Koya Grand Mosque - Islamic architecture

Supervisor: M.S Manar

by: Sarhand, Sahar, Warvin, And Ayat

Introduction

• It’s one of the historical places in Koya, which was built in (1844 ) by (Mala Babakr Agha of Hawezy’s Family). It’s located in the center of the old town in bazar (Qaisary) that has a high historical value. It was a place to study, and even students from other country came to there under the supervision of Malay Gawra. it was renovated in 2009 by Mam Jalal.

Reference: the introduction is driven from the gate of the mosque.

Koya town

Iraq Kurdistan region

grand mosque site

Koya old districts plan

Accessibility

Sar Baskan road Takiai tallabani road

Winter and summer sun

•

General planning: (planning / 1)

The mosque takes a rectangular shape, its dimensions are 40 mx 50 m, and the total area of ​​the mosque is 2000 square meters, and it consists of a prayer house in the tribal wall, a large courtyard in the middle, and galleries or wings on its four sides. The building of the mosque has a wonderful architectural style in terms of its planning, and it is also one of the most widespread and famous patterns in the countries of the world in the Islamic era.

• Entrances:

In the mosque there are two opposite entrances: the first entrance is located in the eastern wing and the second entrance in the western wing (figure / 1), and they are similar in shape, and they are approximately 2 m wide, and both entrances lead to a small corridor measuring 2 m by 5 m, located near From the prayer house or at the beginning of the side wings, and directly overlooks the courtyard.

• The courtyard:

The mosque includes a large courtyard in the middle, measuring 30 mx 26 m, and it is one of the most important parts of the mosque (Fig. 27).

•

The prayer house:

The prayer house in the mosque is rectangular in shape, its dimensions are 11 m 33 m. It consists of columns (a scoop) in four rows horizontally, the first row of columns is connected to the qibla wall, and the last row is connected to the back or north wall, and the house consists of Six poaiks (with a bow row of columns vertically) (Fig.3). The number of columns of the prayer house is 18, all of an octagonal shape, topped by a square-shaped base, its dimensions are 0.80 mx 0.80 m (Figure 4), and the base is surmounted by large shoulders.

The size, the columns and shoulders bear pointed arches built of marble stone, and the arches are located vertically and transversely in the prayer house and in the middle of the house there is an octagonal dome and a large size, its dimensions are 11 m x 11 m, and in the four side corners of the octagon there are decorations, polygons and squares decorated with prominent From the azimuth of the wall.

The prayer house also includes a large mihrab in the middle of the qibla wall. It is built of marble stone and is decorated with exquisite geometric and plant motifs. It includes an exquisite decorative frame that includes 21 architectural elements in the form of small mihrabs. They are large and small in size, and at the top of the mihrab arch are several Qur’anic verses inside the circles and on the sides of the mihrab in a rectangular shape, and some other circles are decorated with geometric and plant motifs (Figure 6).

On the side of the mihrab, there is also a large minbar, built of marble stone, and the sides of the minbar are decorated with geometric and plant motifs as well. This pulpit, which is one of the most beautiful Ottoman pulpits built of marble in the region, includes in the front a rectangular stone entrance leading to the top of the minbar by a small staircase, and the pulpit at the top includes a small dome in a conical shape, and the sides of the minbar are decorated with several rectangular elements inside which geometric ornaments In the form of circles, squares, lozenges, and floral motifs in the form of leaves, branches and rosettes of various shapes (Figure / 7).

The prayer house has three large entrances, and three windows in the north wall are rectangular in shape, with a mihrab shape from the inside. It turns out that the thickness of the wall of the prayer house is 1.5 m, which is the first old wall of the mosque, and inside the thickness of the northern wall of the prayer house there is a stairway with a width of 0.80 m leading to the small upper floor of the prayer house.

•

The southern portico or the foreground:

It is the hallway that connects to the prayer house on the southern side of it, and overlooks The courtyard on the northern side, its dimensions are 3.5 mx 33 m. It includes seven pointed arches that overlook the courtyard with relatively large shoulders, and seven transverse arches in the portico (Fig. 87). The wing also includes three entrances: the large main entrance is located in the middle of the southern wall, its dimensions are 2 mx 3 m, and it includes a large decorative frame consisting of 21 architectural elements in the form of niches, and from the inside above the entrance it includes 33 architectural elements in the form of decorative squares ( Figure 97),

two large-sized frames, each of which includes on the top a written text in the Persian language in which the date of the

mosque's construction is mentioned, while at the bottom it is divided into two parts, the first section includes a small mihrab, its dimensions are 0.80 m x 1.70 m .

• The wings:

the wings of the Great Mosque are two groups, which are the eastern wings or the eastern portico (figure / 12) and the western wings or the western portico (figure / 13), each of them consists of seven arches of the directorate of shape overlooking the courtyard, its dimensions are 5 m x 26 m, and these are used. The suites are currently for some service facilities, such as the ablution place and the imam and sermon room ..

