Abstract
Muqarnas is the Arabic word for stalactite vault, an architectural ornament developed around the middle of the tenth century in North Eastern Iran and almost simultaneously, but apparently independently, in central North Africa. A muqarnas is a three-dimensional architectural decoration composed of niche-like elements arranged in tiers. The two-dimensional projection of a muqarnas vault consists of a small variety of simple geometrical elements. In the scope of our 3-year project “Computer Reconstruction of Muqarnas”, we are analyzing muqarnas and building up a database for these constructions. At the end of our project the computer should be able to show us a three-dimensional vault of the requested time, region, and style based on a two-dimensional plan. In case the vault has partly collapsed in time, the computer should give us ideas how to restore the vault.
First published as: Yvonne Dold-Samplonius and Silvia Harmsen , “Muqarnas, Construction and Reconstruction”. Pp. 69–77 in Nexus V: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams and Francisco Delgado Cepeda, eds. Fucecchio (Florence): Kim Williams Books, 2004.
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Notes
- 1.
For a short introduction, see (Dold-Samplonius 2003).
- 2.
In Timur’s time, when building activity exploded, local constructors could manage the simpler buildings. But for the special and more artistic monuments, architects and artisans were imported from the conquered lands, first Khwārizm, then Tabrīz and Shīrāz, and finally India and Syria. It is known that Timur brought in architects from Shīrāz in 1388 and 1393, and that many migrated of their own free will. The names of several Shīrāz architects have been transmitted, the most famous being Qawām al-Dīn b. Zayn al-Dīn al- Shīrāzī, the only active builder whose surviving structures display a distinctive architectural style. This might well be the reason why the type of muqarnas constructed with many variations, “innumerable possibilities” as al-Kāshī explains, was called Shīrāzī.
- 3.
Such a plan, used to construct a muqarnas in present-day Fez, is discussed in (Dold-Samplonius 1996: 71).
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Dold-Samplonius, Y., Harmsen, S.L. (2015). Muqarnas: Construction and Reconstruction. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00137-1_47
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