The so called sacred architecture refers to the designing and the construction of worship places. This may include places like stupas, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples among others. It is also called religious architecture. Many cultures have different resources in sacred architecture. This is evident from their paces of their sacred places, their worship places and their places of religion.
Early architectural design includes the ancient Egyptian design, the Sumerian architecture and Neolithic architecture. These saw the construction of early tombs and tomenos. Early architectural designs also include Roman architecture, Classical architecture and Ancient Greece architecture.
The Byzantine architectural design, our area of concentration, came from the Roman architectural design. Later, in the whole near east and the Greece, a style developed that saw the use of the cross plan style for the designing of churches. Bricks were now used instead of stones; mosaics also came into existence to replace the carved decoration. Complex domes protruded. In this style, the Justinian’s came up with the style that enabled the church to move from the square planning to the circular domes. This architectural design had a great impact on the Islamic architecture of the times. Thus many mosques evolved, examples are the T-type mosques and the Abbasid mosques.
Earliest Islamic architecture came up with the Arab-plan which is also known as hypostyle mosques. These followed rectangular plan with a courtyard and also had a prayer hall. Examples are the Mesquite. Then the Ottomans came with the central dome mosques. The Iwan mosques have its example in the Shah Mosque in Iran . the mosques can be identified by their minaret, this is their tall and slender tower. It is usually located at one of the corners. The first one was constructed in 665.
The medieval architecture can be seen in the Norwegian stave church. Architectural designs of the Christians featured in the middle ages in the so called Latin cross plan. An example has its example in the Roman Basilica. The Justinian also used the Byzantine style of the Greek cross. This centered on the altar. A better example is in the Nerl Church of Intercession
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