• The stern:

There is a stern in the mosque, which is similar to the two groups of side wings, as it consists of nine pointed arches (Figure / 14).

• Minaret : the minaret of the Jameh Mosque in Koysinjaq, it is most likely that it is not the original minaret in terms of its style compared to the old elements of the mosque, but it was built recently during the maintenance and restoration work in the mosque.

First floor plan Ground floor plan

Elevation

Elevation

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and windows

Door and window table

The Old part

Outside the old part

Hexagonal dome

1- Damask originated in China around 300 B.C., but developed into a major weaving technique during the early Middle Ages. The production of damask in the Middle Ages centered around Byzantine and the Middle East The fabric takes its name from the city of Damascus, which was an active trading port on the silk road.

2 trefoil is commonly thought of as a symbol of three intersecting circles, such as the bio hazard symbol. The trefoil comes from the Latin trifolium, meaning 'three-leaved plant'. It was adopted as ornamentation to churches during the Middle Ages. The symbolism of three fits with Christian imagery associated with the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But Muslims have changed this and removing other two arches as representing that there’s one God

An auspicious element extensively used in medieval Islamic architecture in Moor dominated southern Spain and the middle east, the Najmat Al Quds appears to have made its first appearance in Hindustan during the reign of the third Gurkani emperor Jala ud din Muhammad Akbar a period that had witnessed the construction of the mammoth UNESCO world heritage site by the experienced hands of Arabian artisans and the Persian architect, Mirak Mirza Ghiyas. Specifically imported in from their distant homes by Humayun’s chief consort and queen, Bega Begum, to honour her deceased husband’s fascination for Persian art, architecture and culture, that he had picked up during his fifteen years of exile which at a point of time taken him to the realm of Shah Tahmasp, in what is today the country of Iran

These structures are excellent representatives of the architectural traditions and techniques of the late Abbasid and early Seljuk eras. From such structures, one finds some of the earliest examples of rosette petals introduced to 8- and 12-point star patterns

Islamic star Development

Niche and window

In Islamic art the geometric figure of the circle represents the primordial symbol of unity and the ultimate source of all diversity in creation. The natural division of the circle into regular divisions is the ritual starting point for many traditional Islamic patterns, as demonstrated

The pattern above (15 th century) from Yazd in Iran is derived from six regular divisions of the circle. From this a regular grid of triangles is established, on top of which the design is elaborated. Note how the complex tracery of pattern interweaves with the basic design which appears in white outline in the photograph above.

Doors in old part

Doors Drawing Location In Plan

Main door

Secondary door

Muqarnases– Iranian Type

1 Muqarnas are unique to Islamic architecture. Their purpose is to create a smooth transitional zone in a variety of architectural settings. They don't have a structural function. Muqarnas can be considered as three dimensional version of the more common two dimensional Islamic geometric design: the design techniques are surprisingly similar.

2- According to the famous book of Doctor Abdulrazaq Yusef, Iranian craft makers and stonemen were the only builders of such details, that’s why The Muqarnas in the Grand Mosque is considered as the Iranian Muqarnas.

The Muqarnas

1- Muqarnas consists of cells, and those cells can be divided into facets and a roof. The facets are the straight planes perpendicular to the horizon and the roof is the upper part of the cell as Shown the figure

Grand Mosque Muqarnas

Sound diffusion is defined as the bending and scattering of sound waves around obstacles and surfaces in the space. It can be created by using surface irregularities and scattering elements. Diffusers are hard surfaced acoustical treatments with either irregular surfaces that break up and scatter sound waves in multiple directions, or convex curved surfaces to gently split frequencies and deflect them in multiple directions. As a consequence, the diffusers enhance the hearing state within the room.(6) The diffusers do not absorb the incident sound but it reflects it in as many directions as possible. Rather than removing any sound energy, diffusers are used to effectively reduce distinct echoes and reflections while still leaving a live sounding space compared to a reflective surface. This will lead to high-quality sound throughout the room.

The unique organic curvature of the Art Diffuser type control specular reflections above 4 kHz, makes it preferable to other designs. The Art Diffuser deflects the sound hemi spherically, as a result of the bi cubic concentric rings, and the various quadratic well depths.

1- Muqarnas form efficiency in diffusing Sound waves within the Space Dr. Hanan M. Al jumaily Associated professor, Architectural Engineering Department Middle East University, Amman, Jordan

Mihrab

Minbar Side view details

Detail 1

Detail 2

Minaret

Interior view

Interior view

Columns

Interior view

References

• History of Kurdish Architecture-Koya. Ako Gharib 2007

• A Research on Koya : https://en.calameo.com/read/005071515312f84e21ebe

• History of Koya. -Taher Ahmed Hawezi.

• Late Ottoman Architectural Style in Koya: Old Qaisaria as a Case Study – Sahar B. Al-Qaisi1Raz S. Faraj