What determines the number of domes on a mosque? History of architecture. Tallest minaret

Only by tracing the history of the development and architecture of the building can one understand the minaret - what it is and why it plays such an important role for the religion of Islam. After all, even in pre-Islamic times similar structures were known, but it was among the faithful that they were established and used.

Origin of the word and its meaning

The most common meaning of this word is used in architecture. If we are talking about a structure, then to the question of what a minaret is, we can answer that it is high tower with a platform at the top from which the muezzins call all the faithful to prayer. These towers are built next to mosques, creating a special composition. It towers over every Muslim city or village, its silhouette is difficult to confuse with any other.

The word itself originates from the Arabic "manara", which literally translates as lighthouse or tower. The minaret plays a big role in Islam, because the time of namaz (prayer) for Muslims depends on sunrise and sunset and changes. It is difficult to remember every day and watch the clock when the time comes to praise Allah, and you can get confused, but it is from the balcony of this building that the muezzin will call and remind you that the time has come.

Architectural views and history of development

There are two types of minarets in appearance:

• with round section;
• quadrangular.

And if you trace the history of development, then those built earlier had either a ramp on the outside, for lifting to the site, or a rope ladder. These days they are no longer built, but inside the structure there is a staircase, most often a spiral one. The outside of the minarets was decorated, and continues to be done now, with openwork masonry, carvings, balconies are made openwork, covered with glaze.

The beauty of the architecture of mosques cannot be described, especially those built earlier, but those who have never been to Muslim countries have little idea of ​​what a minaret is. The photo, of course, will not be able to convey all the greatness, but it will give a general idea.

In the world you can find mosques with one, two and big amount minarets. The largest number is 9, at the Al-Haram mosque, built in Mecca. Why are there different numbers of them? This is due to the size of the building itself. Small ones have one, medium ones have two. The Sultan's mosques have from 4 to 6.

In Samarra (Iraq), when you see Al-Malwiya, you will not immediately realize that this is a minaret. "What it is?" - you will ask, she is very unusual. It is made in the shape of a truncated cone and with steps of a spiral ramp going outside. It bears little resemblance to the minarets we are used to seeing usually.

Trying to understand the minaret - what it is and why it plays such an important role among Muslims, various theories have been put forward. One of them - this heritage comes from one of the wonders of the world - Alexandria lighthouse, which had a similar structure. Although it has not survived to this day, Egyptian architects during the reign of the Mamluk saw it and simply adopted it. But this only explains the origin of the quadrangular minarets.

The theory of the origin of minarets with a round cross-section is as follows: in Rome, columns were erected in honor of significant victories. A minaret with a round cross-section, what is it, no matter how it is, a symbol of the victory of Islam. Such buildings are typical for Afghanistan and Iran. Naturally, we are not talking about modern buildings.

In publishing

Another confirmation that the structure of the minaret plays a significant role in the Muslim religion is the publication of a magazine of the same name. Magazine "Minaret" - what is it? This publication is intended for representatives of religion and the intelligentsia. In it you can find stories from the lives of Islamic figures, their statements and works that reveal the essence of the religion. This information will be interesting for every Muslim who wants to be educated.

In a dream

Although in general the concept has more of an architectural meaning, those involved in astrology and fortune telling have not neglected this concept. In dream books you can also find the interpretation: “A minaret, what does it mean to see it in a dream?”

The building itself signifies a person who strives to unite others for a good cause. If the minaret is destroyed, then the person will die and they will not even remember about him. Seeing a Friday cathedral mosque in a dream is a reminder to return to faith, and falling inside a minaret means that luck has turned away from the dreamer.

Finally, I would like to tell one story for skeptics who do not believe in prophetic dreams. One unknown land surveyor saw in a dream that he was climbing high minaret made of wood and calls believers to prayer. The interpreter thought about it and predicted that being the dreamer's governor would soon bring him honor and power. After a short time, the one who saw the dream became the governor of Balkh, and this is a historical fact.

Religious architecture in the Arab-Muslim world began to develop with Qub-bat-as-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) - the third most important shrine in Islam (after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina). Its construction is associated with one of the most important events in the history of Islam - the night journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, where, according to legend, he ascended from a cliff to the throne of Allah - made miraj. Inside the dome is the ledge of this rock.

