Muqarnas

Muqarnas is a three-dimensional ornamental system of small niches and cells arranged in tiers. It breaks transitions between architectural surfaces into intricate, faceted forms.

Squinch: A structure spanning the upper corner of a square room to support a dome or other polygonal form. Muqarnas can elaborate the corner transition that a squinch begins.
Maqsura: An enclosed or screened area near a mosque's mihrab, historically associated with a ruler or other dignitary. Muqarnas may ornament the domed or vaulted spaces above a maqsura.
Abbasid architecture: Architecture produced under the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled much of the Islamic world from the eighth to thirteenth centuries. Early evidence for muqarnas is associated with Abbasid-era buildings.
Alhambra: A palace and fortress complex in Granada, Spain, built and expanded chiefly under the Nasrid dynasty. Its Hall of the Abencerrajes has a celebrated muqarnas dome.
Muqarnas vault: A vault made from tiers of projecting muqarnas cells. It shows how repeated cells can create a continuous architectural canopy.
Pendentive: A curved triangular surface that carries a dome over a square space. Unlike pendentives, muqarnas divides the transition into many small cells.
Mihrab: A niche in a mosque wall indicating the direction of prayer toward Mecca. Muqarnas can frame or crown a mihrab niche.
Islamic architecture: Architectural traditions associated with Muslim societies, shaped by regional, historical, and religious contexts. Muqarnas became a widely shared feature within this diverse architectural field.
Sultan Hassan Mosque: A large fourteenth-century mosque and madrasa in Cairo, commissioned by Sultan an-Nasir Hasan. Its monumental entrance uses muqarnas in a deep vaulted niche.
Mocárabe: A Spanish term for a stalactite-like ornamental vaulting form associated with Islamic architecture. The term overlaps with muqarnas in some contexts but reflects a distinct regional vocabulary.

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