Publication Date
Early 12th century/early 18th century
Publication Place
-
Uppsala University Library
Subject
Oil painting on canvas.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 84.5سم؛ العرض: (بدون الإطار) 112.2سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
object;ISL;se;Mus01_A;37;ar
Library Location
Uppsala University Library
Date
Early 12th century/early 18th century
Notes
The drawing shows a topographical scene of Mecca with its Great Mosque in the center, surrounded by the city’s houses and the hills adjacent to Mecca. In the middle of the large heavenly expanse of the mosque stands the Kaaba, with its black, majestic, cubic shape, which is the Holy Mosque in Islam. The simple shape of the Kaaba did not change during successive centuries despite the restoration of the building, unlike the Great Mosque, which was rebuilt several times. The drawing shows its appearance after the rebuilding in the Ottoman period in the tenth / sixteenth century, which was inspired by the imperial architecture in Istanbul. It used porticoes with small domes arranged in a single line around the heavenly space on both sides, and seven minarets that were provided with two or three balconies. The painter tried to show the city planning standards of the Ottomans. The areas of Mecca were densely inhabited until the houses reached the borders of the outer wall of the Great Mosque. The houses directly surrounding the mosque were demolished to create a wide open space in front of the mosque and its facades, which is the rule that was followed in the large mosques in Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne. The drawings of Mecca and the Kaaba show the routes that the pilgrims took during the Hajj on the façade and his paintings in the second half. From the eleventh/seventeenth century until the first half of the twelfth/eighteenth century, it contains a detailed description of the uses of the various buildings. The dome in front of the Kaaba on the left side of the pulpit, for example, covers the footprints of the Prophet Abraham, and the open building in front of it includes the Zamzam Well from which pilgrims drink water and take it to their homes. The choice, arrangement and execution of the buildings represented resemble the copper reliefs, as European sources describe, of Mecca more than the scene itself described in contemporary prayer books or on the faience mentioned above.
Sample Text
Friederike Voigt “Drawing” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01_A;37;ar
