Principles of Marble-Work in the State Mosques: Extrapolations from Past and Present

The aim of this thesis is to explore the principles followed by the architects in Muslim cities to decorate and ornament state mosques using marble, the prestigious material. In addition, the study goal is to emphasize the methods of achieving what our ancestors between Umayyads and Ottomans reached. The principles were elaborated via an analysis and comparison between two mosques namely: the Mamluk Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo and the State Mosque in Doha. These ideologies can be a guideline to the designers who would like to achieve a quality result using marble as a classical material.

Literature Review is used to elaborate on some themes that control and define marble ornamentation. These include the design, style, and examples of the important state mosques, which used marble in construction. As well as the understanding of the selected stone value, uses, characteristics, names, colors, sources, techniques, and patterns in several examples from the Islamic world. Through discussion of the previous listed points, the guiding parameters that were used in the analysis and comparison were extracted. Site visits were the tool used to describe the marble-work in the selected case studies led by these parameters. A comparison between Sultan Hassan Mosque, which is the past case study and Imam Mohamed bin Abd Al-Wahab Mosque in Qatar, which is the present example, was carried out to highlight these principles. They are outlined through a comparison, which led to the conclusion.

The findings define the principles of the marble-work used at the time of the Islamic era between Umayyads and Ottomans through studying various small examples to studying the larger example of Sultan Hassan. Examining these principles in the present example of Ibn Al-Wahab Mosque demonstrates that the designer follows some of the philosophy of marble-work used in the past example. Comparison between the two state mosques led to the conclusion that more guidelines about marble-use in our time are required to sustain the material and to better utilize it in construction.