This monument was built in 687-691. on top of a mountain sacred to all three religions - Judaism(on this mountain Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son, and Solomon built the Temple of Jerusalem), Christianity(there is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) and Islam.

There is a rock ledge inside the dome

Kubbat-ac-Caxpa reigns over old Jerusalem, its huge golden dome visible from afar. The central domed part of the building is surrounded by an octagonal gallery, the height of which reaches half the height of the central part. Inside, the room is divided in two by pillars and columns, creating a double circuit around the sacred rock. This rock protrudes one and a half meters above the floor and is framed by four powerful pillars with elegant marble columns between them. In general, the number of any architectural elements here is a multiple of four, which is symbolic (in the Arabic spelling of the word “Allah” there are four letters). Under the rock there is a cave turned into a sanctuary. The interior decoration of the building is magnificent - walls lined with patterned marble panels, columns with gold capitals, beams and lintels covered with bronze plates with chasing and gilding, windows and arches decorated with mosaics, a dome covered with patterned relief and paintings.

The main religious building is mosque- a place for prayer. They did not appear immediately. Initially, prayers were performed in any place where the need arose. A square was outlined right on the ground, sometimes its contours were outlined by a ditch, and the direction to Mecca was determined by the shadow of a spear stuck into the ground. The mosques that were built appeared only in 665-670. It is believed that the prototype of the mosque was the house of Muhammad in Medina, whose fenced courtyard had south side a canopy supported on palm trunks.

The classic type of Arabic mosque, called column, or courtyard, is a rectangular area fenced with a high wall. The main element of the composition is a courtyard surrounded by an arcade on columns or pillars. The columns are most often located in several rows, to the side qibla(direction to Mecca) they usually form a deep columned hall. The Qibla is also marked by a special niche decorated with inscriptions and ornaments - mihrab This niche can be flat, conditional or concave, covered with an arch, vault or semi-dome. The pointed end of the mihrab marks the point through which the worshiper mentally connects with the earthly Kaaba. This connection becomes a symbol of man's spiritual connection with the heavenly Kaaba. The mihrab is always illuminated - either by a window in the dome, or by a lamp hanging from the top point of the mihrab.

Over time, mosques began to differ in their purpose. There were small mosques for individual prayers and large, cathedral mosques for collective Friday prayers. These mosques must have minbar - department from which imam(the head of the Muslim community) delivers the Friday sermon. It is located to the right of the mihrab. The minbar looks like a high stone throne, to which a staircase with railings and a decorative entrance - a portal - leads.

For architects who erected Muslim religious buildings, the model, naturally, was the large metropolitan mosques - in Damascus and Samarra. So, Great Mosque Umayyads in Damascus (for its construction the remains of the Roman sanctuary of Jupiter and christian church John the Baptist) was decorated inside with colored patterned marble and magnificent mosaics with paintings of a fantastic garden city. The Great Mosque of Samarra had an area of ​​156 x 240 m. Its walls with semicircular bastions and corner towers and a spiral minaret have been preserved.

However, in various areas of the caliphate, builders widely used local, traditional techniques and architectural forms familiar to the people. Therefore, the type of pillared mosque in each of Arab countries received a unique interpretation. So, Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo (876-879) was distinguished by a compact layout, as well as proportional high pointed arches, which became a characteristic feature of Muslim architecture.

Dome of the Rock. Monument (not mosque) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Inside the dome there is a rock ledge from which, according to legend, the Prophet Muhammad performed miraj

Mihrab of Cairo mosque

Great Mosque of Samarra (Iraq)

with a minaret in the form of a spiral 52 m high and 33 m wide.

Inner courtyard of the Ibn Tulun Mosque (Cairo)

Another wonderful architectural monument is the capital Cathedral Mosque in Cordoba. In plan it was a huge rectangle (200 x 144 m), surrounded by a stone wall with buttresses and numerous entrances. Only a small part of the huge area was allocated to an open courtyard. The main space was occupied by a classical prayer hall, in which over 600 columns were located, forming 19 naves. The columns carry two-tiered arcades made of white and red stones. Arcades in even rows filled the entire interior space. This hall was compared to a dense, overgrown forest that was lost in the darkness. As if growing from the floor, low columns of blue and pink marble, jasper, and porphyry look like palm tree trunks; from them, like intertwined crowns, horseshoe-shaped arches extend to the sides. All space seemed endless and gave rise to a feeling of infinity, causing thoughts about the immensity of the Universe. The visitor who came from a sunny Cordoba street into this twilight colonnade, illuminated by the light of hundreds of low-hanging silver lamps, felt himself in a fantastic environment.

