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Image ID
B42.018
Image Format
Article
Description
The famous front portal of the İnce Minareli Medrese, "considered by most academics as one of the most opulent works of Seljuk architectural decoration." The portal is covered by a wealth of different types of decoration. On each side of the portal, bands of thuluth calligraphy in low-relief adorn the building, while two similar interlacing bands travel up the building near its center, forming a knot just above the pointed arch that covers the door (see also Büyük Karatay Medresesi, B42.003). The mastery of Selcuks in portal sculpture is also manifested in the multiple vegetal and floral motifs that adorn almost all the remaining parts of the portal. The lack of undecorated space on this portal is also of note, as it reflects what is termed the "horror vacui" of Islamic architecture. -MA
Keywords
Konya, Turkey
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