we have too many average mosques...it is time we build something monumental...we need to show our christian neighbors beauty of islamic culture,and architecture is just one of the ways to do it ..

[TheMagnificent]

Here is the only thing that survived from the islamic period. The Mértola Mosque (now a church):

Also Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the Moors) in Sintra:

[Catrau]

I did a quick research, but I wasn't able to find that much, because it seems that the Portuguese erased almost all traces of their Moorish history.



Here you have a list of some Portuguese words of Arabic origin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Arabic_origin

The name of the Algarve region for instance comes from the Arabic Al-Gharb, which means ''The West''.

Indeed, a few Christian castles in the southern most third of the country have been in the past a moorish construction but before that they have been something else.
Virtually there isn't any visible heritage except the Ribat al Rihanna in the Algarve-Alentejo border discovered last year. I don't know if they have been erased, I suspect that the never existed because we have some 9000 heritage sites of the roman period and many dozens from the germanic one. In my opinion, we do not have them because nothing especial has been built. Most of nowadays Portuguese lands are far away from the moorish power irradiation spot in southern Iberia, also because the invaders of nowadays Portugal weren't the mathematicians and philosophers of the Levant and Arabia, they were warrior shepherds from the Atlas. they weren't the powerful civilization people often talk about, maybe they didn't brought novel technology. That's why there weren't leftovers, because there was nothing remarkable. No offense, it's just the truth. There weren’t left bridges, roads, buildings that may perpetuate that occupation, in addition there aren’t, as I said before, folk, language, culture, architecture, religion.
You are right about the toponymic Algarve (Al Garb) that was also known as Garb al Andaluz (west Andalusia).
The words are about 500 in a total of over 600000 Portuguese words (according to Porto Editora), that's not much and if you think that of those 500, about 350 are of Toponymic, most of it consisting of Arabized Celtic and Latin names, the leftover is of some 150 words. But I can tell you that the English language have about 120 words of Arabic origin (most of them are the ones we also use such as: alcool, almirante adobo, alquimia, alcova, alambique, algebra, alcaide, arsenal, café, etc.) and moors have never been there. Some of these words are massively used but most aren't used at all anymore. So, I wonder if that contribution is really worth the importance sometimes it is given.
Please understand that it's not that I don't like the moorish art, for example the Spanish Mudéjar (churches build by moor paid workers with moorish building techinics), I've went to Aragón just to see it, but we don't have that, and never had. Of course my post is mostly a political stand for some people that may read this very nice thread and often insists in that Moorish ancestry.

[TheMagnificent]

Azm Palace in Damascus, Syria, built in 1750 as a residence for the Ottoman governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azm


Azm Palace in Damascus


Azm Palace in Damascus


Azm Palace in Damascus


Azm Palace in Damascus


Azm Palace in Damascus


Azm Palace in Damascus, interior


Azm Palace in Damascus, interior


Azm Palace in Damascus


Khan As'ad Pasha, the largest khan in the Old City of Damascus, Syria, also named after As'ad Pasha al-Azm


Khan As'ad Pasha


Khan As'ad Pasha


Khan As'ad Pasha


Khan As'ad Pasha

[Kazimiera]

Imam Reza mosque - Mashhad, Iran