IN Central Asia and Persia in the 12th century. along with the mosque column appeared four-highway ensembles, the architecture of which later began to be reproduced in secular construction. Ivan - it is a vaulted domed hall without a front wall, opening onto the courtyard of a mosque or madrasah. The entrance to the ivan is formed by powerful pylons connected by arches. Ivans were erected in mosques on the side facing Mecca. This apparently laid the foundation for the four-ais mosque (and other religious and civil buildings). She represented large building with a square or rectangular courtyard. To the middle of each of its sides there was an ivan in the form of a deep vaulted niche. The walls of the courtyard between the ivans were designed in the form of arcades built in one or two tiers. From the outside, the entire building was enclosed by a blank wall, above which only the tops of the ivans were visible. The construction of four iwans in the mosque had a symbolic meaning, denoting the four orthodox schools of Islam. Such buildings are especially common in Iran.

Next to the mosque rose minarets, which were a tall, thin tower with a balcony. The muezzin, who announced the time of prayer, climbed there via a spiral staircase enclosed inside the tower. Perhaps the idea of ​​a minaret was suggested to Muslims by Christian bell towers. The shapes of the minarets are different, they are associated with local traditions. So, if in the east the minarets were round in plan, then in the west they were quadrangular. There were even, as already noted, spiral minarets - in Samarra and Cairo. The minarets were decorated with patterned brickwork, stone carvings, stalactite cornices and openwork balconies. The minarets ended with a lantern, dome or tent.

The type of cross-domed structures was used by Arab architects in the construction of madrasahs (theological school buildings) and mausoleums, built over the graves of especially revered persons. They have the shape of a cube on which a dome rises. The transition from cube to dome is carried out not with the help of sails, as in Byzantium, but in rows "console niches" forming the shape of a stalactite. The entrance to the central façade was decorated with a pointed arch. Among the most famous mausoleums are Gur-Emir in Samarkand, built at the beginning of the 15th century.

The architecture of the mausoleum is dominated by a huge ribbed dome hanging over a tall cylindrical drum. The lower part of the building is an octagon. The proportions of the building are such that the dome and drum account for more than half of the total height of the building. The dome is covered with a pattern of blue and dark blue tiles, and the drum is no less decorated. This is consistent with the lush design of the interior, with which the austere tombstone contrasts. Tamerlane. The architecture of the mausoleum is distinguished by its originality of forms, harmony of proportions and perfection of design.

Gur-Emir - Tamerlane's mausoleum in Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

In addition to religious buildings, many libraries and hospitals were also built. All monuments of monumental architecture are characterized by clarity of architectural forms, a specific outline of horseshoe-shaped and pointed arches and domes, a wealth of carved ornaments and inscriptions, and, from a certain time, also patterned masonry made of multi-colored stone.

• The mosque contains a Treasury which is said to contain the head of John the Baptist (Yahya), who is revered as a prophet by both Christians and Muslims.
• The mosque underwent numerous subsequent changes. In 1236, after the Reconquista, the mosque was converted into a church, and some interior details (columns and arches) were stylistically replaced in a Byzantine style.

Whatever you want, there is something in these minarets that far exceeds the desire gothic architecture free yourself from materiality and rush as high as possible to the sky, to where “God and angels live, where paradise is located.” An extremely narrow cylinder of snow-white stone is erected, a narrow spiral is cut inside it and a herald is sent up along it, so that from the carved balcony of the mosque he glorifies the prophet and, with his trembling voice, calls believers to heaven, where they can go if they are ready to give up even their own for faith life.., From history we know that there were countless such hunters.

In the south-eastern corner of the Aya Sophia we were shown a strange five-fingered spot on a column. This is supposedly the handprint of Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of the Byzantine Empire. And how did the Sultan manage to climb to such a height! After all, the imprint is located at a level of six meters from the foot of the column!

