Islamic geometric patterns

Islamic architecture is highly influenced by geometric patterns, which has developed over the centuries. Many of these influences derived from various cultures such as Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Central Asia, and Persia. Islamic architects created their own style by designing patterns based on the square, rectangle, eight-pointed star, and octagon. These designs have evolved into beautiful complex geometrical patterns. Even modern day mosques still use these intricate design patterns. The square and rectangle plays a significant role in Islamic architecture. The reason for this are façades built from rectangular bricks. This ornamental brickwork casts shadows in the strong desert sunlight and creates a three-dimensional effect. A reoccurring motif is a small central square turned 45 degrees within a larger square. Another source for the square motif is woven baskets. Iran is an excellent example for buildings constructed with decorative brickwork, especially during the Seljik period, and The Great Mosque of Cordoba is another example of outstanding design patterns. The eight-pointed star is another common motif in Islamic architecture. There are various ways to construct a design that utilizes the eight-pointed star. One method involves geometric instruments, such as a protractor or compass. The second method is a square grid, such as graph paper. Star patterns are extremely complex when the outer points are joined together and other intersections connect in a systematic way. The Allbambra Palace is a perfect example of repeating motifs which occur in the tile and stucco decoration. Octagons appear in Islamic architecture in various shapes. They frequently occur in marble floors. The Citadel of Aleppo, in Syria contain marble opus sectile floors, which utilizes the square and the eight-pointed star.

Geometric pattern characteristic of Muslim art Detail of minaret socle of the Bibi Khanum Mosque , Samarkand , Uzbekistan . The arched vertical panels are decorated with different geometric patterns, featuring 10-, 8- and 5-pointed stars. A doorway in Ben Youssef Madrasa , Marrakech . The Atlas cedar doors are carved with a pattern of strapwork with a 16-point star. The arch is surrounded with arabesques ; to either side is a band of Islamic calligraphy , above colourful geometric zellige tilework with 8-point stars. Islamic decoration, which tends to avoid using figurative images, makes frequent use of geometric patterns which have developed over the centuries. The geometric designs in Islamic art are often built on combinations of repeated squares and circles, which may be overlapped and interlaced , as can arabesques (with which they are often combined), to form intricate and complex patterns, including a wide variety of tessellations . These may constitute the entire decoration, may form a framework for floral or calligraphic embellishments, or may retreat into the background around other motifs. The complexity and variety of patterns used evolved from simple stars and lozenges in the ninth century, through a variety of 6- to 13-point patterns by the 13th century, and finally to include also 14- and 16-point stars in the sixteenth century. Geometric patterns occur in a variety of forms in Islamic art and architecture including kilim carpets, Persian girih and Moroccan zellige tilework, muqarnas decorative vaulting, jali pierced stone screens, ceramics , leather, stained glass, woodwork, and metalwork. Interest in Islamic geometric patterns is increasing in the West, both among craftsmen and artists including M. Escher in the twentieth century, and among mathematicians and physicists including Peter J. Lu and Paul Steinhardt who controversially claimed in 2007 that tilings at the Darb-e Imam shrine in Isfahan could generate quasi-periodic patterns like Penrose tilings .

Geometric pattern characteristic of Muslim art Detail of minaret socle of the Bibi Khanum Mosque , Samarkand , Uzbekistan .The arched vertical panels are decorated with different geometric patterns, featuring 10-, 8- and 5-pointed stars. A doorway in Ben Youssef Madrasa , Marrakech . The Atlas cedar doors have carved strapwork with a 16-point star. The arch is surrounded with arabesques ; to either side is a band of Islamic calligraphy , above zellij tilework. Islamic geometric patterns are one of the major forms of Islamic ornament , which tends to avoid using figurative images, as it is forbidden to create a representation of an important Islamic figure according to many holy scriptures . The geometric designs in Islamic art are often built on combinations of repeated squares and circles, which may be overlapped and interlaced , as can arabesques (with which they are often combined), to form intricate and complex patterns, including a wide variety of tessellations . These may constitute the entire decoration, may form a framework for floral or calligraphic embellishments, or may retreat into the background around other motifs. The complexity and variety of patterns used evolved from simple stars and lozenges in the ninth century, through a variety of 6- to 13-point patterns by the 13th century, and finally to include also 14- and 16-point stars in the sixteenth century. Geometric patterns occur in a variety of forms in Islamic art and architecture . These include kilim carpets, Persian girih and Moroccan zellij tilework, muqarnas decorative vaulting, jali pierced stone screens, ceramics , leather , stained glass , woodwork, and metalwork. Interest in Islamic geometric patterns is increasing in the West, both among craftsmen and artists like M. Escher in the twentieth century, and among mathematicians and physicists such as Peter J. Lu and Paul Steinhardt .