Horseshoes and Calligraphy: Islamic Architecture through the Ages

This exhibition is based on Chapter 8 of the Art History textbook entitled “Islamic Art”. This gallery focuses on Islamic architecture, including pieces that are modern but made by Muslim artists. Many of the works included are paintings which have Islamic architecture in the background or the foreground, and there are also a few pieces that include smaller pieces of Islamic architecture, like furniture, etc. A number of the pieces feature specific stylings of Islamic architecture as well, which is why they are included. Some of the works are tile fragments, pieces of places that still exist or used to exist. Many, if not all, of these works contain the art of calligraphy, something that Islamic culture holds in highest esteem and uses very frequently. Because the Muslims are most known for their enthusiastic building of shrines, mosques, and palaces, a lot of the works in here are either those or fragments of those. Unique arches and columns also define Islamic art and architecture, as well as calligraphic friezes. Specifically looking at the horseshoe arches, which was a common design during the rule of Rome and later on, the Visigoths, many of the Great Mosques possess those, making them closely associated (if not specifically defining) Islamic architecture in the West. My two focus pieces, the Jami Masjid in Delhi and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, both possess those well-known arches, huge dome (or domes) atop a geometrically pleasing base, and colorful patterns/ornamentation all over.