It is said that he rode into the Temple of the Divine Wisdom, which was filled with the corpses of his soldiers and those of the defeated Byzantines, on the day of the capture of Constantinople. The horse, walking over the corpses, became frightened and reared up. And today tourists are shown the footprint on the place of the column on which he leaned with his bloody hand so as not to fall...

Symbolism of numbers

Entering the famous Suleymaniye Mosque, we immediately felt as if we were in the mid-sixteenth century. This is exactly what this mosque probably looked like in 1557, shortly before the end of construction, when the scaffolding that supported the vault was removed. This is exactly how it looked now, hung with a web of scaffolding that covered ornaments, the names of caliphs and complex designs of intricate Arabic writing. It was dark in the mosque: a wooden cobweb blocked access to the sun's rays, but in the courtyard they burned the dark backs of the workers who were cutting stones that were intended to repair this valuable architectural monument.

The mosque bears the name of the most famous Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Solomon. It was supposed to become the spiritual center of the entire empire, so the buildings adjacent to the mosque were occupied high school and Faculty of Medicine. Suleiman even ordered the construction of a hospital and a canteen for poor students here.

And in order to give the proper splendor to his creation outside, he ordered four minarets to be erected around the mosque. Two of them have three balconies, the rest do not have third balconies. This symbolism of numbers is not accidental. By the fact that there were four minarets, Suleiman wanted to emphasize that he was the fourth to own Istanbul. Ten balconies were supposed to proclaim to the world that he was the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman dynasty.

The balconies, faded with age, are in need of repair. At the foot of one of these stone “pencils” they are already beginning to stretch a web of scaffolding so that the stonemasons can reach the crinolines of the balconies by a different route than the path of the muezzins.

Beloved by Ahmed and the Baroque of Prague

Was it the deafness or the cunning of the architect Sultan Ahmed, which aroused the indignation of the Muslim spiritual hierarchy and almost led to a schism between Mecca and Istanbul?

The reason for this religious upheaval lies in the similarity of the sound of two Turkish words - “al-ty” and “altyn”. The first means “six”, the second means “gold”.

The architect left Ahmed with the order to build a luxurious mosque with “Altyn” minarets, a structure that would surpass even the Aya Sophia. It was truly no easy task. Therefore, it was not surprising that when the mosque was ready, there were no funds for the construction of “golden” minarets. Then the architect erected four minarets around the mosque he had built, and placed two more in the corner of the spacious courtyard in front of the mosque. Thus, there were six of them in total - “alty”.

The task was completed in its entirety, with the exception of only one little detail - the last letter in the word “Altyn”. But that is precisely why the clergy raised a terrible cry, accusing Ahmed of blasphemy. After all holy mosque Mecca had only five minarets, and suddenly a mosque with six minarets appears in Istanbul!

How it all ended is known. Ahmed capitulated, but instead of destroying the two magnificent minarets of his mosque, he agreed to build two more in Mecca, and thus Mecca regained the palm.

Nowadays this six-minaret mosque is called the Blue Mosque, and, believe me, it is the most beautiful among all in Istanbul. And not only with its six towering minarets, but also with its purity of style and amazing proportions interior spaces and the breathtaking blue of the tiles that pave the floor of the mosque. Embedded in the migrab, a prayer niche in the façade of the mosque, is a piece of black holy stone from the Kaaba in Mecca. Therefore, it was in the Blue Mosque that the most solemn services were performed in the presence of the sultans, and therefore it was here that the birthdays of the prophet were always celebrated. Through two hundred and sixty multi-colored windows, rainbow light penetrates the blue of the mosque, which on special holidays competes with artificial lighting beating from hundreds of glass bells hung inside the temple.

Is there anything I can help you with? - suddenly a voice is heard nearby. This question was asked first in German, then in English and, just in case, in French. A man of about thirty, with an elegant, well-groomed mustache, stands, bowing respectfully, with the obligingness of a professional cicerone, waiting for us to pay attention to him.

But he quickly realized that he wouldn’t get anything from us, that when a person is busy filming, he doesn’t have time to listen to a story about how many tiles cover the floor of the mosque, who made them and what the names of Ahmed’s lovers were.

Having learned that we were from Czechoslovakia, he perked up and boasted in broken Czech that he was “writing with Prague.”

