Minaret - what is it? Origin, history and features of architectural forms

The minaret in the literal sense of the word is the embodiment of all Islamic architecture. This tower is the most catchy element of the structure, the main thing that makes it clear to the inexperienced tourist that it is the mosque in front of him. Nevertheless, the decorative, architectural function is not the main thing in the minaret, its functional purpose is important.

What does the minaret mean? Basic theories of its origin

The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic term "manar", which means "lighthouse". The name, as we can see, is symbolic: the minaret, like the lighthouse, was created in order to notify. When the first minarets appeared in the coastal cities, lights were lit on their peaks in order to indicate to the ships the way to the bays.

Approximately 100 years ago, Egyptologist Butler suggested that the standard view of the Cairo minarets of the Mamluks era, which is a tower of several different sized pyramids, placed one on top of another, is a retrospective of the Alexandria lighthouse, the generally recognized architectural miracle of the ancient world. Unfortunately, only the description of Pharos of Alexandria reached the contemporaries. Nevertheless, it is for certain known that the lighthouse was intact at the time when Arabs entered Egypt, so the hypothesis of borrowing architectural forms from it is quite plausible.

Some researchers believe that minarets are the architectural heirs of the Ziggurat of the Mesopotamia. For example, anyone who is familiar with the form of ziggurat can trace its resemblance to the 50-meter-long minaret of Al-Malvia in Samarra.

Also one of the theories of origin of the form of minarets is the borrowing of their architectural parameters from the church towers. This version refers to the minarets of square and cylindrical section shape.

Appointment of minarets

It is from the minaret that the call for prayers comes every day. At the mosque there is a specially trained person - muezzin, whose official duties include a daily five-time notification of the beginning of prayer.

In order to climb to the top of the minaret, namely the sharaf (balcony), the muezzin goes up the spiral staircase, which is inside the minaret. Different minarets have different number of sharafs (one-two, or 3-4): the height of the minaret is a parameter that determines their total number.

Since some of the minarets are very narrow, there could be countless numbers of circles in this spiral staircase, so the climb up such a ladder became a whole test and sometimes took hours (especially if the muezzin was old).

At the present time, the functions of the muezzin are more simplified. He no longer needs to climb the minaret. What happened, you ask, what changed the Islamic rules? The answer is extremely simple - technical progress. With the development of mass-notification technologies, the loudspeaker installed on the minaret's minaret began to perform all the work for the muezzin: 5 times a day, the audio records of the azan - the call to prayer - are automatically played on it.

History of the construction of minarets

The very first mosque with towers resembling minarets was erected in Damascus in the 8th century. This mosque had 4 low towers of a square section, practically indistinguishable in height from the general architectural structure. Each single tower of this mosque was remotely like a minaret. What Denoted these towers, left from the fencing of the Roman temple of Jupiter, which stood earlier on the site of this mosque, is not known for certain.

Some historians believe that these Roman towers were not removed, because they were used as minarets: from them the muezzins called on Muslims to pray. A little later, a few more pyramidal tops were erected above these settled towers, after which they began to resemble minarets of the Mamluk era like those in Samarra.

Then a tradition developed according to which only the sultan could build more than one minaret at the mosque. The structures that were built by the orders of the rulers were the pinnacle of the architectural art of the Muslims. To consolidate their ruling position, the sultans did not skimp on finishing and materials, hired the best architects and rebuilt mosques with so many minarets (6 and even 7) that sometimes there was no physical possibility to finish building one more minaret. What Could mean such a scale, splendor, immodesty in the construction of mosques and minarets, the following story can visually show us.

When the Suleymaniye Mosque was under construction, for unknown reasons, there was a long break. Learning of this, the Safavid Shah Tahmasib I set out to poke fun at the sultan and sent him a box of precious stones and ornaments so that he could continue building on them. Sultan, angry with mockery, ordered his architect to break all the jewelry, knead them in the building material and build a minaret out of it. According to some indirect records, this minaret of the Suleymaniye Mosque has long been poured by all the colors of the rainbow in the sun.

The construction of minarets

The minaret as an element of the mosque creates with it a single, inseparable architectural complex. There are several basic elements that form the minaret. What these elements represent in the visual plan can be seen in almost any complex of the mosque.

The minaret tower is installed on a solid foundation of gravel and fastening materials.

Along the perimeter of the tower there is a hinged balcony of the Sheref, which, in turn, rests on the mukarny - decorative ledges that support the balcony.

At the very top of the minaret is the cylindrical tower of Petek, on which a spire with a crescent is erected.

Basically, the minarets are made of ashlar, for this is the most durable and durable material. The internal stability of the structure is ensured by a fortified stairwell.