Minaret

A minaret (rarely Minar, Arabic منارة Manara, originally Lighthouse ') is an elevated stand or tower for the prayer caller ( muezzin ) at or at a mosque. From here, Muslims are called five times a day for prayer.

Etymology

Minaret is a borrowing of the French minaret, which is derived on the Turkish Minaret of Arab منارة Manara, which originally lighthouse, literally " place of light " meant.

History

The first minaret was built probably in Syria, some historians consider the minaret of the Mosque of Qairawan for the oldest. It is customary for the ruling family of the Umayyads ( 661-750 ). In some of the oldest mosques such as the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, minarets originally served as illuminated by torches watchtowers - hence the word origin from the Arabic only / نور / 'light'. Today, the minaret have largely been used as a traditional decorative items, and as the calls to prayer ( adhan / أذان ) are proclaimed in most modern mosques using loudspeakers from the prayer room.

Architecture

For the sake of Bausymmetrie and the status of the building owner, the number of minarets is sometimes increased to two, four or six; the al -Haram mosque in Mecca has nine minarets. Most mosques have only a single minaret, which is attached to the mosque. Formally, a distinction is made minarets with round, square and polygonal plan that received in the Ottoman architecture ( 14th century to 1923), often needle-shaped tips. Your basement structure is often done by balconies, their decorative outdoor outline take colored glazed tile, mosaic tile or calligraphic characters. Optical flow and return jumps are caused by niches and cornices.

The 210 meters, currently the tallest minaret in the world is located in Casablanca as part of the Hassan II Mosque. The tallest brick minaret, Kutab Minar, stands in Delhi. The finest minaret in Western Europe, the Giralda in Seville applies ( the 12th century by the Moors built end ). In Algiers, the tallest minaret in the world with 214 meters arises.

Profane importance

The minaret is not only the symbol of a mosque, it also served as a watchtower. As a signal tower served minarets of guidance for caravans.

At certain Islamic festivals in Turkey minarets with lights and banners ( mahya ) are adorned.

Special cases are the some Central Asian and Indian funerary monuments of the Mughal period allocated and essentially decorative ( ' jewelery Minaret ') or representative intentioned minarets: Gur - Emir Mausoleum (Samarkand ), Akbar 's Tomb ( Sikandra ) and Itmad -ud- Daulah's Tomb ( Agra ). The four framing minarets of the Taj Mahal ( Agra ) and the Bibi- Ka Maqbara - (Aurangabad ) are to be mentioned in this context, but part of the whole complex of the latter two buildings at least one - if only placed in the periphery - mosque.

Another special case are the four minaret -like towers at 1591 and built purely representative purposes were Torbau of Char Minar in Hyderabad.