Prague Radio sent me the book I requested, Baroque Temples of Prague. But I didn't receive it. I wrote again. I was informed that the book was sent by registered parcel and that, just in case, they were sending me a second one. But I didn’t receive this one either.
He looked around cautiously and whispered:
- These disappearances are on the conscience of the Turkish police. They are afraid of communism.
“Sorry,” he said after this in English, “and headed towards a group of tourists who stopped at the entrance and raised their heads to the dome. They wore colorful shirts, and there was no doubt that they were Americans.

Tea party at the grave

If you yearn for silence and intimacy, if you want to take a break from the wild roar of the streets, run to the very end of the Golden Horn, to the charming Eyup Mosque. Here you will find not only pleasure from the fragile ornaments and pastel green carpets that cover every corner of the mosque. In the deathly silence, the cooing of pigeons can be heard, finding shelter in the rafters and niches. Here no one shouts at them, no one drives away the pigeons as they fly through the open gates from the courtyard, where pious pilgrims who have come to Istanbul's holiest mosque wash their lips and feet at the fountain. On the carpet lies a broken pigeon egg that has fallen from the nest. No one here kicks him away, none of the visitors trample on him or stain the soft carpet. Perhaps only in the evening, when the guard sees off the last pilgrim and prohibits entry, he will carefully collect the remains of the pigeon egg and take them out behind the mosque, under the spreading plane trees. Under their shadow is the tomb of Eyup, Mehmed's standard-bearer, who fell here in 670 during the first siege of Constantinople. Over the past centuries, the fence of his grave has been kissed so that at the window through which a high turban is visible, a depression has formed in the copper board.

Just a few years ago, these holy places were not dared to be seen by the eye of an unbeliever. Today, tourists come here every Friday to look at the crowd of thousands of believers, convinced that all their wishes will come true here...

A narrow road rises from the Eyup Mosque leading to the slope above the Golden Horn. And again, graves, graves, as if there were few of them along the fourteen-kilometer rampart in the west of Istanbul, as if there were few of them here, on the northern and southern slopes, above the Golden Horn, among the workers’ houses, among the sports fields and gardens!

Burials continue here to this day. Immediately behind the green fence by the road lies a marble slab and a marble turban - a sign that a man is buried here. Turbans alternate with rosebuds and fans carved from stone. They say that women are buried here.

Some graves literally hung in the air. The slab is about to fall off, it is undermined because it is making its way up the slope new Age. The electric cable that is being laid here will soon supplant the oil hagans. They will be taken to the flea market, and electric light bulbs will appear in their place.

On the concrete parade ground, the soldiers line up, some corporal hits them on the heels, straightening the ranks. The sheep climbs onto the grave and gnaws at the daisies on it and at the same time bleats with pleasure. A little further on, several more sheep surrounded a shepherd boy with a pipe. So he stopped and played Constantinople pastorals to the ram lying down at his feet.

At a distance there is a wooden building - the famous coffee shop of Pierre Loti. In front of it, people sit at round tables and thoughtfully look down at the one and a half million anthill, at the minarets and chimneys of steamships that will set out into the open sea at dawn tomorrow.

A boy of about ten ran out of the kitchen. In his hand, swinging on four chains, is a tray with three pot-bellied glasses of tea. Tea was ordered by three young people who were calmly sitting on a gravestone and admiring the sunset.

Melodies of Istanbul

Six thousand taxis are driving around Istanbul today. Half of the capital's total vehicle fleet. They determine the rhythm of movement and the color of the city of one and a half million people on the banks of the Golden Horn, giving it a character that can be expressed in one word: pandemonium. If you put traffic controllers here who are accustomed to normal traffic, then after an hour they will take off their white gloves, spit on everything and leave. Here they travel according to the right of the strong: who wins whom. You can overtake as you please, just choose a convenient moment to squeeze into the gap between the cars, push your neighbors' bumper apart and drive away. At your own peril and risk.

Turkish drivers have a passion for sound combinations. Ordinary sound signals do not satisfy them. Their horns play various melodies, hum, howl like a fire siren, and make sounds that are no different from the whistles of a steam locomotive. More than once we were frightened by such signals, and we expected with horror that a train would jump out of nowhere. According to the unwritten law of Turkish roads, when passing and overtaking, drivers greet each other with intricate melodies.

