Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum on the southern bank of the Yamuna River near Agra in India. It is regarded as a "supreme achievement of Mughal architecture, and as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world." It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife also. The building was started around 1632; people made the plans from India, Persia, Central Asia and many other places. Around 20,000 workers were employed day and night to complete the mausoleum. Altogether, it took 22 years to complete, at a cost of 40 million rupees.
The Taj Mahal consists of a rectangular area measuring 580 by 305-m. At the centre of this rectangle there is a square garden with has an area of 305 m. The mausoleum is also accompanied by two symmetrical and identical buildings on the west and east side. A high wall with octagonal pavilion turrets at the corners surrounds the northern section and the central garden area, while outside the mausoleums, to the south there are stables and guard quarters.
The mausoleum itself stands on a marble plinth, which is 7 m high, has four identical facades and a massive arch that is 33m high. The top of the mausoleum is created by parapets over each arch and by tall rocks and domed kiosks over each corner. The inside of the Taj Mahal is made up of octagonal chamber with patterns and pietra dura, and contains the monument of Arjumand Banu Begam and Shah Jahan.
Blue Mosque
The Blue Mosque was built by in Istanbul. Mehmed was a royal architect for Ottoman, he worked from 1609 to 1616 on the Sultan Ahmed Cami or the Blue Mosque because of the its colour. The design of the mosque was based on the "Church of Holy Wisdom. The design itself is perfectly symmetrical, with four semidomes surrounded by a number of smaller domes.
The Great Mosque
The Great Mosque also called "Ummayad" Mosque" and is the earliest surviving stone mosque. It was built between AD 705 and 715 by the "al-Walid" a caliph. The mosque stands on a 1st-century Hellenic and church of St. John the Baptist.
The mosque occupies a huge area of 157 by 100 m and has a large open courtyard surrounded by loads of arches supported by thin columns. The hall of worship takes up the south side of the mosque, it is divided into three long aisles by rows of columns and arches. The walls of the mosque were once covered with more than one acre of mosaics with pictures of landscape thought to be paradise but only fragments survive. The mosque was destroyed by Timur in 1401 - however it was rebuilt by the Arabs only to be damaged by fire in 1893. Although it could not be restored to its original form of glory, the mosque is still impressive.
Pottery
There was little pottery during the Umayyad period. However, when the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads and changed the capital to Baghdad the influence of pottery expanded.
Probably the first fine pottery was produced in Baghdad. Many people had said it was through the example of the Chinese that pottery came to be regarded as an art. However unlike the Chinese Islamic potters tried to make it look rich with plenty of colour and decorations rather than beautiful shapes and textures. Most of their pottery is glazed and is painted with beautiful patterns. They also included many complex geometrical patterns. The Islam potters unfortunately could not have any forms of representations of life though because of a ban. This was to reduce the chance of idolatry.
Poetry
Poetry was probably the most important part of earlier on Arab literature and is a historical evidence of the Arabs' history. Islamic prose normally rhymed especially with soothsayers- they also had many proverbs and sayings. Tales about the adventures and battle between various tribes were popular and was told and handed down from generation to generation.
The style of Islamic poetry is very different to the European style- Arab literature only needs the attention from its listeners only for short periods as the prose's contains many different short stories based on broad
Islamic glasswork
Islamic glassmaking was influenced a lot by ancient industry in Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. Glass was made like pottery by treating certain materials with heat -normally sand and woody ashes with lime. After the heating and melting in a pot the "frit" (the outcome) is crushed and mixed with waste glass and melted again. Following the heating Metallic oxides are added to make the glass colourless. Finally the hot glass is shaped by blowing or moulding and decorated while it is hot or cold.
