travelers returning from trips to the East, brought not only souvenirs and postcards, but also an unforgettable experience.Many came back and remember the intricate and bizarre pattern on the walls of Arab buildings that fascinates and attracts the eye.Complex patterns composed of geometric shapes, calligraphic inscriptions and floral ornament?I want to consider finding a new interesting and previously unnoticed details.The palaces and temples, the walls of which are decorated with marble and cut stone, shaped bricks and various mosaics, inlaid and carved wood, delight the eye and make you think about the great skill of artists and artisans who created such magnificence.Features
culture of the Arab world
In Arab countries, most of the population is Muslim, which is rather strictly regulates not only the everyday lives of people, but also questions of art and culture.According to Muslim religious laws, the craftsman or artist can create any curlicue, but only under the condition that there will be no image of God, human beings and animals.For this reason, in the Arab countries is not so familiar to us paintings and sculptures.However, such a ban feat architects and artists to create unique beauty of patterns, called arabesques.Bizarre and unexpected combined and intertwined floral designs, stylized Arabic script and geometric patterns fold a bright, refined and curlicue on the walls of buildings of Arab, repeated rhythmically across the surface.
Over the centuries there have been many complicated ornaments that adorn not only the exterior walls of buildings, but also the inner rooms of buildings, applied to furniture and carpets, weapons, jewelery and ceramics.
What arabesque?
only art in the Arab Muslim countries, influenced by the Greek Roman and Byzantine models, appeared a special-rich and decorative ornament.Arab patterns have their own characteristics in each of the regions, but they are subject to the general principles of law and construction.Arabesque - is formed in the Islamic culture, a new type of pattern, combining both a vivid artistic imagination and rigorous mathematical construction.Quite often, the structure of such patterns include calligraphy and filled with inscriptions in Arabic script, usually a quote from sacred religious texts.
Characteristic features
Artisans arabesques applied to the plates of marble or plaster, while painting the grooves on the figure in blue or purple color, and the convex portions covered with gold leaf.These color contrasts gave patterning brightness and vividness.Then, decorated plates were fixed on or inside the buildings, creating a curlicue on the walls of Arab houses.Quite often, the structure of the arabesque ornamentation was introduced labels that could be met only two canonized fonts:
- shorthand - "nash";
- rectangular calligraphic - Kufic.
Arabesque is the embodiment of the principles of Islam "ever ongoing fabric of the universe" and gives the artist the opportunity to cover a continuous and evolving pattern the surface of virtually any shape and size.Similar designs are based on multiplication or repeating one or more fragments.When creating arabesque designs can be continued or stopped at any point, without disturbing the picture.In such ornaments virtually no background since a pattern is introduced into another, covering the surface.
Forms ornaments
The art of Muslim countries, including Arab, made use of two basic patterns:
- geometric "girih";
- plant "islimi."
In addition, the Arabic patterns often included calligraphic inscriptions.Girih islimi and can be used as stand-alone designs and complementary.
girihi
Translated from the Arabic "girih" means "beam knot" and symbolizes the structure of the world of Islam.It is formed by the superposition of multiple geometric shapes and lines each other.The construction of this pattern is performed on special grids with the help of mathematical calculations, ruler and compass.It is based on a circle divided into regular segments are arranged by means of which a polygon, a square or rectangle.Individual elements of floral ornament could be used to fill the background of geometric patterns.
islimi
Considering curlicue on the walls of Arab buildings quite often you can see floral ornament depicting a helical thread, decorated with different leaves and flowers - this is islimi.It identified a number of subspecies:
- simple - garden;
- forked - hachaly;
- almond - Butalov;
- Chain - Hormah.
addition islimi, girihi and calligraphic inscriptions in Arabic ornamentation often there are other motives, such as a triangle, symbolizing the "eye of God", the square - a schematic spelling of peace and a symbol of the Kaaba, a six-rayed star - symbolizing the six pillars of faith,pentagon - symbolically showing the five pillars of Islam.