True, such a “circus” is not allowed on the streets of Istanbul, so at intersections drivers are content with shouting at each other, hitting the car with their palms if they want to catch a pedestrian.

Turkish drivers also have another passion. They decorate their cars not only with various mascots, but also with names and inscriptions. The most common inscription on buses is “Mashaallah!” - “God bless me!” This request perfectly characterizes the “basic law” of street traffic: step on the gas, and let everything else happen according to the will of God!

Drivers love plenty of lighting. We saw taxis and buses, the bumpers and cabs of which were hung with colorful lights, like Christmas trees.

Architecture and housing issue

It would be unfair to say that Istanbul is all slums, shops and mosques. A significant part of the city is occupied by stone residential buildings, which are gradually replacing wooden ones.

And today there is a lot of construction in Istanbul. In place of the ruins along the newly laid streets leading from the center outside the city, blocks of modern houses are gradually growing. And we must admit that they are built with taste. Architects borrow models from Italy, the United States, and Brazil. They are not afraid of bright colors, new shapes, new materials.

In the Beyoğlu district, we saw a whole street of new houses, sparkling with tastefully laid small mosaics, in harmony with the neighboring facades not only in color, but also in design. The houses have many balconies and terraces. Decoration with decorative flowers is not forgotten either. In another area, we were pleased to see that the concrete slabs in the front of the balconies were not made in the shape of a traditional rectangle, but in the form of a trapezoid, with its narrow part placed on the base. In addition, each trapezoid is painted in its own color, usually something cheerful. And the houses themselves are colorful - light green, orange, heavenly, soft pink. The facade of such a house smiles at you from afar. No barracks-style gloom and inexpressive grayness. Imagine how your eyes can rest here!

All this is good, but what about the rent? The answer to this question is not so happy. A four- to five-room apartment (smaller ones are not built for commercial purposes, it is unprofitable) costs a tenant 1,500 Turkish liras per month. A tram driver in Turkey earns three hundred liras a month, a skilled worker - from four hundred to eight hundred.

Thus, we also answered the question of how often in such modern houses families of workers are moving in.

Small restaurant on the Bosphorus

Even in the times of ancient mythology, jealousy of one's rivals was distinctive feature women.

Hera, the wife of Zeus, was also distinguished by this property, who took revenge on Io, Zeus’s beloved, by turning her into a cow at the very moment when she was sailing from the shore of one part of the world to the shore of another part. The first part of the world was Asia, the second was Europe, the water space between them has since become known as Bosporos - Bosporus, or translated from Greek - Cow Ford.

We are sitting in a small restaurant on the Bosphorus, in its narrowest part, not far from the Rumeli Hissary fortress. This is a famous fortress. In 1452, three thousand workers built it day and night to complete it in four months, as ordered by Sultan Mehmed II.

Over half a millennium, progress has advanced so much that the heirs of the Ottoman Empire are now thinking about how to reconnect the two continents that separated from each other hundreds of thousands of years ago. They are designing the construction of a bridge between Europe and Asia, seven hundred meters long and seventy meters high, so that the largest sea vessels can pass under it. In the future, the bridge should connect to the motorway that goes around the suburb of Beyoglu, and beyond the Eyup Mosque, which crosses the Golden Horn, connect to another motorway leading to Edirne, to the Bulgarian border. So, we are sitting in a small restaurant on the Bosphorus. A quiet night spread over the strait. Arabic music can be heard from the outdoor terrace. Below us, a police patrol boat rushes through the night, searching the surface of the water with searchlights, probing the Asian and European shores, and disappears somewhere behind the garlands of neighboring dance halls. A taxi stopped right under the terrace wall. The engine is about to stall. He coughs weakly for a while and then goes completely deaf. The driver calmly disembarks the passenger, who nods to the loser’s colleague and, without swearing, continues on his way in his car. The driver of the stalled veteran does not take this whole story to heart. With fatalistic resignation, he rolls the car to the side in his hands, pulls out a watermelon, and cuts it in half. Only after thoroughly refreshing himself does he pull out the tool and begin the repair...

You can’t say anything, Asia is also manifested in this - a part of the world, teasing us with clusters of lights on the nearby opposite shore. The part of the world that we will enter tomorrow. A part of the world that will be our home for the next few years...

