The main Muslim buildings were religious temples called mosques.

Apuntes

• Subtopic: Muslim Architecture The main Muslim buildings were religious temples called mosques. The most famous ones are in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Cairo, Samarra, Kairouan, and Córdoba. Muslims also built palaces, such as the Umayyad Palace in Damascus and the Abbasid Palace in Baghdad. In later centuries, they built mausoleums, which are monumental tombs. Two examples are the mausoleum of Timur in Samarkand and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Mosques are the most famous example of Muslim architecture. Their structure replicates Muhammad’s house. A mosque consists of a courtyard and a prayer hall. One of the walls in the prayer hall, the qiblah, faces Mecca. Beside this is the most sacred area of the mosque: the mihrab. This is where Muslims keep the Koran. There are columns around the courtyard and a fountain in the center. Muslims call people to prayer from the tower or minaret (minar). Arches divide the covered prayer hall into naves, which are long central areas in a religious building that extend to the entrance. • Subtopic: CLIL Activities Answer the questions in your notebook: a. Why doesn’t Muslim art include representations of people? b. How did Muslims mak...