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Image ID
B05.027
Image Format
Article
Description
A view of the interior of the south-eastern iwan in the courtyard. "The iwan served as the prayer hall of the complex, and the mihrab and surrounding qibla wall are paneled in marble slabs of contrasting colors. To the right of the mihrab is a marble minbar, much praised by contemporaries, and in front of it is an equally fine dikka, or tribune [see B05.028], for the official charged with repeating the daily prayers so that all worshippers could hear and follow the service. Around the iwan at the springing of the vault is a superb stucco band with a large Koranic inscription carved in monumental Kufic [visible in the top right corner of this image] against a floral arabesque ground" (83). -MA (Source: Blair, Sheila S., and Jonathan M. Bloom. The Art and Architecture of Islam: 1250–1800. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994.)
Keywords
Cairo, Egypt
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