Translation by S. Babin, I.R. Nazarova

Islamic architecture is usually easily recognizable due to its characteristic vaults, specific domes and, of course, minarets, which we will discuss briefly below.

Meaning of the term

The meaning of the word "minaret" goes back to the Arabic word "manara", meaning "lighthouse". In addition, this structure is also called mizana or sauma. Architecturally, a minaret is quite easy to define - it is essentially an ordinary tower. But what makes a tower a minaret?

What is a minaret

A minaret is not just a tower, it is a structure that is being built near a mosque. Its functional purpose is somewhat similar to Christian bell towers - to notify believers about the beginning of prayer and to convene them to perform general prayer. But unlike their Christian counterparts, there are no bells on the minarets. Instead, people called muezzins call believers to prayer at certain hours with special exclamations. This word comes from an Arabic verb, which can roughly be translated into Russian with the words “shout in public.” In other words, the minaret is, in a sense, an elevation for the speaker.

Types of minarets

Architecturally, there are at least two types of minarets - round or square in base and section. Multifaceted structures are less common. In all other respects, the minaret is like a familiar lighthouse or bell tower. Just like on them, on the upper tier of the sauma there is a special platform where the muezzin rises. It looks like a balcony and is called sherefe. The entire structure is usually crowned with a dome.

Square, that is, tetrahedral minarets at the base are most often found in North Africa. Round-trunked trees, on the contrary, are rarely found there, but they prevail in the Near and Middle East.

In ancient times, in order to go upstairs, minarets were equipped with an external spiral staircase or ramp. Therefore, they often had a spiral design. Over time, stairs increasingly began to be built inside buildings. This tradition has spread and taken over, so now it is difficult to find a minaret that has

If the mosque is small, as a rule, one minaret is attached to it. Medium-sized buildings are supplied with two. Particularly large ones can have four or more. The maximum number of minarets can be found in the famous Prophet's Mosque, which is located in Medina. It is equipped with ten towers.

Minarets in our time

Technological progress makes its own adjustments to the way of life of Muslims. Often today there is no longer any need for muezzins to climb to the top of the minaret. Instead, speakers are installed on the tower's balcony, like on pillars, which simply broadcast the muezzin's voice.

In some countries, minarets are completely prohibited. We are talking, of course, not about Muslim countries, but about Western regions and states. The first among such countries was Switzerland. In 2009, following the results of a popular referendum, the construction of a misan was prohibited. Therefore, the minaret is a prohibited structure in this European country.

"What's in front of her now? Winter. Istanbul.

The consul's grins. An annoying hum

market at noon. Class minarets

earth-earth or earth-turban

(otherwise - cloud). Zurna, antimony.

Another race."

Joseph Brodsky. "Ritratto di donna".
(Portrait of a Woman).1993

Traveling during the non-tourist season - from November to March - has its advantages. It gets dark early, early
Museums are closing, but there are noticeably fewer tourists. Cities, even southern ones, are not decorated
flowering trees and flower beds, but through the bare branches there are views that
in summer it hides dense foliage. How beautiful in combination with the exquisite pattern of the branch domes,
spiers, and in Istanbul - minarets so thin that they can be likened to tree trunks.

"Mosque of Princes" - Shahzadeh. 1548

However, for Joseph Brodsky, who strongly disliked Istanbul, the minarets evoked others
associations: "... the mosques of Istanbul! These gigantic ones, perched on the ground, are unable to tear themselves away from it
frozen stone toads! Only the minarets, most reminiscent - prophetically, I'm afraid -
ground-to-air installations, and indicate the direction in which the soul was going to move,"
- Brodsky wrote in his essay “Travel to Istanbul” in 1985.

Minarets of the Blue Mosque of Sultanahmet. 1616

Almost 30 years later, Brodsky’s prophetic fears became almost a reality.Europe
fears the expansion of Islam, quiet Switzerland votes to ban the construction of minarets,
politically correct Germany is seriously concerned that the minarets will rise higher
Cologne Cathedral.

Suleymaniye Mosque. 1557 Fragments.

