Practice set — Islamic Art and Architecture

it joined script, pattern and geometry over figure

script and pattern, not figures

arts, not just gold

ornament, not statues

built in 691 and still stands grand

the Kaaba is older but pre-Islamic

al-Aqsa came shortly after

the Umayyad came a quarter-century later

Sinan built hundreds of monuments for sultans

Davud Agha was less famed

al-Khwarizmi was a scholar, not builder

Ibn Muqla was a calligrapher

arches over arches to raise the roof

not the first minaret

not the first dome

arches, not glass

tiered honeycomb ornament in ceilings

hanging ornament, not tile

stone ornament, not script

ceiling ornament, not door

calligraphy is the highest Islamic art

writing, not painting

calligraphy, not sculpture

writing, not poetry

plant and geometric pattern cover all surfaces

pattern, not pictures

carving, not statues

ornament, not just windows

vaulted iwans in Persian building

halls, not towers

halls, not wells

halls, not walls

built simply in Medina after the Hijra

the Dome is ornate, not simple

the sanctuary predates, not first mosque

the Umayyad came decades later

it unified styles across wide lands

for its beauty, not cheapness

for unifying, not ease

for its message, not silence