In
Iranian architecture
Iranian architecture or Persian architecture (Persian: معمارى ایرانی, ''Memāri e Irāni'') is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BC w ...
, banna'i ( fa, بنائی, "builder's technique" in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
) is an architectural decorative art in which glazed tiles are alternated with plain bricks to create geometric patterns over the surface of a wall or to spell out sacred names or pious phrases. This technique originated in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
in the 8th century, and matured in the
Seljuq Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to:
* Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia
* Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities
* Seljuk (warlord) (d ...
and
Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror:
* Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent
** Timurid Empire of C ...
era, as it spread to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
.
If the brickwork design is in relief then it is referred to as hazarbaf ( fa, هزارباف, compound of ''hazar'' "thousand" and ''baf'' "weavings", referring to the woven appearance of the bricks).
History
![Detail - Samanid Mausoleum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Detail_-_Samanid_Mausoleum.jpg)
The earliest surviving example of decorative brick work with colored bricks is found in the city gate of
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...
(c. 772). The earliest known example of ''hazārbāf'' is found in the
Ukhaydir Palace
The Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir ( ar, حصن الأخيضر) or Abbasid palace of Ukhaider is located roughly 50 km south of Karbala, Iraq. It is a large, rectangular fortress erected in 775 AD with a unique defensive style. Constructed by the ...
near
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, built around 762. The technique appeared in Iran and central Asia more than a century later but with more sophisticated designs. The tomb of the
Samanid
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
ruler
Ismā'īl (in
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
, Uzbekistan), had walls with protruding and recessed bricks that created a weaving pattern.
Islamic brickwork grew in sophistication of its techniques over the centuries. In the 11th century, the use of multiple brick sizes, and variation in the depth of the joint between bricks formed shadow that contrasted strongly with the horizontal lines of the brick rows (for example the Arslan Jadhib Mausoleum in the
Sang-Bast complex
). Rows of brick were set deep inside the face of the building and raised above it, to create positive and negative spaces (for example in the
Damghan minaret and
Pir-e Alamdar tower). The
Chehel Dokhtaran minaret in Isfahan (built 1107-1108) is one of the earliest example of brick work with triangles, squares, octagons, cruciform designs
(another example, minaret of
Saveh
Saveh ( fa, ساوه, translit=Sāveh, also transliterated as ''Sāwa'') is a city in Markazi Province of Iran. It is located about southwest of Tehran. As of 2011, the city had a population of 259,030 people.
History
In the 7th century BC it ...
, has raised brickwork in
Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
and
Nashki script
). The
Gunbad-i Sorkh monument in
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
(built in 1147) was made of ten different types of carved bricks in its corner columns.
In the 12th century in Azerbaijan, bricks were combined with glazed tiles. Such bricks were typically
cobalt blue
Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighter ...
and
turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of yea ...
colored.
![Tomb-of-Timur-east-side-Prokudin-Gorskii](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Tomb-of-Timur-east-side-Prokudin-Gorskii.jpeg)
The earliest example of script set in brick work is seen on a minaret in
Ghazni
Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...
about 1100, spelling out the name of the ruler, the Ghaznavid ruler
Massud III and his titles. This building pieces of
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
were inserted between the bricks to create the inscription. Later buildings used the shadows of raised bricks and others used different colored bricks to spell out words. This practice eventually led to the covering whole brick buildings in sacred writing spelling out the names of
Allah
Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
,
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
.
Square kufic, the version of the Arabic
kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
calligraphy consisting of square angles only, is believed to have been an architectural adaptation of this script.
Kufic writing was usually achieved using square bricks.
References
{{Islamic art
Islamic architectural elements
Arabic architecture
Architecture in Iran
Seljuk architecture
Timurid dynasty
Bricks
Islamic calligraphy
Ornaments (architecture)