In Istanbul, as you know, Muslims, Christians and Jews once coexisted peacefully. Herself
the amazing geography of the city contributed to this - Muslims and non-Muslims lived side by side
side, but each on its own shore of the narrow and long, like a river, Golden Horn Bay. Bosphorus divides
Istanbul is divided into European and Asian parts, and the Golden Horn, in turn, is conditionally divided
the European part of the city to "Istanbul is truly Muslim" , on the south, and "Istanbul
Gentiles" - on the northern bank of the Golden Horn. In the European part of the city there is
the famous Pera (now Beyoglu) - an area where everything is just like in Europe, Christian
temples, the few remaining synagogues in the city, the Galata Tower, which offers a view
to the “Istanbul of the Faithful”, separated by a strip of water, with huge mosques on the hills and
the ancient Sultan's Palace Topkapi.

View of Istanbul from the Galata Tower. On the left is the Bosphorus and the Asian part of the city.
To the right is the Golden Horn Bay, behind it is old Istanbul with palaces and mosques.

Beautiful! Even Brodsky could not help but admit: “Against the background of the sunset, on the crest of a hill, their (mosques)
silhouettes make a strong impression; hand reaches for the camera, like a spy at the sight
military facility. There really is something menacingly otherworldly about them,alien,
absolutely hermetic, shell-like. And it's all the samedirty brown, like
most buildings in Istanbul. And all this onbackground of the turquoise Bosphorus."

View of the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower

So my hand reached out to the camera, although the sun was shining straight into my eyes and the conditions for
The photo sessions weren't the best. As for the “armor-shaped” mosques, the comparison
really spot on! The mosques lay down like huge turtles by the water, climbed onto
hills. Their squat monochrome bodies (all the beauty and brightness is inside!) would be completely
awkward, if not for the minarets, but for the silhouette of the city without multiple verticals
minarets would have lost unspeakably.

Let's look at the minarets without bias - they are very slender, graceful, and up close
does not resemble a rocket at launch. The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic "manara", "lighthouse",
because in seaside towns minarets served as beacons. Istanbul minarets -
round, sometimes with grooved grooves, very narrow, with a pointed cone-shaped
completion. From above their trunks are surrounded by one or two or three openwork balconies -
shurfe. The balconies below are often decorated with characteristics characteristic of Muslim architecture
"muqarnas" or "stalactites" - decorative reliefs located above each other
another prism.

Dolmabahce Mini-Mosque (1855) on the shores of the Bosphorus near Dolmabahce Palace

The larger and more significant the mosque, the more minarets it has - from one to four, and the more
they are taller. The only minaret of a small quarterly mosque does not reach 50 meters,
and the minarets of the Sultan’s mosques rise almost a hundred meters, however, they cannot compete
with skyscrapers of modern Istanbul.

Minaret of the Blue Mosque (1616) with balconies decorated with “stalactites”

Inside the mineret there is a spiral staircase, along which the muezzin in former times
once a day he went up to the shurfe balcony to call the believers to prayer. Sometimes
inside the minaret there were two or three spiral staircases, so that those walking along them
haven't met each other. These days, the muezzin no longer ascends the minaret, but broadcasts
through a loudspeaker mounted on it.

Blue Mosque Sultanahmet with six minarets. 1616

It would seem, why build four minarets when one is enough? How
The more minarets, the more glorious and significant the mosque. How important this is proves
a story that is quite boring to me (all the guides happily tell it and repeat it
all guidebooks in all languages) about the six minarets of the Sultanahmet Mosque (or Ahmediye or, as
It was called the “Blue Mosque” for the incomparable beauty of its tiles). Sultan Ahmet allegedly said
to the architect that he wants to build golden ("Altyn") minarets, and the somewhat deaf architect heard
"alti" - six. Because of this misunderstanding, a mosque with six minarets was built. Muslim
the world perceived this as insolence, since only the Beytullah Mosque in
Mecca, so Sultan Ahmet had to build another - the seventh - minaret for the mosque
Beytullah, and balance was restored.

Byzantine temple HAHA SOPHIA, converted into a mosque.

There’s a separate conversation about it, so let’s look at it through the jets of the fountain .

Suleymaniye Mosque (1557) with 10 balconies on four minarets

In the evening, the minarets are especially spectacular - illuminated, they sparkle against the dark sky,
like burning pillars.

Blue Sultanahmet Mosque illuminated at night